Students Olivia Millward and Holly Pearson Credit: Barton Peveril
A sponsored sleep out by students at Barton Peveril Sixth Form College in Eastleigh has raised at least £1,000 for homeless charity Crisis.
Thirty students and four staff spent a night in sub-zero temperatures with only boxes, bags and blankets for shelter.
The event took place on campus and was organised by the Student Committee who will be collecting donations until mid-April.
Students created a 'cardboard village' for the night. Credit: Barton Peveril
Student Committee president, Harry Spicer, said: “No-one here can imagine doing this every day. We’re well aware that our experience was a very tame version of a harsh reality and that we were fuelled by the energy and adrenalin of it all.
“I think it’s given us all the ability to empathise more, but we still don’t really understand what it’s like to be homeless. These are real people and they need a little bit of love and compassion.”
Tonight temperatures will probably drop to minus three or four degrees again so while you're tucked up in bed in your warm house, spare a thought for those who live on the streets.
A group of students who want to raise awareness of the plight of those who sleep rough have decided to see exactly how hard it can be. They are with Simon Parkin in Andover tonight.
Shipping containers could be used to ease housing crisis
A shipping container outside the Young Vic Theatre in south London Credit: PA
Converted shipping containers could be used as temporary accommodation for homeless men and women under plans to help ease a city's housing crisis.
The 36 adapted containers have been transformed into self-contained studio flats, and feature bathrooms, kitchens and plasterboarded walls.
The structures were designed for a social housing project in Amsterdam two years ago but the scheme had to be abandoned after hitting funding difficulties.
It is hoped they will instead be used as temporary homes in Brighton and Hove from late spring next year until a permanent roof can be found.
The Brighton Housing Trust and developer QED are to submit a planning application to the local city council for a central site featuring the modified containers with allotments on the roofs.
Andy Winter, chief executive of Brighton Housing Trust, said "imaginative solutions" were needed to deal with the "desperate" housing situation in the city.
Mr Winter said: "I have to admit that when it was first suggested to me that shipping containers be used for housing I was a bit sceptical.
"However, having seen what can be achieved, I was quickly won over. The WC and shower unit is exactly the same as my daughter had in her student accommodation and she much preferred it to having to share bathrooms and toilets with other students. Who wouldn't?
"What really excites me about this opportunity is that land that might otherwise lie idle for five years will be brought back into life and used to provide much-needed temporary accommodation for 36 men and women."
When the site comes to be redeveloped, the containers can be transferred to other locations.
Services in the South East are struggling to house the growing number of homeless families.
A new report from the National Housing Federation shows that new cases of homelessness have risen by 37% in the last two years in the region. It's the second biggest rise in the country.
However, since 2010 there has been a staggering 83% rise in families with children living in B&Bs.
One in five families stayed in B&Bs for more than six weeks as local authorities struggled to find temporary accommodation for the growing numbers of homeless households.
Rough sleeping has increased 39% in the South East, the third biggest rise in the country.
Today's figures are shocking and indicate that many people in the South East are truly being pushed to the brink.
"Alongside the terrible rise in rough sleepers, many more children are now being pushed into temporary accommodation such as B&Bs.
"These are families who never dreamed they could end up on the streets. This is the new face of homelessness."
– Warren Finney, South East manager at the National Housing Federation
Council failures had "severe effect" on homeless 16 year old
Local government ombudsman, Anne Seex, says failures by Kent and Dover councils meant the mental and physical health of a homeless 16 year old boy suffered.
Councils made 'inexcusable failures' over homeless teenager
The Ombudsman has criticised Kent and Dover Councils for "inexcusable failures" over a young homeless teenager.
The 16 year old spent nine months living in a tent, suffered physical and mental ill-health, and had to sell or give away his belongings.
Ombudsman Anne Seex found that Kent County Council failed to assess the teenager as a "child in need" and accommodate him, thus denying him his right to advice and assistance.
Dover failed to accept him as homeless and provide suitable temporary accommodation, or contact Kent children's services about him.
The teenager, known as J, was forced to sleep rough to avoid criminals and drug users, the report says.
These failures are inexcusable. They happened after important court rulings had clarified the roles and responsibilities that housing authorities and children's services authorities have to homeless children of 16 and 17."
