The council funds Framework’s Street Outreach Team which offers help and support to everybody who is sleeping rough in Nottingham. However, not everyone accepts that support, for complex reasons that may include drug and alcohol addiction or mental health issues. 

Others may have no connection with Nottingham and so efforts will be made to connect them with support services in the area they come from. 

The council’s one hundred Community Protection Officers operate in the city centre and every Nottingham neighbourhood. Part of their job is to identify anyone sleeping rough and help anyone at risk to access support and accommodation. 

Local voluntary, community and faith-based organisations such as the Nottingham Winter Shelter which is provided through Emmanuel House offer a range of support to rough sleepers and help rough sleepers to access services such as healthcare, welfare rights advice and rehousing pathways. 

On Friday and Saturday nights, Street Pastors from 24 different city churches are out and about in Nottingham, also helping to identify anyone at risk of rough sleeping and help them find accommodation and support options. 

When the temperature drops to 0 degrees Celsius or below, emergency measures kick in to get all rough sleepers off the streets and into the warm, regardless of their situation and background. 

Emergency shelters located in fire stations on London Road and Carlton Road (which are operated by the Red Cross) open and provide seating, toilet facilities and hot drinks. Thanks to our partners in the Red Cross and Fire Service for this. 

Efforts are made to get everyone found sleeping rough into a shelter in cold weather. If you see people in cold weather who you're concerned about, please contact Framework on the number above, or call 999 in an emergency.   

If you see a rough sleeper, please let Framework teams know where you've seen someone, with a brief description. That will help us find the person and offer them support.  

• Text SOT and a message to 80800  

• Call 0800 066 5356 to speak to or leave a message for the team, it's FREE from all phones and open 24/7  
• Go to www.streetlink.org.uk to tell us online 

Firstly if you see a rough sleeper who you’re worried about, please call Framework on 0800 0665356 (24 hours a day, free from landlines and mobiles) so their Street Outreach team can offer support. 

Secondly, donate money, food and household items to charities helping homeless people here in Nottingham. 

• See how to give help and find help via the Street Support Nottingham website
• Give money to Framework 
• Give money to Emmanuel House 
• Buy a ticket to Beat The Streets  a concert with all profits going to Framework 
• Donate food to a local food bank  find your nearest Trussell Trust food bank or give in your local supermarket 
• Donate furniture and clothes to The Arches 

Giving food, clothes and money directly to rough sleepers isn’t the best way to help them. Giving gifts of money can sometimes do more harm than good, because it can help to sustain drug and alcohol addiction. 

We offer help and support to everybody who is sleeping rough in Nottingham but not everyone accepts that support, for complex reasons that may include drug and alcohol addiction or mental health issues. 

 Many of the rough sleepers on the streets of Nottingham are people who have: 

• Rejected our help 
• Been thrown out of shelters due to violence or drug use 
• Refused to return to their place of origin where they can best be helped 
• Some people you see may be beggars who aren’t homeless 

We appreciate why this seems like the simplest solution but sadly rough sleeping is a complex problem with no easy answer. 

As Framework point’s out ‘getting people off the streets is rarely as simple as just finding them a place to stay. They’re experiencing a series of challenges, including mental and physical ill-health, alcohol and drug addiction and a history of offending’. 

Nottingham City Council commission Framework to work with rough sleepers to get off the streets and address their issues. But it isn’t safe for us to give them somewhere to stay that isn’t properly staffed and supervised as they could pose a danger to themselves or others. 

However, the council is working with partners to provide accommodation for people facing homelessness and this includes bringing empty homes back into use and considering options for converting empty buildings into suitable supported housing.  If you are aware of an empty home or building you can tell us about it by emailing housing.network@nottinghamcity.gov.uk 

According to Framework, who’ve been working to help people who are homeless in Nottingham since 2001, ‘ in many cases individuals begging are not homeless and the money raised by begging is likely to be spent on drugs’.