Homeless couple call for more help for rough sleepers

A couple has shared the challenges of being homeless during a pandemic, being the victim of yobs, and being forced to sleep in a public toilet.

Sara Edworthy, 45, and her partner of ten months, Ilyas Sanchez, 56, have been living on the streets for almost a year, they are now calling on North Devon District Council to help them, and those who are homeless.

Currently, the couple is living in separate hotel accommodation, but are seeking a way out of Ilfracombe to be together.

Mr Sanchez said: “Last summer, we camped up by the swimming pool and we stayed there for three months.

“Then our tent got trashed three times and what he had was stolen. We don’t know why, and it meant we had to buy another tent.

“We managed to put that up, and after two nights before I woke up in the middle of the night, couldn’t breath properly and didn’t know what was happening. I shook Sarah to wake her up we realised someone had collapsed the tent on us.

“We heard some people running away laughing who had pulled the barracks out and pulled the pole out of the tent.

“I went on the internet to ask how to put up a tent properly and found out that advice suggested we put it on a slope. The problem was, the water ran down into it and soaked the groundsheet.

“We then had to get one of the council workers to open the toilets that were closed. We stayed there a while as it was out of order at the time, sleeping in cardboard boxes.”

Earlier in January, the couple received a call from North Devon District Council, saying they had found them accommodation in a B&B.

Miss Edworthy explained: “I think it’s only because of lockdown that we’ve now been put up in a hotel. Otherwise, I think we’d still be sleeping in the toilets.

“However, we were told we would be together, but in separate rooms. However, we then got told we would be separated.”

She added: “I’m not allowed any visitors whatsoever. I have got to be at my guest house by 10 pm as well, so I’m on a curfew.

“I don’t understand why they have done that to us.”

Mr Sanchez said the council needed to “pull their fingers out” to help homeless people.

“We want to get out of Ilfracombe. It’s the wrong crowd here, with drug-dealing and such. We don’t want to be around them.

“We’re hoping to find a private landlord in the Barnstaple area. My housing officer has told me that they will support us.”

Before meeting, both Sarah and Ilyas lived in London. Sara has now been in Ilfracombe for 16 years and has been looking for permanent accommodation ever since.

“I used to live on Friendship Lane but was evicted in Christmas 2019 and have been homeless since.

“I did stay at my mum’s house for a few weeks, but she had a sensitive operation, and did not want me and Ilyas living there with her together.”

Mr Sanchez, who has bipolar, previously lived in Tiverton and was supported by Mid Devon District Council.

“I was told there was a supported living arrangement in Ilfracombe for me because I was leaving to visit my partner.

“They said I was putting other residents at risk due to Covid-19.”

Service lead housing for vulnerable persons and community safety at North Devon Council, Natasha Rowland responded saying: “For more than eight years we have had a full-time outreach team working with our rough sleepers.

“As well as undertaking such things as welfare checks, the main aim of the service is to work with clients to support them on their journey to end their rough sleeping.

“Since the initial lockdown in March last year we have offered every rough sleeper some form of accommodation.

“For some, this will have been supported housing, for others a private let or equivalent, and for others, this may have been temporary accommodation. When the previous lockdown lifted, this offer did not change and still has not changed.

“In recent years the Outreach team has expanded and as well as including specialist housing outreach workers and a drug and alcohol specialist, it now includes a full-time mental health nurse, voluntary sector support and most recently a physical health nurse.

“We aim to continue expanding the rough sleeper service, working in both a trauma-informed and person-centred way, to ensure we are best meeting a client’s needs and are fully equipped to support a client regardless of their need.”

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