The ‘Help Us Help’ Project has launched a new ‘newspaper’ to highlight the support available across the city to people experiencing homelessness or begging.
An event was held this Tuesday (25th March) at Sheffield Winter Garden where the public could meet professionals working for charities and companies which support people experiencing rough sleeping, homelessness or vulnerability.
Councillor Douglas Johnson, Chair of the Housing Committee and Sheffield City Council, said: “We’re at record levels now, it puts a huge pressure on services, and it’s a huge problem.”
The Green Party Councillor said it’s important to raise awareness amongst the public.
“It always annoys me when I hear people say: ‘there are all these people sleeping rough, there are all these people who are homeless, and no one’s doing anything,’ because actually there are a lot of people doing a lot of work.”
The event was also an opportunity to welcome back the newspaper, which aims to make homeless people aware of the array of support services which are available to them.
In a statement last year the council said it estimated that there were around 4,000 homeless people in Sheffield, an all-time high. An official count of rough sleepers in Sheffield, which was reported to the government in 2024, counted 52 people.
The newspaper shows the partnership work that is being done every day to solve the issue of homelessness in the city, and where they can go if they ever need help.
Help Us Help is run by local charities, Sheffield City Council, and other groups which all work together to support people who find themselves sleeping rough.
The newspaper is funded by Supertram, a company based near the cathedral in the city centre.
Other partners from the Help Us Help project were at the Winter Gardens on Tuesday speaking about their services.
When speaking at the event on Tuesday, James Stewart, Head of Customer Service and Operations at Supertram, said: “It’s important to us to be a good neighbour and we always try to support the communities in the areas that we operate in.”
The paper will be distributed across a range of channels to maximise its outreach and help as many people as possible.