BIG SleepOut marks Swindon homeless charity's 50th year of service

Swindon’s Homeless Charity Threshold is to end its 50th year of service with Swindon’s annual BIG SleepOut.

The event will run from 8pm on Friday, 2 December at Supermarine Sports and Social Club, continuing through the night and culminating with a hot breakfast from 7am Saturday morning.   

Threshold Chief Development Officer  Michael Keenan said: “All of us at Threshold are so proud to have played a part in this wonderful charity’s long history of delivering life-changing and life-saving services over the past half-century. 

"It is a very sad thing, on the one hand, that in our 50th year we have had to expand our number of bed spaces more than threefold and we will grow even further through the winter months as demand surges for supported accommodation. The impact of the cost-of-living crisis and unprecedented inflation is currently driving families and single persons to experience homelessness and the situation will only get worse in the short-term. 

"We are seeing in Swindon up to four family members crammed into hotel rooms, with no cooking facilities, or placed in B&Bs, some of which provide a very low standard of accommodation, offering limited or no facilities for food preparation. 

"Threshold has always relied heavily upon the generosity of the local community to support the work we undertake with the homeless and Swindon’s BIG SleepOut is one of our key events where supporters turn out and raise funds for the charity as we enter winter, a traditionally difficult season for the homeless." 

Jason Biggs, Threshold’s Head of Psychological Therapies and Rough Sleeper Outreach, said: “We continue to see a consistent flow of people sleeping rough in Swindon, but bigger still are the numbers of individuals sofa surfing and those facing eviction from rental properties which are becoming unaffordable as landlords increase rents in what is a ‘hot market’. 

"We are seeing an enormous increase in numbers of people presenting at food handouts and to food banks, many talking of their precarious housing situation. Not just Threshold, but other housing providers to the homeless are also attempting to expand as quickly as possible to meet demand”.  

The annual BIG SleepOut is a family friendly event, providing entertainment, food and a space for people to meet and sleep out for one night in solidarity with Swindon’s homeless people.  

Kevin Parry, Operations and Social Impact Manager at Threshold, said: “SleepOut is an event that Threshold supporters enjoy each year very much, which is why it is one of the largest SleepOut’s for the homeless in the South West. 

"There are no up-front fees charged to participate like in other towns and cities nearby, instead participants raise what they can and all are welcome, regardless of their capacity to donate because support for Threshold’s mission to help the homeless can be expressed in many ways, including through turning out to be counted among those sleeping out for the night”.  

People can register to take part via https://www.thl.org.uk/events/