The Nottingham CEO sleepout in Meadow Lane raised over £46,000 in their fight to tackle homelessness.
The event sees CEO’s from across the region sleep in Meadow Lane at night with talks prior to braving the elements in the football stands from people involved in charities to help rough sleepers, organisers and stories from previous rough sleepers.
This comes as homelessness in Nottingham is hitting a crisis point as in October it was reported by the BBC that the council’s temporary accommodation is full, meaning it spent £22,000 every night on hotels and B&Bs for 169 people and families.
“If we didn’t raise a single penny, you’ve still got a lot of people in a room together, talking about homelessness.”
Ben Talbot, Cheif Executive of the Friary
On the night some statistics were read out stating there are 10,100 people on Nottingham’s waiting list for affordable housing, 2,500 open homelessness cases in Nottingham, the demand for temporary accommodation for housing families has gone from 88 to 441 units and the rate of homelessness in Nottingham is 1 in 201 people.
Ben Talbot, Cheif Executive of the Friary, one of the charities supported on the night, said: “Tonight is about awareness raising; if we didn’t raise a single penny, you’ve still got a lot of people in a room together, talking about homelessness and raising awareness and an understanding a bit more about it.
He added: “I think Nottingham itself is a place, for whatever reason, where people actually come from other areas and travel to Nottingham because it’s known to be a place that does try to support people who are rough sleeping and so despite probably not having as much support as we’d like, there’s a perception out there that there’s a lot to a lot to offer.”
How is this for a bed, #Notts fans? 🤩#CEOSleepoutNottingham | @The_CEOSLEEPOUT pic.twitter.com/O8v5p7aSYY
— Notts County Foundation (@NCFCFoundation) November 9, 2023
Ross Crayton, who runs the business Core Workwear, said: “It was enlightening as it makes you understand that actually not like everybody who homeless is a drug addict for example, and it makes you understand the story behind it.
“It’s not something you can just invest 10 billion in and it’s going to end it – you can’t – you’ll never end it because you’ll get a lot of homeless people who suffer psychologically, you’ve got a lot of veterans that are on the street so again, the biggest thing is awareness and getting to understand why people are homeless.”
At the time of the event, Suella Braverman had made comments stating rough sleeping is “a lifestyle choice” while laying out plans to curb the use of tents on streets.
Ben Talbot reacted to these comments on the night saying: “Words fail me, I don’t know whether she’s serious, to be honest with you.
“I think how can anyone say something like that and be taken seriously?
“I don’t even think she should be spoken about frankly, I think she is she is clearly either totally uninformed, stupid or just wants to lose her job.” He added.
To date, the total CEO Sleepout UK fund is 2.7 million raised and to donate click here to go to their website.