A HOMELESS charity has warned of the "hidden" number of people 'sofa-surfing' in the city and says its services are stretched more than ever.
It comes as the boyfriend of Michelle Conroy, 21, who was killed by a falling tree as she slept rough in a tent on Western Way, in Exeter, called for more night-time provision for the homeless.
St Petrock's, in Cathedral Yard, Exeter, have told the Echo they are seeing record numbers of homeless people accessing their services.
And they have urged Echo readers to donate what they can as Christmas approaches.
Dave Browning, who is homeless, told the Echo his girlfriend Michelle should never have been sleeping in a tent on the stormy night she died on Saturday, November 24.
The 26-year-old said: "Michelle hardly ever drank and never did any drugs. She wanted to come and meet me the night she died. She left me where I was and went to sleep in the tent with some friends – it wasn't somewhere she normally slept. My mate told me the next day that she had died – I was in bits. I had known Michelle for four years – I loved her.
"I don't know why she stayed in a tent that night. She normally slept on a friend's sofa.
"The main thing for us on the street would be a night shelter – I would like to see any funding go towards providing something like that."
Gill Luckings, of homeless charity St Petrock's, told the Echo the organisation had seen a dramatic increase in the number of people accessing its services.
"We are seeing it every day," she said. "We are now seeing 50 plus clients whereas before it would be around 40 – it's a huge increase. If there are people who don't have statutory rights to housing automatically they become homeless – it's a huge problem.
"We have seen a 31 per cent increase over the last two years in people using our services.
"And in the last three years, we have provided emergency support to 4,260 people.
"Michelle was somebody who made the choice to leave accommodation and she had ended up staying with friends – she sofa-surfed.
"Sofa-surfing is hidden homelessness. We can't tell where they are – it's a real problem."
Gill said the charity had limited funding to help the homeless.
"I understand the public reaction to what happened to Michelle," she said.
"We are here as a charity with restricted funds and our priority is to provide quick access to decent accommodation with support to vulnerable people to change their lives – we do that in a variety of ways."
Gill said the homeless need support as well as accommodation and the provision of a night shelter may not be the best way to spend funding.
"We would rather spend money on our clients than an additional space," she said.
"More funding provides more support and more support equals more qualified people to provide the support."
However, Exeter homeless campaigner Danny McCarthy said a night shelter would make a huge difference to those sleeping rough.
"I've been trying to get a late night shelter going for 30 years," he said. "It doesn't have to be anything fantastic, just somewhere where they can come and put their stuff down and get off the streets."
Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw said those 'sofa-surfing', like Miss Conroy, were an "invisible problem".
"The figures clearly speak for themselves and it's obvious that there has been an increase in homelessness and rough sleeping in Exeter in the last year," he said.
"There is an invisible problem of homeless people sleeping on friend's floors, on sofas and young people staying at home longer than they would normally. There are also huge waiting lists for our social rented accommodation."
