A HOSTEL for homeless people in Worcester has not had a single case of Covid in the pandemic.

Staff at St Paul’s Hostel in Tallow Hill have been working tirelessly to keep their residents Covid free throughout the pandemic.

When the pandemic first hit the UK, the government launched the ‘Everybody in Campaign’, with the purpose of getting all rough sleepers inside in order to minimise the infections.

 Worcestershire had approximately 48 people sleeping rough in Autumn 2019. However, over 150 people, either homeless or at risk of rough sleeping, were brought in during the pandemic.

Richard, 40, who had been sleeping rough for years, moved to St Paul’s a couple of months ago. He praised the hostel, saying it has helped him immensely and he is back in touch with his family, through whom he learnt he has two grandchildren.

 “I got put in a bed and breakfast at the beginning of the pandemic and I was there for a 11-and-a-half months and they just left me there,” Richard said, “I told them that I need a little bit of a hand so then I moved here.”

Kerry, 37, has been a resident of St. Paul’s hostel for years. Originally from Birmingham, she has had a 20-year struggle with drugs and alcohol. After coming to Worcester, she ended up sleeping rough.

 After her first stay at St Paul’s years ago, she soon ended up back on the streets, because she initially did not like the place as she said they didn’t have counselling then and the staff were different.

 However, her second stay has been a great success. After undergoing rehabilitation, she returned to St Paul's three years ago and has been turning her life around ever since.

 “This pandemic has changed everything. It did get me a bit angry that all of a sudden there was room for all rough sleepers to get indoors that apparently was not there before,” Kerry said.

 Jonathan Sutton, the chief executive officer of St Paul’s, said they'd welcomed 46 rough sleepers at the start of the pandemic.

 “Covid made life very difficult for people because we had to bring in increased number of Covid measures such as hand sanitation and mask wearing. We changed the dining room layout to have wider social distancing and had to manage staff in a different way,” he said.

“We were expecting at least three people to die in the pandemic according to statistics. We didn’t have any, in fact we didn’t have a single case,” Jonathan said.

Both Kerry and Richard said the pandemic has had a positive impact on their lives as the hostel has received a lot of donations from people.

“It’s been really tough for mental health in this lockdown and we haven’t been able to go out as much, so people have donated bikes that we can use, the community is really good to us,” Kerry said.

“We come here with nothing and now I’ve got two wardrobes worth of clothes. Clothes and coffee – that’s my new addiction,” she laughed.

 Kerry, who works in the kitchen and cleans the hostel, explained how much support the staff offer her with work opportunities.

 “There is a job scheme in place in St Paul’s and it is based on points. Instead of giving people money, residents receive points in exchange for their work so they can buy what they need from the internet, something sensible.”

“Doing little jobs around this place motivates people as well, gets them up in the morning,” she added.

 Kerry, who had been using drugs from the age of 15, says she had not known anything else until she came to St Paul’s. "I never dealt with the trauma I went through in my childhood and used drugs instead to mask it and it had taken me 20 years to tell the counsellor about my past.”

 Kerry has expressed her desire to share her inspirational story with others who may be struggling with drug and alcohol abuse and become a counsellor herself. She has returned to college, where she has already completed the introduction to counselling and mentoring courses and will soon begin as the first official mentor for a new programme in St. Paul’s.

“If I can help one person I’ve succeeded,” she said.

 Kerry said she would like people to know that everybody has a story and people shouldn’t judge others so quickly based on their current situation.

“Don’t always look down on people sleeping rough, that could be someone you know. When you give dirty looks to a person begging, think about that is someone’s daughter or son you are doing that to,” she said.