MOST people will stop to buy a copy of the Big Issue but what else can be done to get homeless people off the streets and into accommodation?

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Click here to jump to the story of former homeless man, Peter Hardacre

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An innovative new Trafford based project has taken a calculated risk in supporting people with alcohol and drug addiction problems that other agencies have previously been unable to assist.

During the last few months support workers having been going out on patrol with police officers to gain the trust of people sleeping rough in Sale and - in addition to providing them with hot soup and sandwiches - have been giving them advice on homeless and housing issues.

The joint operation by the Sale neighbourhood police team, Trafford Housing Trust's (THT) housing options team and Trafford Council's drug and alcohol action unit culminated in five homeless people being rehoused just before Christmas.

Pc Heather Clarkson, from Sale's neighbourhood police, explained: "The aim was to find out who they were, why they were homeless and get them as much help as we could.

"We went out at five o'clock in the morning one day and found three people sleeping in a door way."

So what happened next? "We arranged for them to meet us the following day at a location on the canal," said housing options co-ordinator Kim Entwistle, from Trafford Housing Trust (THT).

"We did that because that was in their comfort zone and we knew they were not accessing our service because they felt threatened and there was little chance of them coming to the office.

"They felt let down by service providers in general so this was a way of building bridges.

"Five people turned up at the meeting place that day and they came back with us to the office where we offered them hot soup and sandwiches and they agreed to do interviews and fill in forms."

The breakthrough meant that five people who had been sleeping rough in doorways and on the canal in Sale are now off the streets and in housing.

THT housing officer Alison Gray said: "Usually getting them to fill in forms is always the main stumbling bloc - but by building up trust it just seemed to work.

"From that point, on average, it took about two months to help them and in some cases it took as little as two weeks to get them into accommodation."

She added: "The transformation in the people we've been able to help is amazing, they are much healthier and are able to engage and interact in ways that seemed impossible before."

Sale Area Insp Brendan O'Brien is convinced the project is not only an alternative way to help vulnerable people who could otherwise have been hit with ASBOs but, in the long term, is also the cheaper option.

He explained: "Can the community afford not to help those people who have the greatest needs? I suggest not. Ultimately I believe this will cost society about a fifth of what it would normally do in the long term.

"In crude financial terms sometimes people who are homeless commit crime to fuel a drug or alcohol habit.

"Whilst this may not be the case for all homeless people nevertheless there are other long term costs - if they're not helped now by different agencies working together."

PETER Hardacre, aged 42, has been rehoused in a THT property in Stretford.

Peter's accommodation is basic but it's given him a fresh chance and he's clearly very proud as he shows me around his one bedroom flat - that includes a living room with a sofa from a charity shop and a second hand TV.

His situation is very different to the one he faced after splitting up with his wife in 1989 and for the first time in years he has hope.

"I've been sleeping rough for more than 10 years. I had a tent but somebody burnt that down.

"So then it was a case of sleeping on door steps -we used a sleeping bag and bits of blanket and card board to stay warm.

"It's one of those things you can never get of - it becomes a vicious circle. You might get into a hostel but that's only short term and then you end up back on the streets.

"It's no long term solution like this and it's given me a lot of hope and changed things around.

"I've tried to get rehoused but its always been a large mission and in places like Manchester city centre you've just got no chance.

"I started selling the Big Issue in Sale about two years ago and people were alright with us. People used to stop and talk to us but obviously there's not much they could do to help.

"Then I ended up sleeping rough and drinking on the canal near the police station and that's when I first came across Brendan, Heather, Kim and Alison.

"Others have also helped me; a lady called Mrs McCarrick, a friends mum, without her I would have been in real trouble; and there's Jez, a Christian worker, he's a top bloke who took us for a Christmas dinner and has given me some bits and pieces for the flat since I moved in to get me started.

"Now I'm taking each day still as it comes and I hope eventually to get back into work. I don't know what I'll end up doing - I have written articles for the Big Issue and Monkey magazine about homeless issues in the past, so maybe that's something.

"I just want to thank everyone who has helped me because without them I'd still be on the streets."

GARY Dixon, aged 37, was sleeping and living rough in Sale for two years.

Gary used to have a good job working as a self-employed roofer in County Durham where he lived with his partner and their daughter.

But Gary is addicted to alcohol and drugs and four years ago his life fell apart.

"We used to for meals as a happy family unit - but then its just amazing how things can go down hill. I was mixing with the wrong people taking drugs, my daughter was getting older and we split up," he said.

Gary eventually spent six months in a rehabilitation unit in Rochdale.

"I was doing really well but then I had a lapse and was asked to leave and that's when I started sleeping on the streets," he explained.

"I knew people in Sale and decided to stay because I was causing too much trouble for my family and I didn't want my daughter to see me in the kind of situation I was in.

"We slept rough here, there and everywhere - on the canal, in door ways and it became difficult to see a way out.

"It got to the stage where the police started to know my face - that's when the workers from THT got involved and fortunately since then things have improved and I've been found accommodation, access to health care and medication.

"It mean's I'm beginning to look after myself a lot more and I'm starting to get back in a life pattern and routine and hopefully I'll soon have a place to call a home.

I'd like to say a big thankyou to THT and the police, some times it can take years to get to this stage."