Last year explorer Ed Stafford announced he would sleep rough for two months to investigate the reality of being homeless in the UK.
The former army officer took to the streets of Manchester, London and Glasgow to hear the stories of people who had fallen through the cracks and found themselves homeless.
The programme did not deal with the structural causes of homelessness, like Universal Credit, a lack of affordable housing, insufficient mental health care services and cuts to local authority budgets.
Speaking to The Big Issue, Stafford insisted that he is an explorer, not an expert – and so is hesitant to speak as an authority on homelessness following his experience.
But he met many long-term homeless people, plenty of whom suffered addiction issues, and put a spotlight on their stories as people – not statistics.
Stafford said: “My hope is in seeing the footage people will be moved to see a very human side to addiction, rather than being judgmental.”
