After brainstorming multiple ideas in which direction to take this shoot, I have decided to go with homelessness, looking into the different charities and also the food banks. Since Covid-19 the homeless have been hit really hard, most people don't carry cash around with them now as the world is trying to go 'cashless', which makes it impossible for them to get money. I chose this subject for my shoot as its something I believe in, I feel that homelessness does not get talked about as much as it should. I have done a shoot on homelessness before and it went really well and I really loved the final outcome of the images. I feel that this links into building a better future because it could hopefully help more homeless people off the street and provide them with a better future. Before taking a photo of them I will sit with them and listen to their story, how lockdown was for them, if they stayed in accommodation, any specific charities and food banks they might visit. I would also look at their belongings, some of them have very little but may mean everything to them.

BBC NEWS 

Thousands of homeless people who have been housed during the coronavirus pandemic could return to the streets by the end of June, a charity has warned.

Since the lockdown began, more than 14,500 people who were on the streets or at risk of sleeping rough have been given emergency accommodation.

But Crisis has warned contracts between local councils and hotels are due to end as government funding runs out.

The government said councils must continue to provide accommodation.

But councils have asked the government to be clear on what extra practical support they will get.

Local authorities in England began moving rough sleepers into emergency accommodation such as hotels in March after the start of the coronavirus lockdown.

The councils were given £3.2m from the government as part of an emergency scheme called "Everyone In", which was aimed at stopping the spread of the virus.

But earlier this month, it emerged government funding for that scheme was to end. The government said it had given councils an extra £3.2bn in funding to help them deal with the pandemic, although that money is not specifically for the emergency rough sleeping scheme.

Crisis called the action to house rough sleepers over the past weeks "extraordinary", adding: "This has demonstrated that when the political will is there it is possible to end homelessness."

But the charity said the government should take further action to provide everyone with permanent housing, warning that if not people will be forced to return to the streets.

One BBC article interviewed homeless people who had been housed in hotels to reduce the risk of Covid-19. There was mixed views on the housing, some people hated the indoors and moved out of the hotels in the first couple of weeks, others loved it and have now got their own accommodation. 

The first photographer that I researched was Lee Jeffries, he is a self-taught British photographer, and has taken upon himself to tell the rest of us who the homeless really are. His work really inspires me, the photographs are so beautiful, they tell a story about the person photographed. 

"Through a life-changing event that included taking a photograph of a young girl huddled in her sleeping bag, she noticing him, and he apologizing to her, talking and getting to know her, we now have an opportunity to finally break the misconceptions we’ve had about the people living in the streets and see them for who they truly are – the human beings, and not some boogeyman we’ve grown to be afraid of."

The next photographer is Carol Hudson who has taken photographs of her late husbands belongings, I have taken inspiration from her work because I would like to take photos of the homeless peoples belongings to show how little can mean to them. 

Alex Greenhalgh, 22, has come straight out of university and created Stories of the Streets– part fundraiser, part social art project – to turn the tables. Working with local homeless charities and support networks, first in Nottingham, where he was studying, and most recently in Manchester, the project puts disposable cameras into the hands of people sleeping rough and encourages them to capture the world as they see it. The pictures are then developed, framed, and put on sale in a public exhibition, with a share of the proceeds going to the street photographer.

They photos range from some of Manchester’s most iconic buildings to abstractions of detail: a pair of shoes, a lighter, cracks of light through blinds in some unknown darkened room.

Altering the perceptions of average citizens is fundamental to the problem of homelessness. We want to change minds

This isn’t a rescue operation, nor does it put a roof over someone’s head but one of the photographers, Omar Itani, 23, who has been in and out of sheltered accommodation and been forced to sleep rough, says that the project has real power.

“If you give a homeless person a camera they will look at the city around them in a different way,” he says. “It freezes time for a second. People don’t understand the power of photography. It makes you stop and think; there’s a whole city around you, what are you doing there?”

"I am Sophie Stobbe, 23 years old and I live in Berlin. I just had the opportunity to do an internship in Barcelona and New York, where i started my current project. I am Communication Designer and Photographer. Nowadays with our technology every Person can make pretty Photos, if you want to stand out you have to have the idea behind it and that is what I'mm trying to do."

Second Idea

If my main idea doesn't work then I have another shoot idea, this will be looking specifically into food banks, following the whole process and then seeing where the food ends up. 

Food bank process:

Food donations

Non-perishable in-date food is donated by the public at a range of places, such as schools, churches and business, as well as supermarket collection points. It is then sorted into emergency food parcels by more than 40,000 volunteers, to be given to people in need.

Food vouchers

Care professionals such as health visitors, schools and social workers identify people in crisis and issue them with a food bank voucher. This means people can receive a food bank parcel of three days’ nutritionally balanced, non-perishable food from their local food bank.

More than food

Our food bank network helps people break free from poverty by providing additional support to help people resolve the crises that they face. Food banks rely on the support of local communities to help end hunger. Find your nearest food bank here.

Lots of food banks have now had to make their food bank boxes delivery only due to Covid. There are quite a few local food banks near me.

Worth Abbey Parish supports the food banks run by the Trussel Trust. 1 in 5 people in the UK live below the official poverty line meaning that for them life is a dally struggle. For many people a sudden crisis of redundancy, benefit delay or even an unexpected bill can mean going hungry.

The parish collects donations of non-perishable food for the Crawley SVP and the Haywards Heath food bank. Donations can be left in the container in the porch of the Parish Office or in the baskets which are put out before the Vigil and 9.30 am Masses at the Abbey and the 11.30 am Mass at St Dunstan’s.

The Crawley Interfaith Network serves food to 25-30 homeless people every eight weeks at the Friary in Crawley. They would be delighted to have help from Worth Abbey parishioners. Members of the Hindu Temple bring along delicious curries and rice which are very popular. 

FareShare Sussex was established in 2002 by City Gate Community Projects. The team redistributes surplus food to organisations within the city of Brighton and Hove and the Worthing area, which feed vulnerable groups.

Though Brighton is situated in the south-east of England, the statistics for poverty, deprivation and homelessness outstrip the regional figures and a number of wards are in the most deprived 5% of the country. Brighton also suffers with extremely high levels of drug addiction, consistently recording the highest drug-related death rate in the country.

Many of the volunteers at FareShare Sussex are recruited from the projects FareShare delivers to. Volunteers are provided with accredited training, support and structure to help improve their employment chances.

The Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex, Mims Davies has welcomed the launch of the Haywards Heath ‘Emergency Food Hub’ by Haywards Heath Town Council and Haywards Heath Covid-19 Mutual Aid, supported by Age UK West Sussex, Brighton & Hove and Mid Sussex District Council with the blessing of Haywards Heath Foodbank. The ‘Emergency Food Hub’ will provide food to families that the Haywards Heath Foodbank cannot reach due to capacity, and those who find themselves (in the first instance) outside of the referral system.

The Emergency Food Hub will operate on the same guidelines as the Haywards Heath Foodbank. Once the Foodbank reaches capacity a referral will be made to the Emergency Food Hub.

Haywards Heath which is my hometown, has multiple food banks in its superstores.

There is a website which has links to all the different places in Brighton where you can receive food if needed. 

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