Cambridge

Cambridge is a city of contrasts: ancient colleges and punting tourists on one side, real hardship on the other, with a widening gap between the wealthy and everyone else. Average household income in the area sits around £45,000 a year, but that figure hides how expensive rent and daily life here have become, pushing more people into precarity. Cambridge City Council's most recent rough sleeper count recorded 30 people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2023, though outreach workers say the real number moving through the city across a year is higher. Jimmy's Cambridge runs a night shelter and outreach service and knows the streets well, Wintercomfort offers a day centre with food, showers, and support workers who won't judge you, and the Cambridge City Foodbank can help when things get desperate. Churches around the city centre also open their doors for warmth and food on rotating days, so it's worth asking around. This is a hard place to be poor in, surrounded by so much visible wealth, but there are people here who see you and want to help. You are not invisible, and you are not alone in this.