Under a scruffy duvet on the pavement in Leeds lay a human being. Unmoving.
He – it was probably a man, it usually is – was entirely covered to keep out the cold.
People passed by in their hundreds, making for shopping malls already humming with the festive season. They took no notice of this sad Christmas cameo.
The scene made me pause, and reflect on the contrast between the plight of one homeless man amid the gaudy celebrations.
But what is one among so many? Just yards away, another was hunched up on the paving stones, hand held out for money.
Accurate figures are hard to come by, but there are an estimated 1,500 homeless and rough sleepers in West Yorkshire, with the largest number in Leeds.
It is certainly true that 10, ranging in age from 27 to 65 and including two women, died in the city over a three-year period to 2019. Nationally, two perished every day in England and Wales last year.
And more will succumb as the cost-of-living crisis tightens its winter grip.
The Tories have repeatedly promised to end the blight of rough sleeping by 2024, and brought in the Homelessness
Reduction Act to make councils tackle the problem more urgently.
Legislation alone will never suffice. There is not enough social housing to end a scourge that has no place in 21st century Britain.
Housing charity Shelter reports a growing demand for help, and warns: “This is going to be one of the toughest winters yet as so many people battle rising rents while housing benefit stays frozen.”
Frozen, just like those haunting figures in shop doorways of our towns and cities.
How many more must die before this Government keeps its promises?
