IT seems all too easy to tar all rough sleepers with the same brush. Yes, some are wrestling with addictions to alcohol and drugs. Others may have deep-seated and long-standing mental health problems. Their behaviour can be challenging to say the least.

However, if we look a little closer, peel away the layers of a dehumanising stereotype, and look at the man or woman beneath we see that they are us. Each is an individual with their own unique story. They are our mirror as we are theirs. If our families were torn apart, if we had suffered childhood neglect, lost our jobs or fallen prey to any number of misfortunes, some of our own making and others entirely beyond our control, then almost any one of us could become homeless, especially as we now hover on the brink of a catastrophic recession. That is why staff at the Fownes Hotel, charity CCP and other partners like St Paul's Hostel and the city council set such an inspiring example to all of us of what we can achieve if we pull together in a crisis.

Staff at the Fownes put their own lives on the line to help society's most vulnerable people during this terrible pandemic. We should thank them.