THESE people have become notorious over the past few months after making the shop doorways in and around Moulsham Street, Chelmsford, their home.
They, along with a dozen or so other homeless friends, have been blamed for petty crime and for littering the pavements with empty cans of super strength lager or cider.
This week, Moulsham Street traders demanded action, claiming that having vagrants outside their shops are intimidating passers-by and affecting business.
But after the Chess day-shelter shut last year, the homeless people, estimated at 1,380 in the East of England, say they have nowhere to go.
When the Chronicle spoke to some of the people sleeping rough on Monday, we found Greg Dyson lying in the blocked-up doorway of the old Quasar building, in New Writtle Street, having a seizure and foaming at the mouth.
When paramedics showed up, Greg, 37, was vomiting on the pavement and, after a quick check-up, the paramedics left.
Greg, an alcoholic, says he never intended to end up sleeping rough on a pile of dirty blankets in a doorway in Chelmsford.
The London-born former electrical engineer had planned to emigrate to Sweden to be with his daughter Alexandra, 12, but only made it to Stansted Airport, three years ago.
"They told me my ticket was not valid and I had to pay an extra £388, but I could not afford that.
"I spent Christmas Day in the airport alone before the police found me, put me on a bus to Chelmsford and here I am.
"I have now been homeless for about a year, but days and months mean nothing when you are on the streets," he said.
When he was made redundant, he had nowhere to live, and stayed at friends' houses for a couple of months.
Now his life is very different, taking a daily dose of 40 pills, including sleeping tablets and mood stabilisers.
Greg said: "I am fluent in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and German – bet you would never have guessed.
"It is just one of those things. Now there is nothing to do during the day, just drink."
Lorna Griffin, 37, has not washed for a week and her clothes are stale after living on the streets for eight months.
The methadone addict of 14 years says she was just getting her life back in order when her Braintree house went up in flames.
Lorna, who was pregnant and living with her boyfriend at the time, says she had to have her one-year-old child adopted.
"As soon as that fire happened I lost my son, I got post-natal depression, and I turned back to drink. Social services said they would take my son for just ten days, but they have never given him back," she said.
"He is going through adoption because I think that is for the best. I would be selfish to keep him with me.
"I have made plans with the social worker to see him in November on his birthday, and give him a keep-box with some letters and photos from me."
Lorna says she was sexually abused as a child, which sparked her drinking habit.
She broke down in tears and said: "You think I want to be here smelling like this? I want to change my life around."
Lorna's partner, Ashley Reid, 29, was made homeless four months ago, after splitting with his girlfriend, and was supported by both Greg and Lorna.
The trio say they're a new family, and Ashley said: "Without those two I would not have made it, we all help each other out."
Former homeless man Kevin Tutton, 52, of Chelmsford, who knows the homeless group, said: "About 18 months ago, I was living on the streets, anywhere and everywhere I could find.
"I broke up with my other half and ended up on the streets, you just survive because you have to.
"All these homeless people have been hurt in one way or another, one of these guys was a chartered accountant.
"They actually get the blame for a lot of things that they do not do.
"There are lots of empty alcohol bottles around New London Road on a Sunday, it is not always them, but they get the blame.
"But the help is out there if you know how to find it."
