FOR most of us, returning to a comfortable warm home at the end of each day isn't a luxury – it's just what we're used to.

But Hugo Sugg is one man who understands just what that really means after finding himself homeless in Hereford following a relationship breakdown when he was just 18.

Having previously received support from Herefordshire Supported Housing for Young People Project (SHYPP), the organisation helped Mr Sugg find temporary accommodation through its Nightstop programme and he spent some nights sleeping on friends' sofas.

But it was in November 2008 that Mr Sugg, now 25, spent the 'scariest night of his life', sleeping rough in a lobby at Lloyds Bank in High Town when there was nowhere else to go.

"It was a night when SHYPP couldn't put me up and it was the scariest night of my life," he said.

"It was the point where I didn't feel human. I didn't feel like I was a person in society. I felt like something that people didn't respect and didn't pay attention to and didn't notice.

"I just felt completely invisible. I hit rock bottom that night, anything could have happened."

More Nightstops and sofa surfing followed and when Mr Sugg moved into a house share on Hereford's Union Street the following year, the trauma began to take its toll and he suffered a physical and mental breakdown.

The 25-year-old student, who is studying youth and community work at University of Worcester, has shared his experience in a blog which he hopes will raise awareness of youth homelessness on a national scale.

"The one message I want to get across is that I have managed to come out the other side of it but many won't,” he said.

"Many fall into the horrible traps that homelessness can put you in – drugs, alcohol, sexual exploitation and criminal activity. And people don't realise how easy it is to fall into that. It can take a week to fall into a drug ring or if someone offers you half a brandy or a whisky then that becomes your fix. When you are vulnerable it's so easy to be whipped up into something that's really damaging for the rest of your life.

"I could have easily fallen into drugs or criminal activity. I kept my wits about me as much as I could and that's one reason I think the trauma hit me later as I had so much self determination to say 'no, this isn't going to beat me'.

"I didn't expect it. One day my life was ok, the next it completely collapsed around me. I lived out of two bags. That was my life.

"I'm saying give people the right support as soon as possible.”

Mr Sugg, who credits SHYPP with saving his life, is now living in private rented accommodation in Worcester and says he is proud to see how far he has come in the last seven years.

To read Mr Sugg's blog, visit https://hugosugg.wordpress.com/2015/10/27/youth-homelessness-pt1/

Anyone at risk of becoming homeless can visit herefordshire.gov.uk/housing/homelessness-and-prevention/homelessness-advice-and-support or call Herefordshire Council on 01432 261600.