Trent Alexander-Arnold of LFC visits the Whitechapel Warehouse with volunteers and staff (Photo: Andrew Teebay) Liverpool EchoAccording to Trent Alexander-Arnold, helping individuals at the forefront of Liverpool’s rapidly increasing homelessness epidemic was a “no brainer” for him.This morning, the football player from West Derby was in the Whitechapel Warehouse, which is a component of the Whitechapel Center. The organization is among the biggest homelessness organizations in the city at a time when the number of people sleeping rough in the city has increased by more than 50% in the last year.Together with Liverpool City Council leader Liam Robinson and Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, Alexander-Arnold assisted staff members and volunteers at its warehouse in packing emergency packages that will be sent to close to 2,000 households. The people in attendance created a conveyor belt and packed essentials like clothes, gifts, coupons, sanitary products, and certificates into gift bags so they could be distributed throughout the city.

Speaking to the ECHO, Alexander-Arnold claimed homelessness was something he cared deeply about. He said: “It’s a growing issue. It’s one that is deeply affecting the people of the city and people that are close to me, people that are around me, friends, family and people that to me dearly.

“It’s a big problem within the city, but it’s one that you see places like this are trying their best to tackle.”

Alexander-Arnold claimed it was a “no brainer” to help tackle homelessness, revealing he had approached the Metro Mayor himself to ask what he could do.

Praising the work of Mr Rotheram and the Whitechapel Centre, he said: “That’s the most important thing – as long as there’s people like this, volunteers, staff, Steve, who are working very, very hard and very closely to tackle this kind of issue, it means that the city will hopefully overcome the issues that are going on.”

Alexander-Arnold became vice-captain of Liverpool last summer. He dismissed the suggestion that it was this new leadership role which had ignited his desire to support social causes in the city.

LFC’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and Liam Robinson with staff and volunteers at the Whitechapel Warehouse (Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)

He said: “I think I’ve always felt responsibility from a younger age around giving back to the community and giving back to the city, because, with lots of people in the city, they’ve done a lot for me growing up. They’re the ones that mean the most to me, so being vice captain or anything like that doesn’t really change the mindset that I’ve got towards initiatives like this.

“I’ve spoken to Steve and he’s highlighted how big of an issue it was. It’s something that I can really get behind, especially across the winter time and bring as much awareness as possible because it’s a growing issue and it’s one that we need to tackle as well as possible. And seeing all the work that the volunteers and the workers do here is amazing to see.”

Mr Rotheram said he was uncertain whether the city could cope with the rising numbers of rough sleepers in the city. He said: “I think the issue is that we don’t know how big the crisis is going to grow.

“We know that there’s a cost of living crisis, we know that people through that are being forced onto the streets, and yet we don’t know where that’s going to stop because this is only something that a government can tackle.”

However, he insisted that the local work of Alexander-Arnold and charities remained vital. He said: “To have somebody like Trent to lend their name to this, to bring attention, to bring awareness to what people can do, because we can all play our little bit.

“Whilst I want to change the world and change the government and everything else, we all have to try and do our little bit. And there are people here who are volunteers who are doing their bit. And then with Trent’s help now, those nearly 2,000 people who receive these packages, we’ll be doing our little bit to help those people.

“I want to see structural reform, I want to see complete change. There should be a right for people to have a roof over their heads, and that’s a bigger issue really for us to tackle as a society.

LFC’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, helping staff and volunteers pack parcels for homeless people (Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)

“The bit that we can do is to affect an individual’s life. And the Whitechapel Centre does that on a daily basis.

“They have an outreach approach, getting people the support that they rightly need and deserve. And look, both of us are from this area. We’re local lads and all that.

“That’s why you’re so desperate to see people do better because there’s so much potential out there that’s being wasted. If we harness just some of that in the right direction, these people could go on to do brilliant things.”

Last week, the ECHO worked alongside the outreach team at the Whitechapel Centre during their morning shift, providing homeless people with the assistance they required to become stable. Those present at the warehouse this morning expressed gratitude for Alexander-Anrold’s assistance at a time when the organization is busier than ever.

David Carter, 55 from Garston, who is the CEO of the centre, said: “I’ve worked in homelessness now for over 20 years. I don’t think it’s ever been this bad.

“Homelessness, unfortunately, is increasing. Last year we worked with over 4,300 different individuals in the Liverpool city region and for us that represented a 15% increase. That equates to 561 more households experiencing homelessness. We’re seeing an even bigger increase this year.”