A regional daily has urged readers to sleep rough for a night this coming winter in a bid to highlight the issue of homelessness.

The Norwich Evening News has teamed up with youth homelessness charity the Benjamin Foundation to encourage 150 people to take part in what will be its largest fundraising event to date.

The 2016 Norwich Sleep Out will challenge people to spend one night sleeping rough on 11 November.

The same event last year saw 70 people on the streets of the city raise £17,000 for the charity, with the money being used to fund training and social activities for the young people it supports.

Evening News editor David Powles, pictured above left, said: “The Benjamin Foundation fulfils a vital role in our city and we are delighted to be supporting it in this way.”

Chris Elliot, the charity’s marketing and fundraising manager, added: “This is our biggest fundraising event of the year by a long way. The strength of it is that it’s not only a big fundraiser, but it also gives people a flavour of the issues we tackle.

“Our sleep-out is not like being homeless, but it does make you appreciate the challenges that come with sleeping outside during winter.”

He continued: “I’m confident we will be able to reach our target of 150 people because we have lots of people who did it last year saying they will do it again and they are keen to get more people involved with them.”