A regional daily reporter spent a night sleeping rough to highlight the plight of those without a roof over their heads.

Northern Echo trainee reporter Joanna Morris, left, endured the cold and rain to spend Sunday night in Stockton town centre before taking up emergency accommodation with charity Nightstop Teesside.

She decided to experience life as a homeless person to raise awareness of the issue and to highlight the financial difficulties facing the charity, which could see it forced to close.

Joanna tweeted about her experiences from her @JoannaLMorris account for a live blog on the Echo’s website.

She tweeted: “Is that rain I feel? Awesome. How people cope with this regularly is beyond me. Nobody should feel the cold in 2012.

“Impossible to keep warm and dry. Phone running out. Local charity I’ve been working with have me standby bed.

“Before phone dies – nobody should live like this in 2012. Support your local charities, look out for other people.”

During the night, she initially spent time in the doorway of a bank, went to a local church which helps out homeless people, spoke to a homeless man about his experiences and went to a police station to find out what action they take when homeless people arrive.

Later, she took up the offer of a bed with Nightstop Teesside, which provides emergency accommodation in volunteers’ houses for under 25s, with her host not knowing she was a journalist until the following day.

Joanna told HTFP: “It was eye-opening. The thought of people having to be without a roof over their heads in the cold weather is awful.

“People look straight through you as if you weren’t there. The homeless guy said that he collapsed and people just ignored him for ages.

“It’s something I can’t believe happens in 2012.”

Following the experience, Joanna will sleep on the streets as part of a charity sleep-out in January and is also considering opening her home as a host for Nightstop.

Her live blog can be viewed by clicking here.