Leith charity founder and recovering addict takes on rough sleeping challenge to raise £1m for charity
Richie Roncero will spend seven nights sleeping rough in 26 different UK locations as part of his six-month-long challenge
A former addict from Edinburgh has started a challenge that will see him spend six months sleeping rough in a bid to raise £1 million to extend a Scottish addiction recovery facility.
Richie Roncero, a recovering drug addict from Leith, hopes to raise the funds for the construction and operation of additional bedrooms at a residential facility for recovering drug addicts in West Lothian.
The 42-year-old left the Hope House facility on Saturday, October 17 before beginning his challenge on the streets of Glasgow.
Mr Roncero will spend seven nights sleeping rough in 26 locations across the UK over six months, carrying only a sleeping bag, phone, toothbrush and 100 information leaflets for each stop.
He plans to livestream his experiences to help raise awareness of the realities faced by thousands of people experiencing homelessness across Britain, while raising funds to stop people “dying on waiting lists” while waiting for addiction support.
Speaking ahead of the challenge, Mr Roncero said he is “losing sleep already” and added that there is not “one bit of (him) that wants to do this”.
“I’ll miss Christmas and New Year with my family, and I’ll be out on my recovery birthday when I turn 12 years sober. I’ll be out on my actual birthday as well, and I’ll be missing my daughter’s birthday too,” he said.
“I’m giving up my security and risking my mental health, putting it all on show for the world to see which is daunting.
“It’s hard to carry yourself and motivate yourself when you’re at low points with your mental health, and that will happen.
He added: “But we have people dying on our waiting lists and I take calls from parents, and kids, people begging for their loved ones to get support.”
Mr Roncero, who experienced periods of homelessness during his own 16-year battle with addiction, previously said he spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on cocaine, having been a user since he was 15 years old.
He has been in recovery since 2014.
Mr Roncero went on to launch the Edinburgh-based homelessness and addiction charity Steps To Hope, which opened the Hope House facility, a 10-bedroom residential recovery facility, in Broxburn in 2024.
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He said Steps To Hope is his life and his “juice comes from watching other people’s lives get better and improve”, which is why he is undertaking this challenge to support the charity.
More than £250,000 has already been raised by supporters, with funds going towards five additional bedrooms at Hope House, the charity’s existing 10-bed residential recovery facility, which opened in 2024 and has secured planning permission to expand.
“(The extension) is to meet the demand for our services. We have so many people everyday phoning to come in here.
“We are doing so many assessments and we can’t turn beds around quickly enough,” Mr Roncero said.
“It got to the point that people have passed away on our waiting list because we haven’t been able to get a bed quickly enough.”
Mr Roncero began his six-month challenge in Glasgow this weekend, before moving on to locations including London, Manchester, Durham, Dundee, Cambridge, Dunfermline, Belfast, Derry, Cardiff, Swansea, Stirling, Westminster, Newcastle, Inverness, Birmingham, Bradford, Aberdeen, Leeds, Bristol, Liverpool, Perth, Sunderland, Bath, York and Carlisle.