When housing is hard to get...

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We currently have two students from Trinity University spending 6 weeks with us on a research placement. Yesterday they went on outreach with two of our workers. Here one of them reflects on their experiences.

'When I was on the bus this morning, I had an idea of the problem of homelessness in Britain, as recent government statistics had shown that from 2010-2016 homelessness had doubled in numbers, but I really didn’t know what to expect when it came to homelessness in Leeds. I knew that it occurred, as living near Leeds all my life, I would pass homeless people on the street, while I’d be going to the cinema, or as it’s becoming increasingly more common for me, going to nightclubs. But as I would stagger out of Propaganda or Stone Roses and get in a taxi to go home and get some sleep, the people who I met today would probably be struggling to get any sleep, as it would be either to cold/wet to sleep, or the police would move them on. But among the people I met today was a man called James, and James after a few years of rough sleeping, had finalised a move to accommodation which he could feel safe in, and this is the person who I want to talk about in the rest of this piece.


Standing on the side of a junction, Abi and I were waiting for James to arrive, and when he did, he had the widest smile physically possible. The reason for this, as has already been mentioned, was he had been granted a flat after years of sleeping rough. Unfortunately for James, those previous years of sleeping rough had taken its toll. He had painful physical problems, and towards the end of meeting him, he commented on how in pain he was.


Me, Abi and James went to the housing association office to sort out James’s paperwork, and apart from the rainforest heat which made it incredible to think people had to work in that office, the desk where we were sorting out James’ apartment, was snowed under a mountain of papers. To say it was bureaucracy gone mad may be quite kind. Even though I felt slightly sleepy from the heat, I couldn’t help feeling a bit annoyed, as without the help of Abi, or charities and social workers, James probably would have never got through the amount of paperwork which is needed to put a claim in. But apart from my minor annoyance at the work involved, I felt really happy for James as he had now taken a step towards taking back control of his life. Of course I won’t probably meet him again, but I sincerely hope he gets back on his feet again, and can regain control over his life.


If I may, I wanted to talk a bit more in depth about the annoyance I felt during the paperwork at the housing office, as it wasn’t at all the housing officer’s fault, but I can’t help feeling, that the complexity of the system just doesn’t help in anyway the homeless. I got the sense that if it hadn’t been for Abi’s help and dedication to get James back on his feet, James wouldn’t be able to even contact the authorities for accommodation. It truly is a sad state of affairs that this should be the case. It begs the question, why can’t we simplify the system to help people get back on their feet? In turn they become part of society again, and better the situation they found themselves in.


Having said that, I’ll now step off my soapbox and say that after just a morning in Leeds with Abi, I’ve realised the problem of homelessness is greater than I first thought. Although it ended with a good story i.e. James getting a flat, it nonetheless is frustrating to know there are more people like James out there, but unlike James, won’t be able to find a place for a long time, or tragically will never find a place at all.'

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