Homeless-by-sea

What's it like to have to bed down on the street at night?

After central London, large numbers of rough sleepers can be found in coastal towns and resorts.

Here, 12 people around the coast of England and Wales explain how easy it was to find themselves homeless.

Brighton

“I have been on the road for just over two years. My house was repossessed. I went on a downward spiral.

I married the wrong man and then ended up in a bad situation. And then I ended up on the streets. I try not to think about it all.

This doorway is sort of home from home for me now. I came to Brighton about four months ago.

I got off the bus and sat down to beg for the money for another ticket - so I could carry on west. I was heading Devon way. I wasn't planning on staying here.

My first night on the street I didn't have a sleeping bag or anything.

In fact, I stood in front of an ambulance to get them to take me to A&E. And they did

I spent my first homeless night under a blanket in there until they told me it was time to leave in the morning.

And then I went straight to the nearest BHS and nicked a duvet. The second night was fine. Once I had a duvet I was all right.”

“People give me all sort of things. When I got to Brighton I just had this one coat and a few toiletries.

I had a really nice retro radio - but someone stole it first thing this morning when I got up and went off to the toilet in Starbucks.

It's quite distinctive. The aerial's been broken off - the previous owner used it for a crack pipe. And the bit on the back that holds the batteries in is missing.

But since then, just in that short time, another lady has bought me a new radio.”

Penryn, Cornwall

“I'm from Inverness originally but I'm part of Penryn now. The whole town knows me.

It's been nearly two and a half years altogether - sleeping rough.

I moved down 10 years ago for a week's holiday - but I met the ex-missus. We ended up having two kids. We split up and I ended up homeless.

I couldn't get back up north. So I have been here.”

“I'm a plant mechanic. JCBs, diggers and all that. Well not in the last few years - but that's what I usually do.

I wake up usually about 10 o'clock and go over to the Spar shop.

I'll sit outside there and make money for my breakfast.”

“I'm like the homeless Jeremy Kyle. People come to me with their problems. Always stay positive, that's my motto.

This builder guy, he comes along most days.

He had a heart scare and his wife makes him this packed lunch - and it's like all healthy stuff.

He goes ‘There you go Brian, your lunch’.

And I go ‘You've got to eat it man, else it's not good for you’.

And he goes ‘No I'm going in the chippy, don't tell the missus’.”

Since we met Brian, the homeless charity St Petroc's Society has helped him make the journey back to Inverness

Brighton

(Robert's name has been changed)

“I was a bin man. I never had loads of money - but I was happy. It was simple. It was easy.

But I fell down the wrong path with drugs - and I lost that life. It was all down to me - and I have to live with that decision every day as I sit here.

I've been in Brighton since I was 21. I'm 38 now.

I ended up going to jail because of the drugs. I spent two years in prison where I got three meals a day and a bed. I know it was jail, but it was safe - safer than the streets.

When I was released, I wasn't a priority for housing. It's because I was fit and healthy and a single male with no partner.”

“I was clean for two years in prison because I was on a drugs programme in there. I was going to go out straight into rehab. But it all fell through a week before I got out.

So I came back out on the street and now I'm back on the drugs. At night that stuff is keeping me warm. It's stopping me worrying so much about all the horrible stuff going on around me.

But I have now made contact with the drugs services and my doctors - and they are helping me.”

Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire

“I'm 26 and was brought up in Cleethorpes.

I've been homeless for about six months because of family troubles. I want somewhere to live and to get a job.

Some people are horrible. They call you a smackhead and tell you to get a job.

But others can be nice. They buy you some food and a cup of tea.

At night I'm outside, so I team up with a friend. If they weren't there it would be scary. I don't feel safe unless I'm with someone.”

Harbour Place Day Centre in Grimsby says it has offered help to Jade

Camborne, Cornwall

“I used to sleep in the dunes at Hayle near St Ives. But dog walkers started coming by and I think some guy saw the tent and reported me.

So I started sleeping in my car. It was stolen and found burned out in Tesco car park.

I'm going back a lot of years - for that short spell it was an absolute nightmare.

I've now got a home, and I volunteer at Camborne Church to help give today's homeless a hot breakfast.”

“Back in the 90s it was easy to get a mortgage. I had a career, a car, a house.

And then over time there was a break up of a relationship and a change of a job.

Then I lost job security. I took out a loan and got into financial problems. And then I ended up homeless.

When you look back, you see that slippery slope.”

Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire

“I'm 24 and I've lived in this town most of my life.

I'm sleeping on the streets. I've been in a doorway for the past three weeks.

I've been put on a methadone script, so I'm not having to take heroin. It's a substitute.

I found myself homeless because I was not dealing with my problems really.

I never learned how to cope - and then I started using drugs and quickly became addicted.

It snowballed to where I was thieving. And you can't sustain a property because you are sustaining a drug habit.

You find that you are running around all day for drugs, and not focusing on what you should be.”

“I've only been coming to the Harbour Place Day Centre for a few weeks, but it gives me a reason to get up in the morning.

I know that I can get a hot drink and see a couple of friendly faces. I can get a hot shower, clean clothes and something to eat.

I've had people call me ‘tramp’ or ‘druggie’.

The people who do call you names are the younger people. They don't know anything really.”

“I do probably six months of work a year - agricultural work mainly. Flower picking at the moment.

We all get into ruts. But by the time you've worked through the system of being homeless and getting in a shelter - it can be anything up to 18 months.

By then, that person is ruined.

But it's OK [officially], because it's a statistic, they've actually helped that person.

They are helping. But they're not actually helping the person.”

West Cornwall

“We once had a nice post guy up at Chiverton Cross roundabout.

I was desperate to get some documentation sent, and said ‘I know this sounds far-fetched, but if I put an address to The Bushes, Chiverton Cross roundabout...’

And he just laughed and said ‘Of course I'll do it for you’.

So you've got to use your imagination sometimes to get an address. I got the post through.”

“Yeah it plays havoc on your mental health. I do suffer with anxiety issues. And I'm cooped up, living in my van.

Cornwall's not exactly the sunshine region, is it?

You get three days of rain on the trot - and then you're really starting to go la-la in the head.

There are organisations [where I can get a shower] and they help as much as they can. But to be honest they're getting so overcooked with people.”

“I do probably six months of work a year - agricultural work mainly. Flower picking at the moment.

We all get into ruts. But by the time you've worked through the system of being homeless and getting in a shelter - it can be anything up to 18 months.

By then, that person is ruined.

But it's OK [officially], because it's a statistic, they've actually helped that person.

They are helping. But they're not actually helping the person.”

Falmouth, Cornwall

Tony (right):

“Some people are nice. Down the Maritime Museum, they've been good as gold.

And I have got friends who work in businesses in Falmouth.

They'll come out and say ‘Tony here's a pasty for you. Here's a coffee for you. I don't want a thank you my darling’.”

“My mum and dad passed away. I then moved in with my brother and he passed away.

Then I lost my job. I ended up losing my home. My son is 15 and lives with his mother. He worries loads about me.

I'm 50. I've been out of my home about four months now.

But the way I'm thinking at the moment, I can't handle it any more. I'm feeling really bad about it. It's not nice.

People think all homeless people are alcoholics - but all I want is something hot to eat and drink.”

“I've been to the council, I've been to everybody. I said ‘Can you please help me?’

All they do is put me in a bedsit for a couple of days - and that's not what I want.

I want to be near my son in Truro. That's where he lives.”

Terry:

“Apart from 10 years, I've basically lived here in Falmouth all my life.

I spent six years living with my mother in Penryn. I went back and forth. Now she's in a nursing home.

I have worked in the past. Six years at Asda, a year for the Royal Duchy. I've also done some voluntary work for the Salvation Army.

It can be so demoralising out here. Especially at this time of year when it's cold, wet and horrible.

You get used to it, but I want a nice warm place.”

Anglesey, North Wales

(Darren's name has been changed)

“We moved here, to Benllech on Anglesey, from Lancashire when I was I was about 12.

It was a big change. Which is why I made the decision to apply for college and university in London.

Basically I was 16, I realised I was gay, and I didn't want to hang around here.

I trained in IT, then medicine, and then back into IT - because obviously there was a lot more money in it and fewer hours.

Later, I moved to the US to be a manager for a big company. Life was very good.

I was on an excellent salary. Stock options, bonuses.

At one time I was on $300,000 a year.”

“But gradually as my health deteriorated and I could no longer do my job. I had to take early retirement.

I've got arthritis fibromyalgia, tendinopathy - plus a whole list of problems.

For the six years in the US that I was out of work, I just lived on my savings and raided my private pension - which you are allowed to do there.

In hindsight I should have come back here much sooner.

Then in September 2015 I had a stroke - and I was back on Anglesey for good.

After six months of physio, I was able to walk. But I still can't walk that far. But I can talk fine.”

Swansea

“I grew up in Surrey. I was born in Reigate. My parents divorced when I was quite young and I lived with my father - he was an alcoholic. In fact that's what killed him. He died in my arms.

I got seven O-levels and an A-level at school. When I left I became a golf professional for a few years.

I was earning £1,000 a week teaching people how to play golf.

But I often think I was earning too much money at such a young age.

I went out clubbing in south London and because I had so much money in my pocket, I didn't care about flashing it about.

And it got me into a fair bit of trouble with regards to drinking and socialising.”

“I moved to Dorking, near the golf club. I was renting a three-bedroom house in a really nice area. And I had my first serious relationship with a girl - we lasted seven years.

But then, when I switched from golf to running pubs, she said she couldn't handle me drinking all the time. She gave me a choice. It was either her or the alcohol.

Unfortunately I said I couldn't commit to her. I was drinking every day.”

“I got together with another girl. She had a daughter through me. But again my drinking got quite bad. I had three jobs on the go to keep the mortgage and look after our daughter as well.

My girlfriend said I had to decide between my daughter or drink. I chose drink.

Now I'm sober, I realise it's probably the most awful thing I've ever done in my life.”

“After I left my girlfriend and baby daughter I moved to Dorset to work in a mate's pub. But he couldn't make it pay and he had to sell up.

I lost my lodgings over the pub - and that's when I became homeless, back in about 2006-07.

I ended up in Swansea because of a Welsh woman I met on the streets in Dorset.

One day she suggested moving to Wales. I'd never been there before, but I said ‘Yeah go on, I'll give it a go’.

And then one morning in Swansea, she asked me for some money. I gave her £20, and that was the last time I saw her.

She got a bus over to Cardiff. By all accounts she's doing really well. She doesn't drink any more, she's got a good job, her own flat.”

“Just before I had my first stroke, about two years ago, I realised I couldn't cope [on the streets] any more. You begin to really feel it - my body was giving me signs.

And then I got involved in an altercation. I was basically battered beyond belief.

Luckily, the police found me outside Primark. I think I was at Morriston Hospital - I don't remember much about it to be honest.

They found something wrong with my brain - by being beaten up constantly over the years, plus falling over drunk.

And then I had another stroke in April 2016. I had two blood clots on the left-hand side of my brain - and that's why my right-hand side now doesn't work well.”

“I now have a room thanks to the charity, The Wallich. A few months ago, my support worker took me to meet my mother and brother in Swindon - a neutral place.

My mother was very quiet. I can understand that she might have been overwhelmed by it all. The last time she saw me was years ago, and I was probably out of my head drunk.

I now want to work for a homeless project like this one, because homelessness has been almost a quarter of my life.

I don't go into central Swansea that often now, because I feel I could be led up the wrong path - by acquaintances rather than friends.

And I can't afford to do that any more.”

Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire

“I've been in this situation since about 2000 - on and off.

Just going to jail and then coming out. You get used to it. I don't know anything else really. It's just the way it is for me.

I'm from Cleethorpes. I was about 16 and had just left school.

I didn't have any dreams. Didn't know what I wanted to be. Just wanted to leave school.

I had family, but you just grow up and move.”

Robert and Darren's names have been changed in order to protect their identities