Hi had some sad news last night that has left me thinking about all the people that have been for me on my journey.

The sad news was that a man who had once opened his home up to me had died. His name was Geoff and a lovlier man you could not wish to meet. I lived with him and his wife Mary back in 1995 following 13 months in a rehab. Geoff and Mary were two of the most generous people that i have ever met in my life and had spent years giving their time up to help people less fortunate han themselves. They never asked anything form me other than I stay well and enjoy my life.

I remember on one occasion dissapearing for a few days due to going on a bender. Geoff spent hours and hours looking for me. Eventually he found me lying on top of a Pub garden bench unconcious form the amount of alcohol I'd consumed. I woke up in bed the next day full of remorse and wondering how I had got home. Geoff never mentioned a word about the incident he just asked me if I was ok and what would I like for breakfast. The trurth was he knew that i was goining to have to face the wrath of mary when she came home. He would often sit in his chair winking at me whilst Mary gave me a telling of for somthing or another and then we would both wait for her to go to bed so we could nip outside and have a crafty cigerette. he wasn't meant to smoke due to his health but It was a small pleasure that he enjoyed. We would stand on the back garden looking up at the stars chatting about all sorts of nothing in particulars and we would watch the hedghog searching around for the bit of food that geoff had put out for him.

He was a lovley man who never ever gave up on anybody and now the world is without him and his kindness but at least he can look down form heaven and see some of the work that he helped with.

Godbless you Geoff and thank you for all your kindness

Kevin X

The last few day have been very wet and as a consequence we have hundreds of families staying in temporary accomadation. I'm sure that they didn't wake up Saturday morning expecting to be removed from the comfort and security of their homes!!!  

Who does?

It is normally   the result of a   series of events that ends with someone losing their home.

Take for instance the 20year old man whose parents are suddenly and tragically killed in a car smash. Following such an event it would be understandable that he becomes very depressed. Once that depression takes hold he withdraws more and more from people and the community that he has been living in. He stops working and even though he sees the Doctor on several occasions nothing seems to help. everything that he know he should be doing such as paying rent, bill's, council tax, feeding himself   and even washing seems to become more and more difficult as time goes on.

Soon the ballifs are knocking on the door looking for money all he can do is hide behind his drawn curtains and wait     for them to go away. Then the fateful day arrives when the council are at the door with the Police to carry out the eviction for the thousands he owes in unpaid rent and council tax.

He packs a small suitcase and gratefully takes up the kind offer of support from the council to help him find temporary accommodation in a hostel.   Everything he owns and everything he knows he is forced to leave behind and start to live a very different kind of existance.

Or lets talk a little about the woman who wakes up everyday not knowing if this is the day when her husband finally goes one step to far and hit her so hard that she does'nt survive.

After years of empty promises never to do it again and watching her children become increasingly more frightened of their Father she decides that the only thing she can do for her and her children is to flee the family home. She waits until he leaves the house to go off to work and quickly packs a few of her and her children's   belongings into a couple of bags and rings a taxi to take her to the women's refuge in different part of the country.

There she hopes to start a new life, but she and her children face months and months on a housing register as their is a real housing crisis in that part of the country. All they can do is hope and wait for a chance to live a normal life. something that they had not known for a very long time.

OK I know these seem like extreme circumstances but read on and see whether anybody is that secure that they could never face the possibility of becoming homeless.

Lets take a look at the current state of the economy looking pretty grim at the moment and a lot of talk about recession. recession ultimately brings higher unemployment and people not being able to afford the way of life that their used to. Business's shut down and bankruptcy goes up.

Many people are currently losing their home due to not being able to afford the mortgages that they have on their properties. There is only so much social housing so where do these people end up. I'll tell you hostel's Bed and breakfast's small hotel's sofa surfing on friends and relatives couches but that can only last for a time eventually even the most hospitable people want their privacy back. unfortunately some of these people and families are forced to sleep rough. It was'nt their fault the world economy crashed was it?

Still think that it could never happen to you? Well there is one more thing that is having a huge impact on the numbers becoming homeless around the world. What is it I here you cry?

Natural Disasters.

 

I don't know if global warning is a myth or whether it is real (It really does'nt matter as long as I continue to be responsible with how I deal with the worlds resources) but I do know that there has been a huge increase in natural disasters around the world and people who once thought they had everything they needed offer wanted in life are finding themselves in situations which were once only reserved for those people who did'nt have a great deal in life. Take the recent hurricane's that have struck America and the Carribian. The one thing about natural disaster is that they don't discriminate against rich or poor they will hit anybody they choose.

 

You might be thinking still that this will never happen to me but let me go back to the beginning of this blog and ask how many people in the UK really expect when they are choosing a home really think about being flooded out by the  rain?

 

There are hard times ahead and don't be fooled it really could happen to you

There was a time, though long ago when homelessness was the norm. Im talking about Victorian times. There were two types of people, the have's and the have not's. Those who had didnt want for anything, they lived in their nice house's, worked in their good jobs, ate great food of which there was plenty and spent their time amusing themselves with games and frivolity.

Just around the corner of their comfortable little lives there was a world entirely different. A dark dirty world of squalor and desperation.

The people in this world lived a life of survial.

If you were lucky to have a job, it was one of hard physical labour, normally very dangerous and very dirty and didnt pay a great deal of money. Housing was crammped the streets full of filth, excrement and violence. Men and Women would often spend there days and nights in the local public houses trying to find some comfort for their miserable existence. Good food was scarce and often not fit for human consumption. If peopel were lucky there may get food and shelter at the loacl workhouse. Disease and murder were rife and if one didnt claim you the other would. Even the children were exsposed to the same lifestyle.

Men and Women would walk the streets at night looking for some gent who would give them a penny or two for some lewd sexual act, they only hoped they would survive the experience and get that couple of pennies to buy a few pints of grog and get a bed for the night. 

When did you last walk around your city centre's dark place's after closing time?

When did you last visit a night shelter or hostel?

Maybe you never had! Maybe you should!

Nextime I'm going to show you how homelessness can and does affect anybody