 2003
Homelessness in the Potteries | |
 | | Homelessness can be a hidden problem |
| | BBC Radio Stoke reporter Ruth Alexander has been investigating the problem of homelessness in Stoke-on-Trent. In this feature, she lets some of the homeless people tell their own stories... |
 | Ruth Alexander |
You may only see a handful of rough sleepers wandering the streets in Stoke-on-Trent, but local charities say nine out of ten homeless people remain hidden from view.
Arch North Staffordshire - which offers beds, a drop-in centre and activity programmes to homeless people - says they deal with many more people than official statistics might suggest.
They also say that headcounts of rough sleepers don't include the dozens of people staying on friends' floors or sleeping in a squat.
What's more, the charity - and the homeless themselves - say Stoke-on-Trent doesn't have enough hostel accommodation for everyone who needs it.
BBC Radio Stoke's Ruth Alexander has been talking to some of the people who say they have nowhere to call home...
Thomas Palin
Thomas Palin is twenty-years-old. When he was sixteen he left home because he didn't get on with his parents. He says he's been on and off the streets ever since. He used to live in a squat off Lichfield Street in Hanley and shared it with all sorts of people. He revealed that it could be scary because you never knew who was coming in and out of the building.
In the morning Thomas and his friends would go out and collect water from the nearby bus station. Some of them would then shoplift and pick people's pockets; he says that's a consequence of what drugs do to people.
Thomas has now come off the streets and is living in a flat with two other people. He says he can't read or spell properly but he's getting there. More than anything, he wants to straighten his life out and train to be a joiner.
It won't be easy though - he says employers will be wary of him because of his past.
Lee Chetwynd
Lee Chetwynd - who's 24-years-old - found himself without a home two years ago when he separated from his girlfriend. He says he doesn't get on with his parents and so he ended up on the streets after being kicked out of numerous hostels.
Lee says it's hard to get a bed in a hostel at this time of year and it's really cold sleeping outside. He admits his situation is self-inflicted because he's been in and out of prison and has been using drugs.
But now he wants to get back on his feet, and he says he's finding the help's not there. He says there's always a waiting list for Stoke-on-Trent's hostels and that it's just a ridiculous situation.
It's a lonely life too, he says. He misses his family and friends, and his two children.
Jonathan Toft
Jonathan Toft has only been homeless for a few weeks, but he's already an expert at how to stay warm. He spends every night at a multi-storey car park in Hanley with up to about ten other people. He says they tend to sleep in cubby holes near the lifts on the lower levels, where they're protected against the wind.
Jonathan says it gets very cold but three or four blankets makes it bearable and a cup of tea brought by volunteers in the morning soon warms him up.
Charmayne Jackson
For the past four years, Charmayne Jackson has had to just sleep wherever she can: hostels, doorways, sheds.
She's pregnant now, and although she's been given temporary housing, she's worried her past means she won't be given a permanent home - and that her child could then be taken away by social services.
One woman's story
Women who are homeless in Stoke-on-Trent face a particularly difficult time - that's according to one young person BBC Radio Stoke's Ruth Alexander has spoken to.
She says she became homeless after her drug-taking spiralled out of control. Not all the hostels take female guests and some only take women with children. | | |
| |  | BBC Stoke and Staffordshire
Cheapside
Hanley
Stoke-on-Trent
Staffordshire
ST1 1JJ
tel: (+44) 01782 221281
e-mail: [email protected] |
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