Hidden & Homeless (Homelessness Documentary) | Real Stories

[Music] I'm professor green it's a cold December night in Manchester and a large crowd has gathered at a soup kitchen how many people are you feeding now often we're out three times a week then we'll food anyway and that's Manchester yes what is the face of the homeless there on the air if you said to me is that performance is a christening if I would have known butcher guarantee someone who's actually nice probably I know you were so have you been sleeping rough for you the city is reported one of the biggest rises in homelessness amongst people under the age of 25 I keep hearing the term homeless get run around the ring hostels because they're still close to home yeah so Sofia bouncing from place to place living in squats derelict buildings not the same box I want to find out what life is like for these young people who have no place to call her I want to understand just how big the problem is starting in Manchester I'll be spending the night with 20 year old Lou who's been living on the streets on and off for the past five years one way keeps warm during the long bitter nights is to stay on the move no anyway I must walk this city son about easily four times a day even when walking about all day every day even just walking the street it's nice it's after 2:00 in the morning and there's still a lot of homeless out on the street it's very visible see these what are visible now other than that these are the ones I've been eyeing for years but no I lived at Noel to get by a day day by day don't know how to get by at night but know how to get the money whereas in the younger ones I'm the ones that I'm not used to it to hide these streets has damaged a lot of people out there right people who I've met our air so kind-hearted it's unbelievable and now there's just a different version 10 days ago Luke was released from prison after handling stolen goods with nowhere else to go he's now sleeping rough it's a cycle he's been caught up him for years what led to this dude was two people he was get apart with the crowd I've got only once I've got two 14 I was running about with a bit sweaty 8 year olds in the 30 year olds started doing a harder job at weekends I was running away from home a lot just because I like to be with em people it must have been hard for lung so of course it was least were taking me back every weekend as soon as the police have let me call about the car be off again do you want me my 15 Luke left his mum's for good and moved in with a local drug dealer were you selling drugs I was doing all kinds drafting cars were sorting drugs so he needs something sniff I was quite big in it and then it all just went to pot Luthor's made homeless when his mate was put away for selling class aids [Music] half of all homeless people first take to the streets under the age of 21 many don't know where to get help and will end up sleeping rough while on the streets they're exposed to prostitution crime and drugs what your skin it up that's what is it I was 570 bro big highs spice is the name of the legal high marketed as synthetic cannabis although cheap some brands are as potent and addictive as heroin I've heard a lot about spice and nothing I've heard about it's been good yeah sorry mate you've got to do it you gotta do it ultra Pandey spice is easy it's getting Manchester than anywhere else poking daughters like for shops within five minutes of their this are nice but you have to find a coping mechanism I started to shade out the Nautilus Grif yeah so that's that's a coping mechanism there's not a single sober homeless person I know Luke Luke's off his nut I tell you what I've smoked a lot of weed in my life and we don't do that so if that's synthetic cannabis they got it a little bit wrong because that was that was much more likely effective much harder drugs it was that watching someone slip out on heroin you all right Luke you act like I was right about you from here mate it was ten minutes before Luke began to come round for so many of the rough sleepers here spice is a way of life [Music] he's also going out by a bug being so easy to get hold of in Manchester and costing as little as a fiver a bag it's estimated that eighty to ninety percent of the city's homeless are addicted to this legal wire and he had a big box that as well all different ones that it's useful had Andorra's box that was probably the worst one walk them out of the first like when it first mark Luke tells me he turned to spice after his first spell in prison at the age of 17 it's that blockage of the past and the beatings and the trauma sides of things cuz I'm not gonna lie the first time everything cost eat it felt me Maya pardon me butter me so what sort of stuff was happening I got punched up I got sliced walk watching suffocating me with a pillow he's slamming me their hands in the winders pulling me off me bed while I'm asleep all kinds of stuff like stuff you won't even imagine Luke was scared and alone and the first person he turned to was his mum my mum didn't know I was in there Ranga and she knew Shane devoicing and I just broke down so on the phones that I've been assaulted that's all I said I should have said ah no she knew so anyone who knows me in it she knows when something's up so she's still really cared but she cares so much and now I feel bucket everything Wow all she's tried to do is keep you safe and from this that's what she's tried to keep you doing then I just put myself right in the middle of it mothers are always right when just wish I woulda listened to her yeah that's all I needed to do and I know would it be in this situation now there are gonna be people who are gonna throw things at the television go I don't know of course I know what you seen it's not as easy as that but when you've been been through some [ __ ] for heiping fees not as easy just to go home there's a lot of people in the place where I grew up who have done stuff to him Hut coaches within the past you were risk if you go back I will be yeah they are no me mom so it family had got a grief and bother as well so lighthouse wives I just stay out of the way let me mom stay safe and do what she's doing she's going around oh she is Lisa sweetie kid you know he's not gone into detail about what happens maybe no people money may reach this people there we can wonder what we want he's saying he doesn't want to go home because he's worried about his mother's well-being you know he doesn't want to take trouble to a door and I can understand that there was a time when I moved out on my nose because of it because I never wanted to bring trouble to a door so I understand that and I respect it but there's also a depart I mean it can understand or can imagine what his mummys going through because she does care like Luke of refered of young homeless people leave home before their 15th birthday [Music] family breakdown is the biggest cause of youth homelessness with nearly half of those effective being chucked out at a head of the household [Music] after worn out on the streets the call begins to buy it 6:00 a.m. and Luke takes me to one of the few places he can keep warm this is where you see most homeless people sad he's really sad I'll agree with y'all not one really SOT some believable how many people are homeless you're gonna see your mom hopefully yeah she keeps on telling mr. coming visit ba business you don't lie on this [ __ ] when she told me I'm on this [ __ ] she's finished that's just that's her way of trying to get you off it at all maybe a horrible wish you never even thought step Steve and I sweat on I wish I never touched him in life if it weren't that would it be something else it's good one it just upsets me as we talk about his addiction Luke breaks down I just said you know what it upsets me because I don't I've known you for very short on that a time and I don't I don't I get no bad vibes from you you seem like a good kid and it's upsetting me this is hard it's hard to say because I don't I don't feel good about the fact that I'm gonna go home and you're gonna be carried you're just gonna you're gonna carry on that's your life one you gotta do what you gotta do - it means people have got to do what they gotta do she's not for one day I'll walk you back to where where you sleeping somewhere just where people are it's a really sad reality um it's one thing to walk past someone and you know have a passing thought who are they where they come from how they ended up there but it's another thing when you're starting to meet these people and talk to these people they become human again I'm shocked at how many people I've seen living on the streets and just one though sort of spliff and I want to know what's being done to help me [Music] in nearby Stockport the number of young rough sleepers is tripled in the last year I'm joining Kirsty and Nikki who work on the front line trying to find and help the young and homeless hello darlin Stephen you all right nice we're here yeah good thanks hey don't make me yeah but as we pulled out we saw that an ambulance was leaving just one of our members in news Miss Mary you got her so is that perf it was fine cuz it made people aggressive you see violence from it or yes we've had quite a few of our members that smoke it quite frequently one day my back full his hands on it so about a guy who's been scooting around on his hands and knees thinking is a dog barking looking jazz at village and I'm so like psychosis okay they have episodes the centre has its own medical facility and the effects of spice who were growing concern for the nurse here I've seen some really life-threatening seizures that have been induced by whatever's in resources and I've got no idea what's in it now and we have seen somebody whose respiration right they've gone down to for a minute and I carry some reversal and that's an opiate effect well that was from spice as well as health care to Center office showers clean clothes and a range of support services but many young kids new to the streets don't notice help out there what are the prospects for kids who are coming here if they don't get off the streets where they ended up well some of them end up you know in accommodation some event end up in prison no some of end up in a coffee what's the fix you know if you gave her her should everyone have a house - you believe house but then they are so nice I'm gonna support you know we've got quite a few people who we get accommodated and we got em secured in their own selling says we stopped engaging with a service you know no other supports been put in place and they're unable to maintain that sense so they end up back at square one yeah their behaviors are ingrained into but there's an outlet they're not taken into account the effects of what that person has been through yeah and so what you know some of them progress when you do work with them and they've got a better understanding of stuff you know you can achieve anything it's just that right support be in there foreign and you find with a lot of the people that come through here that's just support they've never had throughout their lives yeah yeah for Kirsty and Nikki this is more than a place of work they've both been homeless and learned to survive on the streets for me I was homeless at 16 and it didn't get picked up my social camera and anyone anyone else you know a 16x16 I did what I asked you to sort of fit in with everybody else out and how did you survive crying drugs offending what kind of drugs and hat and it was that just commonplace was that why everyone was there and I tried it and I liked it because it took me away from reality you know after so wasn't the drugs that saw you homeless it was the homelessness that's why you take to drugs yeah part of Kirsty and Nicky's work involves going out and checking on the known rough sleepers in the area they take me to a popular camp under a shopping centre car park although there's no one around there are signs of people living here [Music] it's not just syringes and tin cans and empty packets of cigarettes hairbrushes picture Michael Jackson it's the little pieces normality which people were clinging on to can you imagine the desperation that's that's their connection with what was civilization you know that but yet they're completely excluded from that that way of life it's just heartbreaking [Music] Kirsti takes me to another site under a busy motorway for six months of her life this was where she lived [Music] it's not it's not a pretty place it's not is it no you can feel it here you really can [Music] how many people would you have down here at a time and so when I stay down there we have ten people it's not reality and you know over half of those people are no longer with those mom so death is something that you see in love yeah what does he do to you coming back I think it poses what's actually happened is how I am today is not sure almost and [Music] and at that time I never doubt my feel my emotions [Music] you just have to try to point out you know I think everyone's got a breaking point how could you survive in these conditions without something to take you away from them are jeez drugs I'd do anything to block out what was going on around the plane even the strongest person who would give up what's really shocking is that many people living on the streets on Canada's homeless you have to be lying down and your sleeping bag to be an official statistic sitting up doesn't count as rough sleeping so the number is probably even higher and that's not the end of the story there are thirty eight and a half thousand hidden homeless people living in hostels B&BS and sofa surfing around the country but over the past five years a number of available hostel beds has dropped by 12% whilst the demands are soared by nearly 40 [Music] I'm back in Manchester to catch up in Luke 3 weeks ago he got a place in a hostel for ex-offenders after relentlessly pushing his local authority it's nice to see you it's Shay that's it yeah god you're chucking some I mean oh yeah here gone shot me around love it my love it this is why little chill-out zone well just Cummins on out and do my own thing I was the first night in it amazing couldn't have asked for a better night sleep nah loved it no seriously mom everything about it you feel a step closer to normality you know you feel like I mean normally when I was sleeping on the streets I couldn't have a good night's sleep I would always be sleeping more on our laps which you know a bit smoking to make sure that I'm awful weight when someone does torch me or walk past me does this helps with your anxiety then not having those worries being able to shut your eyes and not worry about God knows what I know that I'm safe it's great Monica is if I could think I can think I can do things for you today Luke has been in hostels twice before but wasn't able to stick it out this time he's determined to make it work what about your mom have you spoken to her not spoken to me no can't waiting to speak to her to be honest so does she know you're here it was a nice gesture I'm John waiting to sort meself foolish talking so I can go to Ann's Chrissy look this is what I've done got to do it for her no mm-hmm sure was instead of say to at this time and just all promises Luke has an initial six-month placement here in which time he'll get the support he needs to turn his life around last time I saw you smoking spice mm-hmm what's going on went up I'm not gonna lie - I'm still doubling with it double in a doubling but as you can tell I'm looking I'm not smoking it like I was how often you smiling sometimes I'm going tonight if I'm smoking it but it's different like how I'm waking up on waking up in puddles of sweat but I'm like me anxiety kicks in in the morning when I've not had one like totally kicks in just before you come up you talk and that's because I've not had one this morning and an actor I've one just before you come in and that's leveled me off a bit the hostel was set up drugs counseling to help Luke conquer his addiction [Music] but sharing a hostel with 38 other ex-offenders and drug users isn't easy the center manager Jackie explains we have quite a few which have committed offenses well under the influence of alcohol and we manage that risk to make sure that the staff team and the other customers that live in is safe and will breathalyze them twice a day which is part of their support they agreed to that and the after over zero reading lastly calculus or on an open rule okay spices humming that keeps coming up over and over it's totally not allowed on the projects and if you are using spice part of your support all that you'll link in with the drugs team and if it's found on the project it was treated just with the same as any other drunk and without resulting someone being kicked out it could do yet yeah we have a wider procedure in so they do have quite a lot of chances we don't just make people homeless if we can help it we'd ask people to leave but the biggest challenge Jackie faces is keeping the residents off the streets we do find and that we do have quite a lot of customers coming back around that have lived here previously person your doors are open to people who have been able of course they are yeah even people with that we have rehoused in internal accommodation for whatever reason they've lost their accommodation yes they clump around in the system that's a live in here three or four times yeah for time yep yeah Yeah right recycle I don't know how your browser I don't know how we can break so again it did not to be ready ready spots up support do you think there were some people just too much has happened probably so yeah and maybe there's not a no fell apart there for them because some of the issues are quite deep rooted and maybe as they're being supported it's only touching the surface and so when they go onto their own accommodation the sat there again on the road and then issue a try as against who yet it is quite deep-rooted issues Luke paints a really rosy picture of this hostel and I can understand why in comparison to the conditions that he's been living in there night and day you know he has a little bit of security here it still doesn't feel like the safest place it feels like there's tension in the air an argument has just erupted in the kitchen Luke's milk and sugar is missing he's now calling off with a cigarette [Music] yeah fine to you mate just people with honest dinners I saw you switch what robot slammed and then you disappeared can't leave nothing about mine it's doom you do just driving in fact of leaving milk or sugar about is it when it's just a matter of not being able to go back to where poor it disappears for yeah that's the reality of of this place but then you've got to be careful because dem situations will be what leads you into a situation where you end up getting kicked out because someone takes your milk you beat them up or and so just lots come on but if a pile of milk and a bit sugar can cause that tap and then you've got to be able to control your reactions as well I know a no need to but just on what I was not having a spliff and everything I was gonna say is it just that you ain't lettin a splash everything moves in one short move what has to happen for you to be able to get off it like how severe does it have to be or is there anything no what are you just gonna accept that as life no I can't happen can't stay here where things get to you come on Steve Madden go down to tiny to crush some allspice got not having seen Luke so together this morning is frustrating to now see spice putting him back at square one visits an ocean Luke's not just scoring for himself but also for his mate right if I go 1.5 label although he buys irregularly tonight they're refusing to serve him yeah I'm going to buy me legalize or come here every night you know that but you can't stop me from buying me stuff I didn't know what you look you're very lucky Michael get your ass in there very lucky mmm-hmm okay come on the corner like chronic lot label now wait don't we yeah let us walk off first and you get afterwards a before coming it every night and all a lot of people Mimi watches super Celia get your ass out there not get you [ __ ] off me Luke is now threatening to beat the guy up oh yeah I know what time finishes work and all [ __ ] everything [ __ ] that they're in decided not to serve you see I mean it's a it's madness look at it stuff you're talking over that who knows what it does to me no go ahead come that's a needle spliff so this is every night Lu every night just every day every minute every hour it's getting a bowl and so slightly do like I know and all a lot of Hustler's rounded this is the same [ __ ] you up to when you're on the street oh wow yeah but I won't be getting about in just one set of clothing cuz I know that I'd need another five sets for when I'm wet later so I'll be getting about the clothes underneath me plus bags on top of me but I'm not going about when or now as you can see you don't need to I've already spent time with Luke on spice but tonight he's a totally different person watch as we wait across a busy road he suddenly decides to stop the traffic but it's not oh hey the cars stopped any car in Manchester stop any kind Manchester that's all you have to do don't do stuff that out loud stop it ma'am that's why I do things like Steven see what used to laugh at before outside the tunnel for standing there and say you're nothing so what I do know I'll get old loud they're honest you know loud and clear I'm Luke I'm homeless I'm from Manchester I'm what stupid behavior stupid stupid stupid behavior yeah I don't know what happened he went from being a quite humble you know nice person to just being an idiot it was just an absolute switching personality but I don't know if it was the spice was it him not having spice and that building up to a point and if that's the only day in day out you know there's gonna be mess of the person that we met this morning and much more that person that we just saw the way I see people look at me like they can hurt me people look at me like they can emotionally blackmail there really can't I could do that to meself just as much as you can do that to me you sound paranoid you I am paranoid of thoughts but this is what's made me like this tell sleeping that's the people you can trust who will stab you in the back with a knife a minute later this yeah that definitely [Music] Luke decides to hang out with his mates at squat I've seen enough for tonight my time with Luke has made me realize just that complicated homelessness is thank you homelessness is not just about not having a home it goes far beyond that once people have been on the streets what it does to them psychologically and who they become and how they become accustomed to live in their life doesn't just go away once they're given being in a hostel you're not counted as being homeless you are very much still homeless that's best become apparent quickly by even still with a roof over your head there's no difference between him having a hostel and a one-bedroom flat at this very moment in time because if he had that one-bedroom flat he would still be coming out and doing the same [ __ ] getting a place in a hostel should mean accessing help to recover from the trauma of sleeping rough but if Luke can't let go of his life on the streets overcome his addictions and accept hostile living you could lose his bed once again and a cycle of homelessness will continue Luke's situation is an example of the vicious circle that many people on the streets find themselves stuck in in London there's a project taking a different approach I've come to visit a woman's hostel run by a Christian cherry [Music] I'm meeting 26 year-old Sakina who's been in hostel care for two and a half years hello Sakina how you write here as well as offering emotional counseling this hostel is focused on providing practical help in getting the women ready for independent living so who we meeting today Beck's is the hostels resettlement manager and has been working with Sukeena since she came together they work in a catering business run by the hostel this kitchen is where we have our social enterprise munch in marabou and a key part of that is to give the women that live with us some employment skills but the product is its professional food as well as counseling for alcohol addictions tsukino has been gaining practical skills and work experience did you find it hard coming into what you can like what to expect so anything fun once you get into it it kind of changes that your mindset and I become like yeah more able to go out and do things on your own now the hostel was certainly looking to resettle tsukina into a home of her own so Sakina getting to a place where she's ready to to move on and to kind of get back on her feet starting dependably again but we would never want to resettle somebody into an empty house with an empty life because it's gonna fall apart it's very isolating it's very difficult young people who have been homeless often like life skills self confidence in the ability to structure their day it's about being able to sustain yourself sustain your life sustain your tenancy you need skills you need confidence you need life skills you need employment skills you need things that are gonna give you a sense of Worth and the ability to rejoin the community and give back to it what's the process been like from where you were when you got here to where you're at now so when I first came in it I wanted to get retail ASAP but we like the fact that is taking longer it's actually means me more appreciative and I know when I get my flat I'm definitely not gonna yeah Sakina could only be mumps from finally getting rehoused but it's been a long and difficult journey three years ago our life changed when a whole family were evicted and she suddenly found herself working out how to survive as a young woman on the streets used to get on night buses and just stay on night buses all night just had to do it so I had no choice other than to just go do what I had to do and then what was the progression where did you go from the buses I kind of got into the wrong crowd of people to Sorokin did I keep a reel of yeah yeah after two months riding the night buses she found the squat with other homeless people when Sakina witnessed heavy drug use and abusive behavior there was a lot of rape going on as well like I was smart enough not to fall for that people's tricks like I just I was really aware so a lot of people turn to drugs to cope with that situation I wasn't strong enough to just be sober and just like get through it instead of feeling that pain or whatever you go through get a bottle of vodka I mean drink that drink your pain away when do you think you hit your lowest point it was a lot of times I felt like I just want to that I don't want to be here no more same thought about suicide yeah quite a few times you feel like there's no future like that's it like this is what life is gonna be the rest of your life sir a young rough sleepers over 30 times more likely to take their own life but we've support and counseling Sakina has conquered her alcohol addiction and is learning to work through our emotional trauma it wasn't until I came into the hostel and like I saw a therapist she said to me you can change this you can turn your life around life's not over for you and it wasn't until she said that that made me think I have to be strong now [Music] sakina's newfound strength has grown over the last two and a half years she's at a place where she finally feels ready to reclaim my life reminds me of being a kid she's brought me to the estate she grew up on and the only place she ever called home was the same people run it from when you were little she said if she was ever 20 feet short you always there alright you know I need this is what is pushing me to get that that again I'm like I'm that's all I want I want this again this is what I knew for 20 years the best memories of my life was here yeah little bit too hard to jump out the window when you want to escape yeah definitely Sakina lost the security of home and community when the family suddenly found themselves being evicted they just came with a letter and they had the truck already here did I take the tape that's just stuff away we wasn't prepared for it at all it's all a bit of a rush so I just remember everyone just like grabbing all their most important things the things that they need literally from them my mom she got powers but my brother's dangerous I don't know they just did their own thing like we could it split us up as a family what kind of feelings doesn't stir up looking back just their side because obviously that's what I know that was my home Sakina is mum to a four-year-old little girl in the three years since becoming home she's not been able to have her daughter in her care so she currently lives with her dad sakina's ex-partner this is my primary school all my family went to she look forward to being able to come and pick that up and take her back to - what will be your heart definitely in your home I can't wait for them days like I do I dream about those days it would just be amazing she needs her mother she needs me to be there for her and take her to school she even accesses me like you know the kids at school oxide why didn't your mommy come and pick you up and it just breaks my heart because I'm not in the position to do that [Music] the hostel was offered to keen and a stability to see a new life for herself but for many of the future is much lesser it's estimated there are over 300,000 hidden homeless these are the people who fall outside government statistics living in hostels on the streets in squats BM B's or being put up on a sofa many become trapped for years I'm off to a part of London I know well today I'm back on the ends back in Clapton 85 Hackney I suppose not just Clapton to meet a young guard to find out about his experiences as a homeless young man oh it's a very important place when you're grown up when you're an adult and I don't think that ever changes as a kid how much of an effect does it have on who you become a massive one as I got older you know I've had friends stay with me when they've been out of accommodation got back into hostels have all this stuff stolen and get beaten up but it's not really the the Brixton water that that shape you as a person it's the people you share the home with without my nan in my life I'm not sure what would have happened I got into enough trouble as it was today I'm back on home turf Hackney Marshes and head him for the football pitches and I met I was a terrible footballer I always used to get put in gold I saved the ball my face once I'm meeting 25 year old wrong he works full-time in the bookies by still homeless Jerome went into care at the age of 14 due to family breakdown after leaving the care system two years later he still hasn't been able to find an affordable place to live there's a big rise in people between the ages of 18 and $25 homeless but they're not sleeping on the street like that they're in their friends houses Lordaeron their friends mum so far or don't wonder like you know I mean just having a roof over your head doesn't mean you have a hole exactly the difference between having a roof and having a home and when people paint a picture of a homeless person it's not someone that looks like you wouldn't excite you what it looks like me why is that you thinking you don't want people to know you don't want people to see that side of you that not to be beheaded I just around got my trainers on I look fresh I've had a shower I go to work when I get paid I'll go barbers so no one knows that I'm homeless lat it's only like the people who know me and know that how long I've been sleeping on my sister so far I've been sleeping on mine and so for my aren't so for this person so for that person so who really know that I'm homeless homelessness has many faces it has every color every Creed every gender you can move past someone in a business suit man this guy could be homeless you don't know like don't don't don't give homeless mr. face that's what I say for Jerome working a full-time job but not having to fix the dress has brought its own complications there was times when I got kicked out my Nan's house I'm thinking to myself listen I've got free bags don't gotta go to work today but those are the stresses that really need these are the reasons we're having a home should be she is just essential to everyone Jerome joins one in five sixteen to twenty five-year-olds who've experienced sofa surfing moving around relying on friends and family for a self a spare bed or floor to sleep on I catch up with Jerome a few days later before he heads off to work Jerome asked two young children but as he's currently sleeping on his aren't sulfa spending time with him is difficult see living in London means he can't afford to rent somewhere that would work for him and his kids 2-bedroom apartment a spare room for my children stay and when they came over 400 pound a week so that's what for a to a 16 on Japan damn month how long they gonna take someone who's on 1200 pound a month who's also providing for his torture and he's also trying to get to it how do you say what for that so 600 pound them or how many hours have you got a worked ICC exactly exactly that no one's mentioned that so you're looking at real and truly you're looking at 2 grand a month why don't want to move out of London when all my family live here so it's that it's that you're in a proper cup 22 innings is that it hurts man I think Jerome is probably quite an accurate picture of a lot of people who are the hidden homeless you would never pick him out from a crowd as being homeless it's very well kept better kept than I have he's basically everything that people would assume homeless isn't in the UK there's a real lack of social housing and in the last two decades demand is increased by 80% which has forced up rental costs in the private sector what's your situation now so the meaning I'm just on my aren't so far trying to find somewhere else to go lit so what option privatbank grab little red cotton has come to my option no in London my cousin's been under constant least for ten years the lack of affordable housing is a major cause of homelessness for Jerome selfish surfing has been essential to avoid worse cuz it's been times where I between like mantilla cooking and and I put where am I going tonight and one of my friends has just saved me the last minute like um come to mind sleep sleep on my office on my floor or on my sofa I don't ever want my food to go through the things that I've gone through and see the things that I've seen and laugh spend nights in McDonald's because they got nowhere else to go or to walk around the streets or net because they've got nowhere else but I don't want to see my children in that position ever after you rock thank you everyone pins the beginning of the next stage of their life when they get accommodation and rightly so because without that foundation how can you build a life say Dan for that all the best in the future thank you I appreciate a man Frank for listening as work is better I was fortunate enough that he can help himself but not everyone can sadly Jerome story is a common one down the road the nabarro visiting tanaami ting another of the growing number of the UK's hidden homeless [Music] hello who you you Persia Lauren and a four-year-old daughter Persia was staying in a friend spare room after being evicted from a two-bedroom house will you play what's that she fell into rent arrears after being made redundant we got try and get what I got to do trying get as many as I can you sitting on a chair that chairs too small for you your big owner Laura moved here one month ago from a hometown of Harlow in Essex it's hard because I've got my close close friend her and her two little daughters and we would see each other every single day House had opposed you find the change it's a big thing she's four years old she was born and raised in Harlow yeah but she misses her friends and she misses the old nursery usko - you miss your friends from Harlow you miss Charlene Clary Ella I think she's got a lot of friends you've got a lot of friends you popular for Lauren it's now important to create some stability for Persia she's just settled into her second school mm-hmm I don't want to move again and then transition her to a third school so our theory I want to settle in this borough but I still don't know how we're gonna do it this is our room this is where we condense our life she was half a day old when that was taken and she's where I've been better who's that she's full of beans issue Lauren and a very energetic Persia share this one room and sleep in the same bed I feel like in such a small space we've got so much to try and fit in there I mean do you find it difficult yeah when I'm getting up to school and I can't remember which pile of things I'll put it somewhere and then I end up throwing anything everywhere and get myself in a riot mad mess it might be small but it's better than the accommodation the council were offering her over a hundred miles away from her support network if I didn't have a Claire that opened up at home the only option that you're given is bed and breakfast is in and around the country so do you think this is quite a widespread problem and that this is splitting up communities in a lot of places I mean if they were willing just to ship you to Clapton or it's a great yarmouth how many other people were there I mean loads when we was in temporary accommodation nine sets of families we got to know it's a horrible position to be in not being able to provide for your child the child that I brought into this world I know I'm being hard on myself but I've let her down by not being able to provide her with a secure home and it was really hard not to get emotional and involved in that because I have got to step up and I have got to make things as it says just as she's got a base and a place to go home you know you could get one in [Music] losing the family home has meant selling off most of their possessions but it's the more personal things that are the hardest to let go of so this is the last bit of your stuff yeah the last bit of our lives I've sold so much we can't fit it all into one room my daughter had to do away with a lot of this stuff a scooter a little Hello Kitty pop-up and mean with my vinyl I'm not gonna be able to play that again sainted exact that you know they must relate to a point in your life and me that's what the song is I was heavily into my music yeah absolutely loved it 50 cent in the club that was his breakthrough when it I always finally remind me a moment yeah when you first heard that song or who you heard that song with or where you were no I love my records and they cost a lot of money at one point but I can't feed my daughter our memories would you consider yourself to be homeless I know there's gonna be people out there so but you're not homeless actually because you have a roof over your head but we're homeless in the sense that we don't have a home of our own and we don't know where we could be next week because yes we rely on a very good friend that's put us up but circumstances change you never know what can happen in the future the amount of times I've been in this garage and sat down and just looked at one of my stuff and just fall how on earth did I end up like this shocking really you know to think of the situation that she's ended up in and and to think of how actually that how easily you can end all you know you I you at home could end up in that situation none of us have really that far away from it are we you know she lost her job and it was pretty much that simple from there on it was quite a conceivable series of events it's not what I expected to see I don't think it's what many people would deem as being homeless but we need to change our perception of that because there is a problem and I guess the reason that we think of homeless is an old man on the street with the can of beer is because that's something we've all grown up seeing it's something we all see day to day when we're out on the streets but there is a huge problem clearly with people that we don't see they are virtually invisible [Music] the hidden homeless have many faces from those like Lauren teetering on the edge to the rough sleepers facing the dangers of the streets every night [Music] back in manchester there's been some shocking news one of Luke's friends Daniel Smith was killed while sleeping roof [Music] Luc's brought me to some railway arches where they found Daniel's body I'm worried to find out how Luke scoping it was been buttered it's ripe actually in itself while he's pretty dead so they'd be into death he was a definitely same old file poor kid 23 it's a save as homeless people who did that in the community it's not nice it's it we make our way around to the other side that he arches when we get there the police have still got a crime scene cordoned off horrible place to die makes you shudder than it obviously the drug dog is tough on food it's one side closed sleeping bags covers just forward again guys of his head I kind of a I can't even imagine what was going through that it's not a deaf anyone to me is this it must make you think all right dose monocle and I mean I think about it just me I was citing that exact same room two weeks ago exact same rooms away with buttered [ __ ] sick is sick you've seen a lot of stuff and you're Sam on the streets this is the worst words lost his life families lost his soul I can see Daniels death was deeply affected Luke the wind limit thank you what does the tent signify akima stator last Friday and Saturday night I just exist fraud because I'm allowed out two nights of my hospital a week I just fired come to stay here stay there fighting Saturday night I just paid a bit of respect weird to think that once the tents gone once that's taken there and they'll be nothing obvious too bizarre is the reason to not end up back on the streets and it is it's a good enough reason leaving a stabbing each other in the back town it should be looking out for you he's a good guy knocked out does it not make you worried about what could happen to you yeah of course it was I it's not nice one shouldn't be happening [Music] two men have been charged with a murder of Daniel Smith Luke's been off the streets for a month this could be the wake-up call he needs to keep hold of his hostile place and break the cycle of homelessness before it's too late I don't know where Luke's gonna end up it's anyone's guess he's smoking but he obviously cares to come down and put his tent up for two nights when he's got a bed in a hostel we've spent a couple of days in his life we don't understand this world and we don't have to live this day in day out so many people are homeless for so many different reasons and everyone's case although there might be consistencies in a family breakdown mental health drug addiction everyone's story is slightly different and the help that people that people need was different what I found is that once you lose the security of having a home the fight to get it back is incredibly difficult made worse by the lack of social housing and support charities do what they can but until we recognize the true scale that a problem often hidden from view more and more young people will find themselves trapped in these desperate circumstances head-fuck it is it is the proper inside we go back to life now and this life that everyone who's on the streets just continues as it does day in day out I wouldn't say that I'm leaving this with any more Hope than I came into it I think it's anything that a lesser the more I understand about homelessness more I understand how difficult is the greater side [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Real Stories

Views: 146,024

Keywords: hidden and homeless documentary, hidden and homeless, hidden and homeless full documentart, hidden and homeless full documentary, full documentary hidden and homeless, living like a homeless person, professor green homeless, poverty uk, poverty documentary uk, poverty full documentary, full documentary poverty, poverty in britain documentary, investigative documentary, Real Stories documentary, documentary movies - topic, documentaries, documentary, Real Stories channe

Id: JELjthd0kms

Length: 57min 26sec (3446 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 24 2018