Personal
Preparation for my calling
Feb 2006 : I spent a week at St George's Crypt in
Leeds. In 1930, Don Robins the vicar there, was appalled at
people sleeping rough on the streets, so he opened the crypt for
them. The project is still going 75 years later. In addition to a
wet house and a dry house and overnight stays, their main
activity is to serve an evening meal each day to between 80 and
150 people. The staff presence was not over-bearing, which I
liked. There was a happy atmosphere. I recorded some Thoughts
for the Day for local radio based on my experiences there.
May 2006: I
visited St
Patrick's Church in Hove. Over the last 25 years, they have
put up 100,000 homeless people overnight. One end of the church
has been converted into six flats, and behind the altar where the
vestry used to be, they can now accommodate people overnight. The
pattern of worship continues in the now smaller sanctuary in
between.
July-August 2006
: I went to New Wine both
weeks at Shepton Mallet, requesting unpleasant jobs like loo
cleaning and vomit clearance.They made me a steward, which is
akin to being a village policeman, keeping the cars off site,
enforcing the no-cycling zone, checking delegates' badges, etc.
Be warned, litter pick, with one of those extending handles in
one hand and a bin liner in the other, is addictive. I met with
God during the fortnight in a way I had not expected, not least
over my punctured bicycle tyre, which responded to my
self-conscious prayer after a delay of two or three days. Faith
building!.
August 2006 : I
was a volunteer at The
Passage, close to London's Victoria station, for a fortnight,
serving, clearing and notably washing up the huge cauldrons.
There were around eighty hungry people enjoying a hot meal each
lunchtime, I reckoned. A valuable service.
August 2006 : I
spent four days at Yeldall
Manor, a drug rehab near Reading. Rehab is different from
Detox; you are expected to be clean before arrival. There are
spaces for 21 men aged between twenty and forty, and a long
waiting list, but despite this there are only twelve residents
for lack of funding. Current thinking is that it is cheaper to
move people sideways onto Methadone than to get them off drugs
altogether. So rehabs are low down the list of government
priorities. I think this is very short-sighted. An addiction to
Methadone is bad in itself. I learned a great deal from my stay.
My main impression was the loveliness and peace of the grounds,
with their beautiful trees. You have a far greater chance of
getting free there than on the streets in London. I was shocked
that statistically, of the twelve residents three will die, three
will end up in prison, and the rest will make it into society
when they have left the programme. Getting free is not an easy
road at all.
Comment. The
situation for homeless people seems to be as follows. The
government have laid the responsibility to house homeless people
on the local authorities. However, the council houses that were
sold to tenants in the late 1980s have never been replaced. This
creates a bottleneck. As a result, the move on accommodation
fills up, and then the temporary flats fill up, and then the
refuges fill up, and so also the hostels fill up. So in practice,
the care workers on the streets conducting interviews, who should
be creating opportunities for their clients, are actually in the
position of looking for ways of not helping, because there is not
spare accommodation available. So if as a homeless person you
give the wrong answer unwittingly, such as, "Well, I have
spent most of my time in Lambeth recently," you will then
receive the response, "I'm sorry, you don't qualify."
I guess it's a
little like my experience of the NHS. When I am ill, and hoping
for support, in practice I discover that the phone lines are
always engaged and I can't get through, or if I do manage to
stagger to the surgery in person, there is no such thing as a
prompt appointment, or even a time which is conveneient for me;
indeed, it may not be possible to book an appointment at all. I
can generally find a way through this, either by going to the
chemist, or trying again later. I'm considering doing it myself;
after struggling for a fortnight, I'm currently wondering about
buying my own syringe to clear the wax from my blocked ear; if
nurses can do it, why can't I? It should be possible in the bath,
I reckon. It's a disappointment to me that at the very moment
when I need help, I end up with the feeling that I have to fight
to receive attention.
Homeless people
often lack the resources to fend for themselves. It seems to me
that the project I have in mind to stay open 24 hours will prove
very helpful to them. Alastair Murray of Housing Justice Unleash
agrees with me.
Thanks for
reading. David Pennant