Wayne does not remember exactly what age he was abandoned by his biological parents and placed into the care system, but he knows he was ‘very young’ at the time. Similarly, Wayne does not remember exactly how old he was when he became homeless but knows that he’s been homeless for over 20 years now.
Care leavers like Wayne are twice as likely to become homeless than the rest of the population here in the UK, which is quite telling of how our government is choosing to educate and support the vulnerable children placed into their care. Earlier this week I was walking on a busy street in Camberwell a soft-spoken man with a slightly defeated look in his eyes approached me and asked me if I had any spare change. I told him that I didn’t, but I was more than happy to buy him a cup of coffee or a sandwich. It was as if this simple act of compassion on a cold December’s day gave him a glimmer of hope or at least some happiness at the time. This drove me to want to find out what had led him to this exact point, so I asked if he was willing to sit down somewhere with me and tell me a bit about himself. He not only agreed but looked happy to do so as it showed that someone was actually interested in taking the time to get to know and understand him.
That was 20 years ago though, Wayne now lives in a hostel that he’s been living in for a little over a year. Although this may seem slightly better than sleeping rough the reality is that these hostels are almost and, in some cases, just as bad as the very streets they came from. Wayne describes living in his current hostel as ‘too rough’ as he’s housed with ‘35 other men’ who are willing to extort and steal from their own neighbors just to get that little bit of money that they so desperately need. In addition to these hostile living conditions, Wayne is still not being given adequate support or guidance by our government on how to alleviate himself from this situation. Wayne described to me how in the hostels there are no support networks, no education, and no people that Wayne can turn to so that he can stop this vicious cycle of homelessness, depression, and substance abuse, which is a testament to how the UK government is still to this day failing Wayne and many others like him.
According to Shelter the housing and homeless charity, today in 2023 the UK is estimated to have at least 270,000 homeless people with over half of those homeless people believed to be living in the city of London. Showing that homelessness is a persistent issue that will not change unless massive structural changes occur.
