Latest / The Discussion Podcast / The Lunch Discussion: From Street to Shelter: The Hidden Struggles of Temporary Accommodation in Greater Manchester

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The Lunch Discussion: From Street to Shelter: The Hidden Struggles of Temporary Accommodation in Greater Manchester · The Discussion Podcast

0:00
This is the Late Late Lunch Show with Rod Maxwell. Supported by... That's for,
0:07
you, Rod. Childbed Learning and Nature's Playground. So as part of our,
0:11
look into the whole challenge of getting people off the streets and those who are homeless
0:18
in the UK, I've been going around talking to charities in Manchester about this
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and I'm delighted today to have Krista McIver from Just Life and she's one of
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the directors there and we're going to find out what they do
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and who they support and how they support them.
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Krista, thanks for making the time to join us.
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It's great to be here. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure.
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So tell me first of all about Just Life. Are you a charity?
0:45
Yes, we are a charity. We started in East Manchester, but we now have a service
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in Manchester and also down in Brighton. So thank you.
0:55
Yeah, and our aim is to make stays and temporary accommodation short, safe and healthy.
1:00
So we work with people who have moved from the street into short term accommodation
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before finding settled accommodation to try to prevent, well,
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helping people to find a home, but also prevent move back to the streets as well.
1:12
So is this something that a government agency would have previously done,
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or was this something that there was a complete gap in the process and the whole
1:21
life cycle of going from the street into more permanent accommodation?
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I think for a long time, when it comes to temporary accommodation.
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The thought process was, is that it was a housing solution, not really a support solution.
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And there have been times in the past when we've spoken to local authorities
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in other parts of the country, so I'm not just singling out Manchester or Brighton
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there, where they might say we are about bricks and mortar and not about support.
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So it's a housing-led solution.
1:50
Whereas as a charity, we also provide support for people because obviously there's
1:55
a lot of complex needs often around individuals who live in temporary accommodation,
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even with families who are in temporary accommodation.
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And what we've discovered throughout the years is that people who are in these
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spaces do need support once they find a place to stay.
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You don't just automatically feel settled if your lifestyle or life had been unsettled previously.
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So that transition can be very tricky. And temporary accommodation is only ever
2:22
temporary anyway. It's often...
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A hotel or a house of multiple occupation or bed and breakfast,
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especially if you're a single homeless household.
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So that would mean if you're a single male, single woman, single man,
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single woman, young person, those would be the places you'd more likely be rather
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than a house or a flat. So it's not very settled.
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Okay. And so how do you get involved in that process?
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If somebody, I don't even know how somebody applies to go from living on the
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street to actually getting a temporary accommodation.
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But how does that process work and how do you get involved?
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The way the process works, it is quite a complicated system.
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It can feel quite complicated.
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But essentially, when somebody becomes homeless in this country,
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you can apply or approach your local council and they will determine whether
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or not you meet certain criteria that would mean they can house you and help
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you to find further housing.
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In terms of settled housing. So they might put you somewhere short term and
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then they have a responsibility that's set out in law to find longer term housing for you.
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Now, the thing is, is because we have what's called priority need in this country,
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there is a set of rules that or a set of situations that local authorities have
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to assess to determine whether or not you
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qualify for the help to get into official temporary housing.
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And what happens is, is that you have a lot of people who need temporary housing.
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And so you have a lot of people who then do not qualify for temporary housing.
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And you would more likely see families,
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young mothers, single mothers with children, whole families,
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they would have a higher priority because of the children than some single homeless
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men, for example, because they would be considered to have lower priority than others.
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So you are more likely to see some of those people on the streets,
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rough sleeping or in hostels or B&Bs that they've sourced themselves or through the help of charities.
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Because they don't qualify for the help that councils provide.
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So then you almost have a two-tier system sometimes that happens where you still
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have the kind of temporary housing, but it's unofficial temporary housing because
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the council haven't placed you there.
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So it could just be landlords that are providing stuff you let out on a certain
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basis, but people with still high needs and need some help in and out of there
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quite a lot. But then you also have the council temporary housing.
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So what you then have is a very hidden picture of what what it really looks
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like because it's quite a transient population as well and and by i i guess i'm thinking that even.
5:06
Even though temporary housing would be such a improvement on being in the streets,
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because it's it is temporary it doesn't have the you can't build a support set
5:17
of support circumstances around you because you might be moving at any time
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so the things that make you feel grounded that people take for granted
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like getting amongst communities starting to get a job etc some of those things
5:30
can't be as well formed and and that's really when moving into permanent accommodation,
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would help is that is that right,
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i would say that that is correct yes the challenge is that now the average stays
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in temporary accommodation are between two and five years
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because we do not have enough housing so So temporary accommodation is almost
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becoming a substitute for social housing in some regards, because we just don't
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have enough of that kind of housing.
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And to be living in a situation where you don't have security.
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So you might have, if you're a family, you might be in a flat and it might be,
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OK in terms of standards, but you still don't know if you could be moved quickly.
6:09
You don't know, you know, you won't be allowed to put things on the walls or make it your own home.
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There's a lot of things about it that make it not yours and insecure because
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it is still classed as temporary housing.
6:22
And we've done research over the years, which does show that one of the things
6:25
that makes a difference for people in their lives is not only the support,
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but having a feeling of control over your own life.
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And there are definitely situations within the system where you can't have control
6:38
or choice, but even being able to be aware of what's happening and how long
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you're in a place so that you can plan.
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And that's what we're hearing a lot these days is that people need to be able to know what to expect.
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If they're going to be there for two to five years, do they,
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you know, some people, if they've come from somewhere that's not in that local
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area, they think, and are religious, do I connect into a faith community?
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Because that's where you can build community.
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Sometimes people are placed far away from where they are. If you do have children,
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then it's thinking, how do I get to schools? Do I change my child's schools?
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Do I travel two hours to keep them in their regular school?
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If it's some individuals some you know people have support needs whether it's
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mental health support or other support needs and if you're in other areas you
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might do I get on that waiting list do I try to stay on the current waiting
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list there's there are a lot of issues around,
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the people's needs that are daily things that we kind of take for granted that
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it doesn't stop when somebody moves from the street into temporary housing actually
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what changes is when you can find settled housing.
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So when we think about the new announcement from Andy Burnham,
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which is amazing and welcome to have a focus on trying to change things for
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people who are sleeping on the.
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But we also know from where we sit, kind of in between that transition from
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rough sleeping to temporary to settled housing, is that that move will be into
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some form of temporary housing.
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So then what happens next to prevent going back to the streets,
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but also to help support people to create communities and be able to find a
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place that's permanent and they can stay.
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So i'm taken from that krista that essentially the the accommodation is just
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one part of the jigsaw and you know you've got to build community you've got
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to feel a sense of belonging you've got to be able to get to work etc,
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and as much as you might be somewhere say 18 months to 24 months in temporary
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that still has that temporary tag and and so it's it's not just about the accommodation
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it's everything that goes around it it's the whole universe of support that's important,
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i want to take a break and come back and talk about how just life fits into
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this very complicated picture
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which you've helped to simplify greatly but it's a very complicated picture
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i'm delighted to be able to speak to you today and for you to help explain it
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we'll take a break be back a couple of minutes time.
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You're listening to The Late Late Lunch Show. Back to the Garden Childcare,
9:13
where little explorers grow naturally.
9:15
So as part of our discussions looking at the whole challenge topic issue of
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homelessness in the UK, I'm delighted to be speaking to Krista McIver from Just Life in Manchester.
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So Krista, how does Just Life fit into this?
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What is your role? And how do you support somebody who might be on the street
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or might be living in temporary accommodation,
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so what just life does in our services where we provide support for people in
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manchester and in brighton is is probably just after someone would be on the street so,
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in manchester we provide support to people who've been released from prison
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but are going straight into temporary accommodation and we provide support wraparound
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support for them whether that's making sure people get to their medical appointments and,
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mental health appointments anything that they might need so that they can then
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find that pathway into more settled accommodation.
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Our specialist support workers provide that support for them.
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Sometimes people end up from the street into hospital and then are discharged
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from hospital into temporary accommodation because then they might then be in priority need.
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And so in our services in Brighton, what we do is we provide support.
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We have health engagement workers who provide support for people once they end
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up in the emergency temporary accommodation through that pathway as well.
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We do quite a lot, which is great because we also provide a support.
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We have a families project in Brighton, but we also recognize that some of that, there's a process.
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There's an emergency need right when somebody enters into accommodation,
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providing support and stability because it is quite an unstable time to be living
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in temporary accommodation, especially if there's a lot of challenges that you
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are dealing with in these transitional parts of lives.
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Transitioning from an institution into something else is hard,
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whether that's hospital, whether prison, whether you're a care leaver.
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There are specific times that are known to be more tricky in terms of homelessness
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and precarious if we want to prevent a return to the street.
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So we know those are hard, so we provide that support. But we've also recognized
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that once someone gets through that space, providing help to engage in your
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community is really important.
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So we also do something that's called our Social Connections Project, where,
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we have a variation of it in Manchester, but in Brighton we have volunteers
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who come and befriend people who've been through our services and who are in
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more settled accommodation now.
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And it's just, you meet for coffee, you get to know somebody,
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and it's a way to engage in community in a different way to build friendship
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that's not based on providing support, but it's based on how you build community.
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What my team does is recognizing that we provide support on the ground,
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but we also need to encourage government to make policy change so that we can
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better provide support for people all around in temporary accommodation.
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And we do that in very many different things. But our focus is around how do
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we raise standards in temporary accommodation and make sure that the right kind
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of support is being provided for people who are in it.
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So we do quite a lot at Just Life. It really does sound like it.
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And I guess for a lot of people, understanding the psychological challenges
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of somebody moving even from the street to temporary accommodation and why we
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might all think well that's safer and that's
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for them it might create a whole set of new challenges and issues
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and therefore you're having support the person as much as just
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do a transaction of finding them accommodation.
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Yes you really are because it isn't just finding somebody accommodation and
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you don't know what somebody's accommodation might be like if they're moving
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from the streets Or even if someone is sleeping rough, you don't have to have
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been sleeping rough for a while.
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It could be a care leaver who suddenly had to leave somewhere,
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has slept on the street a couple of times and then found somewhere in a hostel
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who then also then has a job.
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And maybe the hostel doesn't have good, doesn't have access to a shower or regular
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access to a shower. You can't eat very well because you don't have access to a kitchen.
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And then you're trying to hold down a job. And then maybe your job is,
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you might think, is this personal hygiene of this individual?
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Is that OK? But if you don't know where your employee is, then,
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you know, it might add a complicated layer to that.
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You know, people do need support once they end up into this place.
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If someone is more of what we call an entrenched rough sleeper,
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someone who's lived on the streets for quite a while, they normally would end
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up in supported temporary accommodation initially for a couple of years.
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And that's really important because what you find is...
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Well, it is important, but also sometimes the reason people might end up back
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on the streets is because you go from a lifestyle where you can make all your
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own choices and have freedom to quite a structured, you have to be back in at
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a certain time or you lose your accommodation.
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Even sometimes when you have somewhere that people can just stay overnight,
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there's all these rules.
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You could end up losing your bed spaces if you have these rules and you're not used to these rules.
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So it's not just a quick transition and it's not always straightforward.
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We might sometimes think surely people are just grateful for it but it's it's
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more complex than that yeah i want to then just touch on.
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The current now focus of the government and i mean it's come from mandy burnham's
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experiences in manchester which you will have good knowledge of but.
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On the face of it i i see it as being sorting something out for christmas right
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and and and you literally think well,
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that's just one time of the year and actually surely it could be more unsettling
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to fix a problem for a few weeks and then people go back,
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am i being too unkind to him and and and,
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is it possible that this is just getting the the challenge and the topic into
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the public psyche and that this is just the first phase of something that might
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be bigger what's your gut feel on this.
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My gut feel is that it is a part of something bigger. I mean,
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we've been quite lucky at Just Life to be a part of the expert group that has
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helped to feed into creating the national plan to end homelessness with the government.
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And what we have seen, and one of the other things we also do is we run an all-party
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parliamentary group with our colleagues, Shared Health Foundation.
15:32
And what I have seen over the years, because that started during the conservative
15:35
government, is that with every new government, there is a new challenge to try
15:39
to get the government on side to thinking that, well, because there's always different priorities.
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So if you can get a government to think that homelessness, temporary accommodation,
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social housing is a priority, that is the win.
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And then to have Andy Burnham come in and make it such a focus.
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I think there are definitely pitfalls. There's always unintended consequences, but I welcome the focus.
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What I also welcome is that they have been good at convening and listening to
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the sector beyond just local authorities and public services.
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So they are, and the questions that you have raised, other charities have also
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raised to the government itself, saying this cannot just end now.
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We have to find a way to make sure that all of these initiatives we are doing
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does not lead to, we don't want to do everybody in for Christmas every year.
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You know, we want to solve it and make sure that we can keep people in housing.
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So I do really think that they are working on it.
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It isn't always popular in terms of media and headlines, but what I do know is that.
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There are lots of things that are being announced kind of behind the scenes
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even that are fit into this bigger picture that shows to me they are trying to think systemically.
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So the money that has, they've announced over 100 million pounds worth of funding.
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And a lot of that is with, it's called the Ending Homelessness in Communities.
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And that fund has been announced at the same time as some of this rough sleeper initiative.
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And right before the rough sleeper initiative was announced,
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there was some funding to help councils to be able to provide housing and wraparound
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support for people that looks at a housing first model, which is something Andy
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Burnham talks a lot about.
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And then just yesterday, let's see, on Monday or Tuesday, the government has
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announced more social housing that they're going to allocate it.
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So there are these things at different parts of the system, which says to me,
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that's building a picture of recognizing that we need to create this change
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and it has to be a wholesale change.
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And the benefit to society, to the country as well, I mean, just.
17:53
There's obviously the benefit of seeing people not having to struggle and not
17:58
living in the insecurity and the ambiguity of that lifestyle.
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And also it allows them to actually economically contribute as well, eventually.
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And therefore it reduces the burden to the country, but it reduces the burden to themselves.
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So there are so many win-wins here, but I guess the thing that's stopped it
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in the past is that it's a multidisciplinary, multi-organizational approach here that is needed.
18:32
There's not one just silver bullet to fix this problem.
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There's definitely not one silver bullet to fix this problem. It has to be a...
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I think that's what makes it hard is because it's across systems and it,
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as you say, and it is across departments.
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And sometimes you get so fixed in the way that you work that you don't always
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speak to other departments. And so we have to find a way to work together and
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be willing to work together.
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And that's within government and outside of government as well.
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One of the things that I've experienced throughout my years of working at Just
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Life, I've worked there for about 13 years now, is that there can often be this, this.
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This almost, this, the way that councils and charities work with each other
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can be quite fractious, fractious sometimes, you know, there's always the thinking
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of, oh, well, you've not done this or, you know, why are you highlighting this?
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Whereas I think we need to move beyond that. There's something that we run called
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temporary accommodation action groups, where within those groups,
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within local authorities, we run a no blame, a no blame culture.
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That doesn't mean people don't take responsibility.
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But if you walk into a room with a very emotive topic like homelessness and
19:44
temporary accommodation, and you look at somebody and says, this is your fault,
19:47
you fix it, that feels very difficult. And no one gets into this thinking,
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I want to make housing or homelessness work for somebody.
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So that will be, I think we are moving towards more of that.
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Angela Rayner, when she was in her first time as the Secretary of State for
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Housing, she had the cross-party ending homelessness, not cross-party,
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excuse me, the cross-departmental ending homelessness group.
20:12
That is still there across departments and ministries. And so what the direction
20:17
of travel is encouraging to me, I think.
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You always have the strategic direction of travel, which is encouraging,
20:23
but how it then happens on the ground is going to be the thing that's difficult.
20:26
And so I think on the ground, I really hope it translates into improved cross-sector
20:33
working in every local area in Manchester, because as you say,
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there is no silver bullet.
20:38
You're listening to The Late Late Lunch Show. Back to the garden childcare,
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where little explorers grow naturally.
20:45
Today on The Late Late Lunch Show, I've been delighted to be speaking to Krista McIver from Just Life.
20:49
And I have to say, Krista, you have made me feel more confident,
20:55
about what might be happening because I definitely, I didn't think that with
21:00
Andy Burnham's experience in Manchester that he thought like Christmas would solve this.
21:06
But you've also highlighted just how complex it is because it's multidisciplinary.
21:12
It's not just about putting a roof over somebody's head because there's a plethora
21:16
of other things that they need support with.
21:19
When you lose that security of a home, it can attack so many parts of your life,
21:25
psychologically, as well as your welfare, as well as your health.
21:30
And just even getting back into a house and locking the door and having a room.
21:37
Can feel so different to somebody.
21:40
It really can. It really can. I mean, one of the things that we're calling for
21:44
in standards is just for people to have locks on their doors.
21:46
And what you would be surprised to hear is that that's not always something
21:50
that is a given in some of these places that people end up in in temporary accommodation.
21:54
So that is not security at all.
21:56
We've heard over years stories of people putting doors and beds in front of
21:59
the doors to prevent other people from coming in.
22:02
So just having your own space with a lock on the door where you can have some.
22:06
Psychological safety, as you say, is huge.
22:10
And the journey to reach that will be different for everybody because they all
22:14
have a different sort of trauma backpack.
22:17
They all have different things that have picked up along the way that has contributed to their situation.
22:23
And so it doesn't always seem straightforward, but it does make such a big difference
22:28
in people's lives once they are able to attain it.
22:31
And this is the thing for me is we're talking about people's lives.
22:35
We're talking about individuals here and their each story will be different
22:40
in some ways there might be some commonness about it but each story the thing
22:43
that got them on the street may be very personal may and and very different to another person,
22:50
exactly and some of it and and we can't always assume that it has to do with
22:54
drugs or alcohol or we cannot because that isn't always the case,
22:59
you just do not know what might lead to somebody ending up in on the streets
23:03
and and it Like I mentioned previously about leaving institutions, you know, just because.
23:10
There often isn't that pathway to find settled housing from different institutions,
23:14
but that even includes care leavers.
23:16
So, you know, young people who suddenly at 18 have to leave their foster family.
23:23
There's not a lot of places for people to go because we have such a big affordability
23:27
crisis. So we cannot assume that that's just the only reason why someone has
23:31
ended up on the street. Often it's because there really is very little housing.
23:36
Yeah. And do you think we should accept a night when anybody has to sleep on
23:43
the streets of England, the UK?
23:46
I mean, should we set a zero tolerance goal or is that totally unrealistic?
23:53
I would love to live in a country in the 21st century in Britain where nobody
23:56
had to sleep on the streets.
23:58
I think people are complicated. And I, I think that that is something I don't
24:05
think it should be that people are on the streets because our system is broken.
24:08
I think we need to have a system that works.
24:10
We can't control people, but we can control the system.
24:13
That's a really good way of putting it. And look, if people want to find out
24:18
more about Just Life, you'll be on the net. Where should they go?
24:22
So we have a website at www.justlife.org.uk, but we are also on TikTok,
24:28
LinkedIn, Instagram, so you can find us on all of those places.
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Well, thank you very much for giving up your time this afternoon.
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It's been enlightening.
24:36
And actually, it's been encouraging as well. Kristen McIver from Just Life,
24:41
thank you very much indeed. Thank you.
24:44
You're listening to The Late Late Lunch Show. Back to the Garden Childcare,
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where little explorers grow naturally.
24:51
So today on the show is part of our series looking at the challenges of people living on the streets.
24:57
I'm delighted to be speaking with Jimmy Dunn from the Manchester-based charity
25:01
LifeShare, which is an organisation that is there to support people for whom
25:06
the streets are often their home.
25:08
Jimmy, just tell us about LifeShare. How does it start and how does it support people?
25:15
Yeah, LifeShare started out 41 years ago It was the oldest homeless charity
25:20
in Manchester And it started providing with food provision for people.
25:29
In homelessness and suffering poverty as well And that's what we still do,
25:35
We have, like, Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have a food bank from our office between 1 and 3.
25:41
So people come down and get a food bank. We have people that are homeless on
25:44
the streets, no cooking facilities.
25:48
And we do have people in accommodation, but they're suffering with poverty. So we help them as well.
25:54
And at weekends, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we run a breakfast project, which I coordinate.
26:01
We're open at 7 in the morning until 9 o'clock.
26:05
Seven till nine in the morning and we have over the weekend like this weekend
26:09
just gone we had 300 people come
26:12
in sort of like 100 a day come in and we can be anything up to 350 370,
26:19
some some weekends and they come in and get cereal full breakfast we do snacks
26:23
cheese on toast cakes whatever whatever we've got we give out and then we also
26:28
have showers there so people get a shower get a change of clothes we have a big clothes store there,
26:34
it's just offering help to people that need it i can say and a lot of them are homeless and a lot of,
26:41
people in need so you guys have been working around manchester obviously for
26:44
some time would you say that the situation in manchester has improved as the
26:51
same or has got worse over the last number of years.
26:56
The homeless situation has gradually got worse. It did get better for a bit
27:00
with the ABEN scheme and people getting accommodation.
27:04
But with that sort of success, initial success of that scheme,
27:08
is you attract more homeless people from outlying areas, different towns,
27:13
different cities, because they're getting no help there.
27:16
They think, well, if you go to Manchester, we'll get help. So the situation
27:20
here exaggerates, really, to be honest.
27:23
You know, people are coming here to get help.
27:26
And it's not always possible because if you're a Dukes of Care,
27:30
just say Stoke, and then you come to Manchester, you can't hold two Dukes of
27:35
Care, so that has to be transferred, and that all takes time.
27:40
And I mean, everybody's story is going to be different, but I assume that the
27:45
people you support are from a wide range of age groups, a wide range of backgrounds? Absolutely, yeah.
27:53
We're adults only, over 18, And then, so you've got...
27:59
Got a lot of people in the 20s, 30s, and straight up to it. I mean,
28:04
we've got people that come in sort of 80, you know, come in every weekend,
28:09
every day, every weekend.
28:12
But they come in from companionship as well, you see, because they could well
28:15
be in – they might have accommodation.
28:20
But if you're living on your own and you're isolated, you know,
28:24
it's not a good place to be. So they come down there for that companionship
28:28
and friendship as well, as well as the food.
28:33
So, I mean, essentially, it's very hard to take a single view of a person's
28:40
situation because there's so many different scenarios.
28:43
As you say, somebody could be living and they may have a roof over their head,
28:46
but they're missing companionship. There might be some people who are on the
28:50
streets and you provide a critical meal service and whatever.
28:55
I met a man yesterday who has found himself to be homeless in the last wee while,
29:02
and he was put into a house of multiple occupancy in the region,
29:06
and he said, I couldn't deal with it.
29:09
There were people that I was sharing with were drug addicts,
29:13
alcoholics, and he said, it was safer for me to go out on the street.
29:19
Do you find that...
29:21
Do you find that.
29:25
There's not enough support out there or that it's too blank an approach to help these people?
29:33
Yeah, I know what you're saying. I mean, because the support is,
29:38
I mean, they have to go through a process of start off at hostels,
29:43
HMOs, and if you've got people with addictions, whether that's drug or alcohol,
29:48
and they're in that thing.
29:50
So they're still they're getting this support so they're still taking the drugs
29:55
they're still drinking the alcohol and,
30:00
if you were sort of you thought you were relatively clean you can go in them
30:03
places and the temptation's there because they're not a lot of support,
30:10
support generally comes after a bit when you get in different places and you
30:14
end up getting a social worker you can end up going to AA or NA to get that
30:21
support, because not everybody knows that that's available.
30:23
It is available, but not everybody knows how to access that.
30:29
I saw a stat this week that said that the government reckons there's 5,000 people
30:33
in England sleeping on the streets,
30:36
or don't have a permanent place of occupation in England per night.
30:42
Now, actually, I thought to myself that doesn't seem as much as I would have thought.
30:48
Does that number shock you does that number seem low to you what do you think.
30:54
Well I think that's a low that's a very low estimate to be honest if the ULs
30:58
had Greater Manchester without that possibly,
31:02
Not nationally, no. The figures are a little bit higher than that.
31:05
And there has been some focus in Greater Manchester of late on this.
31:12
What difference do you think that has made? Has it been temporary or has it had some permanency?
31:18
It's helped a lot of people, to be honest. The ABN scheme's helped a lot of people.
31:23
Well, like I say, with that initial success, brought lots more people to Manchester
31:29
and Greater Manchester because of the success of that because people were saying
31:33
well just say he was living in Burnley or Stoke he'd say well,
31:38
nothing's happening to me here I'll go to Manchester they'll put me in accommodation,
31:43
but that accommodation a lot of the time is only temporary it's only three or
31:46
four nights at a time and with that you have to,
31:51
sort of bide your time to get more,
31:55
then you get temporary accommodation and you've got to build your way up to
31:58
getting that permanent accommodation And like you just said there before about
32:02
the HMOs and that, that's not for everybody.
32:05
Not for everybody at all. You know, if you was...
32:10
You found yourself on the streets and that's when you get put into a place and
32:12
there's seven or eight people in there that are still addicted to whatever substances.
32:19
It might not be the place for you, sadly. And then when you don't want to give
32:24
up your duty of care by leaving, it's hard. It's hard out there. Simple as that.
32:31
Jimmy, the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has focused on this now and he's
32:36
brought it to a more national level.
32:38
And I think he's saying that this Christmas, they want to make sure that people,
32:44
there's nobody on the streets.
32:47
I guess in one way, it's great to have renewed focus on the issues and this agenda.
32:53
But solving it for Christmas isn't ultimately the goal, is it?
32:59
I mean, do you guys welcome the extra focus, but you want to see more being done?
33:06
100 we do yeah absolutely but like you say more things need to be done,
33:12
people need more help social workers probation officers because a lot of people
33:17
they leave prison and they just come out straight on the streets no money straight
33:21
on the streets and they all and and that focus.
33:26
For christmas is great it's really good don't get me wrong but a lot more needs
33:32
to be done And it's a bold statement he said on the day that he took office.
33:37
Don't be everybody welcome because nobody's ever said anything like that before.
33:40
No Prime Minister's ever said that before.
33:43
And even if you can't eradicate homelessness nationally, and you just say there
33:49
was 100,000 people, if you helped 60% of them, that's 60,000 people they've helped.
33:55
And that makes a big dent in it, and it's a good start. But it's all right,
34:00
you're giving people a roof over their head for a limited period,
34:04
it's the extra support that they need.
34:08
Yeah, and I mean, as we said before, everybody's story is somewhat different.
34:12
And there might be some common causes, but there are people out there who've
34:16
got skills, who could be contributing to life, to society, to the economy,
34:21
to themselves primarily.
34:23
And it's just about helping them find their way.
34:27
So it's more than just actually accommodation, although that's the key thing.
34:31
It's also finding their way in life, would you agree? Is that what LifeShare's view is?
34:38
Oh, 100%, yeah. I'd say small steps at first, but we get some into accommodation get them help,
34:44
get them on a training course get and don't so they can start looking to to
34:49
get employment or or back back into education just depending on on their you
34:54
know we don't matter how old you are nowadays going to education,
34:58
back into education to get more skills to to event to to get the the end goal
35:04
of getting employment and supporting with yourself,
35:08
and with your accommodation yeah it's very important stuff like that and it's
35:12
it's giving people that self-belief.
35:15
One, that they can do it, and two, that they can succeed. It's all right,
35:18
it's short-term, but you've got to look at a long-term goal of people getting
35:24
the support, getting back into education or employment,
35:28
and, like I say, contributing back into society. That'd be fantastic.
35:33
So you were saying earlier that LifeShare is over 40 years in existence in Manchester.
35:38
Just talk about the origins of it. How did it start?
35:42
Well, they started just over 41 years ago with a van going around the city centre
35:47
and then they ended up getting a place to use, which was on Danzig Street at the old ragged school.
35:56
And they were there for absolute donkey's years until with this redevelopment
36:00
of Manchester and all that, they got kicked out about six, seven years ago and
36:07
ended up a place in Stretford.
36:08
But now we're in what used to be a Nexus Cafe. It's now called Mosaic.
36:14
Beneath the Methodist Central Hall. And they support us a lot as well,
36:19
the Methodist Church there.
36:22
Obviously, we get a reduced rent and they're really good with us.
36:27
So, yeah, we're right in the city centre now, just on Dale Street, 2 Dale Street.
36:31
So we're at the best location in town to help people because a lot of people gravitate into town.
36:38
I know we're early in the morning, 7 till 9, but a lot of our guests are already
36:43
in the city centre, especially if they're homeless, because that's where they like to be.
36:48
So you provide like a breakfast service daily, or how does it work?
36:53
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, us. So we do that 7 till 9, and then the last Sunday
36:58
of the month, we're open till 2 o'clock, and we do a Sunday lunch as well.
37:04
And I have barbers come in.
37:07
I've got podiatrists coming in this Sunday to help people look at their feet
37:10
and stuff. That's a big part. If you're homeless and you're on a street all day.
37:15
Damned feet. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Damned feet. You see them,
37:19
we get trench foot. You got all sorts of things.
37:22
And so they come in, some of them come in at seven o'clock in the morning,
37:25
don't they, till two. And it's
37:26
the same at Christmas because we're open this, this year we'll be open.
37:29
We do five full days, the 23rd to the 27th, this, this, this year, this coming year.
37:34
And we're open at seven in the morning till seven at night.
37:38
And obviously including Christmas Day. And we do breakfast, lunch and dinner.
37:42
And that's seven, seven in the morning till seven at night.
37:45
And it's absolutely amazing entertainers on singing going on,
37:49
hairdressers, barbers all, chiropodists people talk to people's pets street
37:55
paws, they come down there fantastic as well, they help us out yeah it's amazing,
38:00
It seems almost like it's the simple stuff the stuff that people take for granted
38:04
can make such a big difference Well absolutely, people coming in for that care,
38:09
like I say it's a bit more than food because obviously they get in,
38:14
They can get showers, they can get clothes.
38:16
But it's the care and attention they're getting off our volunteers to help them
38:21
and show them compassion.
38:24
And it's just caring for people. Because a lot of people, especially if you're
38:28
homeless, you're not getting any care in the day if you're sat on the streets
38:31
or you're walking around and if you're a bit...
38:34
If you're a bit downshored and you're looking a bit unkempt,
38:36
you know, a lot of people aren't nice to you.
38:39
So when they come into our place, we're all nice to them, you know,
38:42
and they're coming in and getting that compassion off us.
38:48
And lots of other, there's quite a few homeless charities in Manchester,
38:52
and they're all great, to be fair. Yeah, yeah.
38:55
And I was to say, everybody's story can be so different, and,
38:59
you know, people can find themselves going from having a very subtle life to
39:04
finding the streets are the safe place for them.
39:06
It must be difficult for you sometimes, for your volunteers to switch off because
39:11
you're in amongst it all the time.
39:13
Yeah, we are, but our guests are really good as well.
39:18
You know, they come in, a lot of them, the majority of them are regulars.
39:24
So you sort of get to know, we don't pry, we're not interested as such in,
39:30
we're not trying to pry on people and find out what you've got here.
39:34
If they open up and speak to you, that's why I like a lot of volunteers.
39:37
You can sit down for five, ten minutes, have a chat with people,
39:41
and you do get to know about them and they share stuff with you.
39:45
It's building up that trust between us and them. They trust us, we trust them.
39:50
It's a real sense of community. It's like a little soap opera every weekend
39:56
because every single day is different.
40:00
There's all sorts going on, some weeks and then other weeks it's a bit,
40:04
It's not subdued, but it's nice and quiet. And other times it's not nice and quiet.
40:09
But we've got a lot of people with mental health problems and that.
40:12
So we try and keep it so there's no disruption and stuff. And everybody sort
40:16
of comes in and enjoys themselves. A little bit of music playing.
40:18
And I say loads of cups of teas and coffees and hot chocolates and snacks.
40:25
And a chat sometimes. That goes a long way. Just that chat.
40:30
See, we do the breakfast, but we serve it at the table. it's all table service,
40:35
our volunteers will go over,
40:36
take the order get them a cup of tea or coffee get them the breakfast serve
40:40
at the table and we'll clean up from there as well and if they want another
40:43
brew we'll get them another brew or some cheese on toast or you know cake snacks
40:47
whatever we've got it's all been donated,
40:51
well a lot of it's been donated and it's donated and it's for us to pass on
40:56
to people and that's what it's all about and that's what we like to do is try
40:59
and look after people well if anybody wants to volunteer I assume that it just
41:03
goes to your website and just look up Lifeshare.
41:07
Yeah, on our website there, yeah, there's a section there that says get involved.
41:11
I've actually got a volunteer induction a week on Saturday.
41:16
We started doing induction where we sort of go through what's expected of volunteers
41:21
and what they would expect to happen down there.
41:24
We run through that only for an hour, hour and a half. And I've got a lot of
41:30
amazing volunteers. They're fantastic.
41:33
And we're very lucky because we volunteer. So at the end of the day,
41:36
if we haven't got the volunteers, we can't do what we need to do and provide the services that we do.
41:43
And if anybody knows somebody who could benefit from just a bit of company and
41:48
maybe coming in the morning for breakfast again, just turn up at your location.
41:55
Yes. Yeah, we have them queuing up from 6 in the morning and we're not open
41:58
until 7. Sometimes they're at half past 5, but they're waiting to get in.
42:01
Yeah, come in there, get yourself a nice breakfast.
42:05
Full breakfast, bacon, eggs, sausage, beans, all that toast,
42:10
like pudding, sun and thyme, mushrooms, whatever we've got, we dish up for people.
42:15
Loads of cups of tea, like I said, and friendship.
42:20
Not everybody wants to come in and have a chat. You get some people come in
42:23
and just sort of sit on their own and, you know, if that's what they want to
42:28
do, that's what they want to do.
42:30
We don't mind the people, but if they want to talk, we'll talk and get to know people.
42:35
Well, Jimmy, thank you for taking the time. And,
42:39
I'm not surprised that a city like Manchester has both the need,
42:44
clearly, but also organizations like Leicester that is out there helping people.
42:49
And if you had one message for the new prime minister, as he's given more focus
42:57
to this topic, what would you be saying to him?
43:01
Well, obviously, it's a great initial idea, but to make it succeed,
43:07
hopefully, we can get people into more accommodation long-term and with the
43:13
support and the help that they need.
43:16
I say everybody's different, but they need the support and help as well.
43:19
And whether that's not just financial, but that's social workers, drug workers, all that.
43:27
People need to access all these services as well to help them and a journey back into,
43:34
society and it's interesting you say that, use that word journey,
43:38
I mean it's essentially, they need a sort of a landing path to go from where
43:44
they've been to being able to.
43:48
Have what people might call a normal life that's more stable Yeah,
43:53
absolutely, because you've got to start somewhere but you know you've got to
43:56
have a target like you say or a landing strip to aim for,
44:01
and we've got Manchester we've got some good successes as well we've got people,
44:05
that are back in employment,
44:07
back doing stuff as well and they're volunteering as well nowadays so you know
44:13
it's not all sort of bad news but we'd like more of the good news as well,
44:18
of people sort of getting to that success and getting out of,
44:24
that routine that they was in, but it's not an easy path.
44:28
It takes a year or two.
44:32
To get to that. Well, Jimmy Dunn from Nice Share, thank you very much for your
44:35
time. No problem. Thank you very much, Rod.
44:39
This is the Late Late Lunch Show with Rod Maxwell. Supported by... That's for,
44:46
you, Rod. Towerbird Learning in Nature's Playground.