Three people living in a room, one by choice, two by unfortunate circumstances.
Its 2pm and the slight sound of heavy breathing and unsettled sleeping bodies moving is all that fills the room. One eye opens slowly and looks around the room, the olive green curtains droop over the windows creating a murky light around the room. “Good morning” mumbles a lifeless voice from across the room, this is now the start of all of our days. I sit up on my single bed in the corner of the room and watch my close friends Crystal and Tod try to get the energy to fully wake up. Crystal and myself go and sit on the door step to enjoy our “morning” cigarette, Simple As This by Jake Bugg plays from Crystals phone as we look down the street we call “smackhead street” and wonder how we came to be here.
Crystal is the home owner or should I say home renter, for a fine ten pounds a week Crystal gets to stay in a two bedroom house in my home town of Stockton On Tees. Crystal became homeless in August of 2017 after a falling out with her Aunty whom she lived with due to being in foster care from a young age. After not being able to return to the house that she grew up in, Crystal then spent the next few weeks sleeping at various friends’ houses, however she knew that soon she wouldn’t have many more options left and would have to find somewhere to live which was going to be hard as she only had a few pennies to her name. “This was one of the hardest times in my life, I didn’t know where or when I would have my next meal or if I’d even find a place to sleep for the night, I couldn’t go to work as I had no way of getting there and I felt like such a burden in my friends lives having to stay at their houses but didn’t know what other options I had” Crystal told me. Using the internet Crystal managed to find a company called Community Campus based in Stockton Town, this company offers supported tenancies for the homeless and people in unfortunate circumstances. The company also offers support to help get people jobs and get themselves back on their feet. Crystal applied for a tenancy and within a week she was living in her new home with another teenage girl in a similar set of circumstances.
Unfortunately Community Campus cannot supply everyone with a home, it was recorded that in Stockton On Tees in 2017 there were over 200 homeless people. Mine and Crystal’s good friend Tod was one of the unlucky people who was put on a long waiting list for a tenancy. Tod became homeless after falling out with his parents and spent weeks sofa hopping until Crystal invited him to live with her, which was a violation of her tenancy agreement however that was a risk she was willing to take to help a friend in need. Tod lost his job as he again had no way of getting there so struggled with money for many months. It’s now April 2018 and Tod now has a new full time job, Crystal is working two part time jobs and they are both saving up to get a flat together, so it may have been a long and bumpy ride but their lives are now coming together nicely.
