I lost my work and my self-worth How Covid led to life in a caravan
LUKE Williamson’s life has changed completely since March. Last year, the 30-year-old was earning £18,000 working as an audiovisual technician and renting a room just off Stapleton Road, in Easton.
But now, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, Luke has no work and no income, and relies on £350 of Universal Credit to get by, while living in a caravan parked along Co-Operation Road.
However, the caravans are now being asked to move so work can continue on the Chocolate Factory development in Greenbank.
Seen by many as a prime example of Easton’s gentrification, the housing development at the site of the former Elizabeth Shaw Chocolate Factory – which sat empty and derelict for more than a decade – will comprise of 140 new homes, including 96 apartments and 44 houses.
The development in east Bristol has been surrounded by controversy from the start, and the plans came under fire when they were first announced as the original proposals didn’t include any affordable housing.
At the time of the announcement, local residents living near Bristol mayor, Marvin Rees, called on him to do more to stop developers building luxury homes in an area where people are living in vans parked in the road.
After years of negotiations, it was announced earlier this year the development would include 36 affordable homes, even though a planning inspector said none were required.
The development has faced delays but, as work progresses, the developer said in August that the caravans parked along Co-Operation Road, which is adjacent to the development, would need to be moved ‘soon’ as the road would need to be shut temporarily to have utilities installed.
Sitting in the doorway of his caravan, which he was expecting to move that day, Luke has a look at the development while we speak on Wednesday morning.
He is smoking a cigarette and looks tired; it is obvious the past few months have taken a toll on him.
Luke, who has lived in Bristol for 10 years, says: “The Chocolate Factory symbolises what is wrong with housing in the city.
“There is a huge homeless problem in Bristol and housing is only becoming more precarious.
“I have seen how Bristol has changed, places like Easton or Stokes Croft, and it is becoming less and less accessible to live in a
❝ Living in a caravan – it is what it is. It is sweet apart from the fact there is no electricity
house in Bristol. When I am working it is alright, but buying a house seems impossible to people like me.
“A lot of my friends live in caravans and, doing festivals, you spend a lot of time in caravans and tents anyway so it is nothing new for me.”
Luke, 30, who has mostly lived around Easton, left his room just off Stapleton Road on March 18.
The Government introduced an eviction ban to protect renters whose income was hit by the coronavirus crisis, but Luke was living in a sublet and had to leave when he lost his income.