It’s not where I expected to be on my 50th birthday
worth. I have been offered money for my tools but I haven’t taken it. They are in a friend’s lock-up and I’m hanging on to the hope that I might be able to pick them up again and get back into society.”
Joe has been offered a place at a homeless shelter but he refused to take it up.
He said: “It might sound stupid to people who don’t know what the hostels are like but I feel I’m better in the tent.
“If you spend a night in one of these places, you won’t sleep. So many people staying there are alcoholics and drug addicts and there are so many people trying to go through your stuff.
“You can’t turn your back on your shoes or they’d be stolen. It’s a different kind of stress to staying in a tent but living in a homeless hostel isn’t a home.
“I came here because there is always a bit of solidarity and safety in numbers. “People look out for each other and there is less chance of being attacked or robbed.
“But the addictions make people desperate and they do crazy stuff. I won’t go through abandoned tents because there are needles there from injecting heroin.
“I left the tent the other day to get a cup of tea at the Wayside Centre, a five-minute walk away. By the time I got back, somebody had gone through the tent and thrown the bedding out. I had a tin of tobacco with one roll-up in it and they stole it. That’s what you are up against. I don’t know what they thought I would be stashing in a freezing tent but it seems the people with the least are more likely to get robbed than those who have everything.
“When you drop out of society, the vicious circle suffocates you. I didn’t have an address so I couldn’t get benefits.
“I wasn’t a drug addict or alcoholic so I wasn’t connecting to the system in that way. I got the feeling I wasn’t needy enough even though I’ve been lying in a tent.
“What I want is a private let, a bedsit would do, but landlords want deposits, they want references and they want you to have a mailing address too. You just feel you need a break to get back on track again.
“I’ve read about Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon talking about all the action they are taking but they’re just generating good headlines.
“Making a few places available for a few nights in hell-holes just circulates people round the system and they don’t get away from their addictions. People need decent homes and a bit of dignity.”
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said last night: “We are working with Mr Carmichael with the aim of identifying a suitable temporary furnished flat for him as soon as possible.”