‘A policeman thought I had frozen to death’
AS TEMPERATURES PLUNGE, HOMELESS PEOPLE TELL OF THEIR BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL ON MANCHESTER’S STREETS
ON Monday morning, Wayne Joyce was woken up by a police officer on the streets of Manchester checking if he had frozen to death.
“He said he thought I might have gone,” says Wayne, who sits in a doorway near Piccadilly.
“I’ve not been able to feel my toes in about three days now. It’s been unbearable, it’s so cold.”
Wayne, 39, who suffers from liver disease and other medical issues, has been sleeping rough for 11 months.
He’s just one of a number of men and women huddled in shivering bundles at the feet of bag-laden Christmas shoppers.
Many passers-by glance as they pass. A few stop to buy them a hot drink. Some don’t seem to notice at all.
It’s cold and foggy – around 3C. But on Sunday night it was much, much colder.
Official government guidance states that when the temperature officially drops below zero for three consecutive nights, a rough-sleeper qualifies for emergency housing.
This is when council buildings, such as libraries, are opened up as shelters.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has worked with town halls to reduce the threshold to one night.
So far in December, there have been 11 such nights. Manchester council bosses say they have not had to turn anyone away.
But many are struggling through unbearably cold nights on the streets when it’s not officially freezing and the emergency rule doesn’t apply.
Margaret Smith, 23, sits near the TravelLodge. Homeless after a divorce around a year ago, she says she was pushed from the top of Tib Street car park where she was sleeping rough.
She suffered a broken pelvis and was given housing while she recuperated, but is now back on the streets.
Margaret has worked for John Lewis in the past. She sings and plays the piano.
If I could have anything for Christmas it would be my family Margaret Smith
“It’s been so cold my socks have gone hard,” Margaret says.
“I never ever thought I would find myself in this position. All I ever wanted to do was sing.
“If I could have anything for Christmas, it would be my family.”
Nicola Ryder, 27, is lying on the street wrapped in a duvet, her eyes and nose barely visible. She says she’s too cold to sit up.
“I’ve been homeless two years on and off,” she says. “My landlord went bankrupt, I was pregnant so I got a hotel place for a while.
“Now the council says I’m not a priority. It’s so, so cold. Someone robbed my blankets last night.
“It feels like ice, my fingers are frozen, my toes are frozen, I just feel like giving up.
“I’ll be out here on Christmas Day, I have no family to go to.”
On Market Street, Sam Wright, 54, is wrapped in a sleeping bag.
“It’s hard, but I get through it by praying to my mother,” he says. Originally from London, David Jackson, 63, has been homeless around Piccadilly for 21 months. “It’s very, very cold,” he says. “I’ve been given a child’s sleeping bag, but apart from that I’ve had no blankets or gloves. Most of the time I go to the railway station and sleep in the toilets. “This is the coldest I’ve ever been. This Christmas I’d like a place to stay, not a hostel. I’d be happy then.”