Life on city streets under the spotlight
● A REGIONAL newspaper has reported on a homeless man who said he is from Runcorn and lost a roof over his head after spending his rent on drugs.
As part of a feature on the city’s rough sleepers, the Manchester Evening News (MEN) said Paul Crook, 45, had blamed Universal Credit for his predicament.
The short quote from Mr Crook was among a selection of accounts provided by homeless people on the challenges they face.
The reasons given as to how they lost their homes varied with others citing divorce and their landlord going bankrupt.
Issues faced on the streets included potentially lethal cold and one person said she broke her pelvis after being pushed from the top of a car park.
Another had her blankets stolen.
The article said homelessness has risen tenfold in Manchester since 2010.
Mr Crook told the MEN: “I’ve always struggled to find work.
“I’ve never really achieved anything, so I never really imagined what I’d be in the future.
“I go to the town hall every morning to see if they can offer me anywhere to stay, but they say it’s first come first served and there’s never anything for me. “I’d love a home. “When it’s this cold you can’t think, you can’t do anything.
“Sometimes you can’t even sleep.”
The city is not the only place to be contending with a massive rise in the issue.
In Liverpool, city council mayor Joe Anderson has said he has made it his mission to end rough sleeping, even going against Government rules not to support failed asylum seekers and others from abroad.