The desperation, sadness and hope of a city’s ‘I’M AT A POINT WHERE IT IS DO OR DIE – I CAN FIX IT AND I WILL’
H
UNDREDS of people will have spent Christmas on the streets of Wales’ towns and cities.
The scale of the homelessness crisis is clear to anyone who has watched the number of rough sleepers steadily increase in real time.
A Welsh Assembly report estimates there are 347 people sleeping rough in Wales, with many more finding temporary accommodation in hostels or space offered by charities.
Recent data published by the Office for National Statistics estimated 726 homeless people died in England and Wales in 2018.
Of those deaths, two in five were related to drug poisoning, an increase in this cause of death by 55% since 2017.
Homeless charity The Wallich has recorded steadily rising average numbers of people accessing their services in Newport, Bridgend, Cardiff and Swansea since 2013.
In Newport, charities that have long offered support to those in crisis are being joined on the streets by organised groups of volunteers providing regular supplies of food, clothing, shelter and healthcare.
Many choose to gather near the dozens of tents set up in a car park beneath a section of road behind the city’s market and bus station.
The flyover provides natural shelter from the weather, with many choosing to set up their temporary camp away from shoppers and passers-by in the city centre.
Several groups of volunteers have started visiting the car park to give out hot food, drinks, clothing, tents and sleeping bags to people experiencing hardship.
Wales on Sunday spent time with one group, the Helping Caring Team (HCT) Homeless Project, which was established earlier this year.
Most of the people these volunteers come into contact with suffer from a combination of drug or alcohol dependency issues and mental health problems.
Many develop further health problems as a result of a life spent outdoors.
These are some of the stories we heard while spending time with the city’s homeless and the volunteers who work tirelessly to help them survive.
Connor Davies
Connor is 26 years old, grew up in the Bettws area of Newport and has spent approximately four years of his life on and off the streets.
He has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, a condition
Connor said he is constantly coping w i th alongside the stresses of sleeping rough.
Connor has made a small pitch p for himself in a quiet multi-storey multi-sto car park near the centre of Newpo Newport. “I have been doing this for so long now that I feel like this is me me, if that makes sense,” Connor said. “I have been to prison sometimes just jus to get off the streets.
“When I have been stable stab I’ve made a CV, applied to like 50-odd places, and then they do a CRB check. You get into the role o of shoplifting. You shoplift so you’re you not hungry, then they slap you y with theft and you can can’t get a job. It’s the worst spiral. “I want to make something of my life but I can’t. I look at other people, people and it is not n that I’m I’ jealous, but I envy them when I see they have got a nice property.”
“I know all of the people under here,” Connor said. “It’s disgusting, there shouldn’t be a community of homeless people.
“When I was growing up there was one man who would walk through John Frost Square and he was homeless. He seemed to have chosen this life. Our government and our council have failed us.”
Abbie Williams
Abbie is 32 and was raised in Chepstow.
She has spent most of her adult life fighting her dependence on street drugs and has turned to prostitution to pay for her habit.
For the second half of this year she has found space in various hostels around Newport, but previously found shelter in drug dens and within abusive relationships.
“I was raised by drug dealers so I got on drugs at a very young age,” Abbie said.
“Then I was on heroin and crack at 18. I ended up in Newport at about 25 and started street working.
“I have been through some really nasty, rough relationships. I’ve been attacked a few times.”
Abbie said she has been fortunate enough to have only spent one night sleeping rough in her life.
“Most of the time I was living in crack dens around Pill,” she said.
“I want to stop the prostitution, get off the heroin and crack and straighten my life out.
“I haven’t managed to do it all yet. I’m slowly cutting out the prostitution and the heroin and crack have come right down.