Wednesday 19 December 2012

Are we normal??

After a full and stressful day at work, going from meeting to meeting, I find myself driving home listening to talksport and remembering that the Mighty Leeds United play tonight.  Excited, I pull over and phone my other half....
"what time will you be home tonight?"  I say
"I'll be setting off shortly, not going to the gym now, not feeling too well so gonna come home and have a bath.  Why?" he says.
"Leeds are playing tonight and I wanted to know if I could watch in peace..... I was also hoping you might bring me some beer home to watch the match with??!!"
"Not a chance" he says.

Cut to 7:30pm...

"are you going up yet?" I say
"Yes, I'm going now"
"Good, I can put the footy on now"

I then put the football on, while the other half goes for a nice relaxing bubble bath!!

While he is soaking his weary bones I am downstairs shouting at the TV..........

I'm pretty sure this is the wrong way round......

Thursday 6 December 2012

Christmas, the season of good will.....

It's early morning and the kids are excited that the big man has visited.
You lie in bed and wait til you can get in the bathroom
You jump out of bed, make your way to the bathroom and then return so you can begin Christmas morning...
Sound familiar???  How about if I explained it more....
It's early morning and the kids are excited that the big man has visited.  I am in a blind panic wondering if they will notice that all their toys come from the pound shop or the charity shop... I just don't want to let them down.
You lie in bed and wait til you can get in the bathroom.  All the other residents are using the bathroom, I am not sure who is in their and don't want to be seen by them in my bed clothes, especially if they are a man.
You jump out of bed, make your way to the bathroom and then return so you can begin Christmas morning... I am literally running down the corridor to the bathroom to get in next and to avoid other residents as they scare me.

Is this how you would like to spend Christmas Morning?  No, I didn't think so, but this is the reality for a lot of people this Christmas.
More and more families and children will be waking up in temporary accommodation, a refuge (if they are the lucky ones) or on the streets.  There is a staggering amount of children (75,000) who will be homeless this year.
Some of these children will be there because their parents have been made redundant and subsequently lost their family home.
Some will be there because they have been evicted from their home.
Some will be there because one of their parents may be fleeing domestic violence, imagine going to your local housing department thinking you will get help, you explain that you are currently staying with your family but you can't stay there as there just isn't enough room for you and your children, you have been asked to leave.  You tell them this and they try and find you a hostel, you get promised a place, when they phone you to complete the risk assessment you are turned down because you are pregnant.  It's now 5pm and the housing department are shut, you are forced to stay another night where you are not wanted, the next morning you go through the same thing, again you are denied a place in hostel because you have too many children. You repeat this process, and all the time you are slowly sinking into depression and beginning to feel like you don't belong anywhere.... maybe you should return to your abuser at least you will have a roof and that's got to be better right??  Anyway, you stick it out another night, and you don't get a hostel but are given a B&B for the NIGHT (you have to repeat the performance the next day), you go as it seems a better option, however, when you arrive you realise you are surrounded by alcoholics/drug users... what do you do?? (This is a true scenario)

These families need protecting and supporting.  Please help them.




Monday 3 December 2012

Roofless vs Homeless

Whilst at work today, where I am a Family Support Worker, I was supporting a friend to help a relative of their's complete an application to the local Foyer.  This is a supported accommodation for young people aged 16-25yrs.  Whilst filling it out, it asked what his housing status was.  I was surprised to see the following terms and definitions:

□ Roofless (sleeping rough / on the streets) 
□ Homeless (e.g. living with friends / family but temporarily or on a sofa)
□ Difficulty with current accommodation (e.g. harassment/disrepair) 
□ Fleeing violence / Unsafe address 
□ Threatened with homelessness (e.g. told to leave home / notice to leave from landlord)

I guess for me it was the first one that puzzled me.  Most people think of homeless as being the 'sleeping rough/on the streets definition, I know I did.  When talking to people and they said that they were homeless it never occurred to me that the definitions had changed and there for when they sought housing from the local authority were they giving them the correct phrase to show their current housing situation??

How many of you, if you were in that situation, would know to describe your situation as Roofless rather than homeless?