Perous Secret Diary - Keep Out: September 14, 2011

more palm trees

woke up in luxury and rushed downstairs to find i was 5 mins late to the perou-mobile, and so rewarded with a parking ticket.

welcome to manchester

homeless / hopeless

met up with the young person’s support foundation and spent a while hanging with some more young homeless guys, walking around manchester and talking about what it's like being homeless.

although we didn't end up in utter hell holes like yesterday in liverpool, the conversation about what it was to be homeless was harder and more depressing.
in the hostel i was at in liverpool yesterday there is an almost family atmosphere and the young people all have their own rooms.

the young person’s support foundation in manchester isn't a hostel but a drop in center where the young people can come in the morning for breakfast, a shower, somewhere to wash and dry their clothes and receive support on many issues from health to housing etc..

so the young men i was hanging out with today were/still are homeless.
and i got to hear more about life on the streets.

one of the guys i was with was a 21yr old, happy-ish, friendly kid who i was told had been out of prison for 5 weeks.
i couldn't imagine what he'd done to get in prison.
he'd been caught stealing food and got into a fight with the security and then the police, whilst trying to resist arrest.

we all know homeless people (who can't get benefits because they don't have an address and so don't have any money) can't afford to buy food.
but when you REALLY think about this properly, imagine what it must be like to be starving...
i would steal food to eat, i know i would.

this kid came out of prison hoping to get his life straight.
the prison was supposed to sort him out with getting into a hostel but because they hadn't and therefore he was homeless, he was in breach of his bail conditions, immediately and will probably have to go back in prison.
he can't do anything about it: he's just getting bounced around the (fucked) system.

the young people i was with today weren't drug addicts, they were kids who had got into being homeless mainly through family breakdowns.
being homeless is fucking their lives and they can't easily get out of it, despite wanting to.

the homeless for me and probably for you are 'out there': we know they are and yeah, we think it's bad but it's just something that happens that we don't REALLY have to consider.

these last couple of days i've been having to think about things like needing to steal food to eat, getting soaked to the bone when it rains, the sum total of your possessions in life being what you can carry on your person, being cold when it's cold, trying to find somewhere to crash for a few hours usually uncomfortable sleep and SO much more.
i got to hear and think about the straight young men who have to suck cock and worse for money, for food.
and the dangers relating to this.

how prison (which in itself i'm always horrified about the idea of having to be in) is sometimes preferable to being homeless because at least you can eat and stay warm.

i heard about a film i must see about the homeless, in which a 15year old girl explains it's easier to sell herself than it is to sell 'the big issue'.

there seems to be (to me, only looking at this over the last two days only) two different groups of homeless on the streets:
them that have been on the streets for time and have dropped out of society: drug addicts and/or alcoholics that are beyond changing (perhaps) and don't care and just need to be cared for.
and then kids who could end up as the hopeless homeless but right now they WANT to change: they still have some sense of hope and ambition and they CAN be helped.

i'm not political (much) but there are new cutbacks now that are effecting social services' ability to help the young homeless get out of their fucked up situations and back into society and keep them from turning into the homeless that are beyond help.
it feels desperate.
it doesn't make sense financially either: when the homeless become 'lost' they are only more of a burden on society.

i think ALL politicians should have to do a night on the streets in an inner city before they're allowed to make any decisions in parliament.
they don't have to go to africa to find starving kids: there are starving young people in britain

our stereotypes of homeless (mine were at least) are wrong.
they are not all drug using, unintelligent, violent thieves.
ALL of the young people i met were just young people in urgent need of help and understanding.
they were creative, smart, had hopes and dreams, and a sense of humour.

sorry, not the most eloquent of rants.
choking up as i write
:(