A Home Without a Heart

8/11/2019 A Home Without a Heart

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A

HomeWithout

A

HeartBy Jordie Black


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What this book is not...This is not a book of meaningless facts

and figures about homelessness. This

book will not tell you how many people

were made homeless last year or how

many empty homes there are in the

country.

Introduction

We all have an opinion on the

homeless, whether were indifferent,

call them lazy, or do all we can to help,we all have an opinion.

Just like our opinions, we all have

stories to tell, and just because you lose

your home does not mean you shouldlose your voice either.

This book tries to make us think

differently about homelessness. This


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involved with, whether we like it or not.

Weve all walked past a homelessperson. Perhaps weve given them

money, perhaps weve bought them a

sandwich, or perhaps weve walked on

by and not even noticed they exist.

There are many reasons why people

become homeless. Often, its substance

abuse; mental health issues;

breakdown of family relationships; or

losing a job and the struggle to keep upwith the cost of living.

There are a variety of reasons why

people become homeless, all just as

relevant as each other. However, one

core reason ties all these issues

together. The common denominator as

to why people become and struggle to


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escape from homelessness is lack of

friendship.

Lack of friendship

Homelessness, I feel, is due to lack of

friends.

Im going to ask youto imagine your

best friend. If you knew they were

likely to become homeless, would you

help them? Would you let them stay at

your house for a few weeks and thensay, sorry, but you have to go now, do

you not have anywhere else to go?

Youve done your best, you tell yourself.

They will have other friends, you

reassure yourself. However, this isntalways the case. Your friend will

probably say yes because its

embarrassing and degrading for them


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to admit you were their last hope.

Imagine, you were their last hope.

This is when your best friendwould

probably spend their first night on the

streets.

Now imagine this scenario:

You havent heard from your best

friend for a while. At first you didnt

even notice because youre busy with

life. When do you eventually start towonder where they are, you give them

a visit. You find they are not home. Its

odd; you see countless letters in their

porch and it looks as though they

havent been home in a while. You givethem a ring, the phone is disconnected.


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Bewildered, you wonder home. On your

walk home you hear a voice;

Spare any change, love, croakyyet

completely recognisable: Its your best

friend. They are bedraggled and

forlorn, but its definitely them. Whatdo you do? Do you take them into your

home? Do you pay for their rehab? Do

you give them money to get out of debt,

or do you just walk on by?

Could you honestly walk past a friend

and not help them if you knew they

were in need?


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A

Heart

Without

A

Home


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Stories and voices

From the conversations I had with the

homeless, two stories stuck with me.

The first account came from a man

called Tyler. Tyler had become used to

a dysfunctional lifestyle. He wasbrought up around drugs and alcohol.

He became frustrated with his lack of

opportunities but still managed to

support his young family.

Tyler admitted supporting a family at a

young age was hard and he made many

mistake with money. However, these

mistakes occurred because he was

trying to create a life for his family. He

was determined to give her a better

beginning.


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As a result of these mistakes, Tyler lost

his partner; she went back toManchester taking their daughter with

her.

Tyler couldnt afford the rent by

himself and he couldnt afford a depositfor a new house. He had no one else he

could go to for help and spent the

majority of the next year on the streets.

He was optimistic things would get

better; his daughters 4thbirthday was

what kept going. When youre at your

lowest, all you need is some hope,

something to hold onto, to tell you to

keep going.

Ihad it all planned out rightI was

going to save the money I gotyou

know, from begging. I was gonna save


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the money and get a ticket to

Manchester. I was going to surprise mylittle girl and show her I never gave

upHer name was Francis, did I say

that already?

Tylers daughters birthday was threemonths ago. I asked him why he hadnt

managed to see her.

I had it almost saved up, in my little

bag. I was sat herewhere I always sit

and one night I saw a man giving a girl

a hard time. I thought they were play

fighting but then it got serious and no

one else was helping the girl. I went

over to helpbut the man pushed me

back and took my bag.


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I asked Tyler what he was holding on

for now and he laughed and saidFranciss 5thbirthday.

Tyler had no idea where Francis was;

apart from, they went to Manchester.

Tyler would have had no way ofcontacting his ex-partner once he got to

Manchester, and I dont think that

mattered. What Tyler wanted, like so

many homeless people, was a little

something to cling onto; a littlesomething to keep him going through

the darkest days of which there were

many.

The next story Id like to tell is

about a man named. Robert has been

homeless since he was 22; hes now 43.

He said, he loves being homeless. Some


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of the greatest friends hes ever made

have been from the streets.

When you all have nothing, theres

nothing to be jealous of, no one is

greedy, and we all help each other out.

I asked Robert why he seemed

nonchalant about being homeless.

When I first ended up on the streets, I

tried so hard to get out of it. I did

everything they told me I should, but Ijust couldnt get permanent housing.

There were people with greater needs,

I was okay with that.

Robert told me that being homeless isall about adapting. Hes adapted to a

world where society deems him less of

a person than others. What was


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Im not too interested in the money

really. I get enough to live and thats allI need. I like when people talk to me.

Theres one man who talks to me on his

way to work so I make sure Im always

here at the same time in the morning

for a chat. Its nice to have friends.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions:

1.

I have too much of my own thing

to do, how do you expect me to

think about the homeless?

Theyre not my friends, theyre

not my problem?

I completely understand that we all

have our own problems and we all have

to face our own battles, but why, when

we tuck ourselves into bed at night,


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a.

Personal circumstances

beyond their control.b.

Addiction to substances

c.

Loss of job

d.

Relationship

breakdowns

e.

Service men are leftunable to work.

f.

Mental health

g.

No support

h.

Sometimes its their

own choicei.

Lack of jobs

j.

Divorce, abuse, crime

k.

Capitalism necessitates

poverty

l.

They fail to choose toget help from charities

when its there for

them.


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m.

Poor social welfare

system.n.

Immigration

2.

Is anyone to blame for people

becoming homeless?

a.

Beyond the personscontrol

b.

Individual choices lead

them to become

homeless but blame

shouldnt be placed onthem

c.

Us a country no

support.

d.

Collective fault

e.

Themselvesf.

Capitalism system

isnt broken, it works

perfectly to ensure a


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minority of people hold

the majority of thewealth.

g.

No-one is to blame

h.

There is support out

there but no-one trusts

the people offering thesupport.

i.

Government

i.

Not funding

essential

services to helpprevent

homelessness.

ii.

Demonising

them

iii.

Wealthunevenly

distributed


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3.

Do you do anything to help

the homeless? If yes, what? Ifno, why?

a.

Give directly to the

homeless on the street.

b.

Sometimes give money

c.

Sometimes buy bigissue

d.

Chat to them

e.

Buy them lunch

f.

Donate

g.

Charity donationsh.

Give to the people

dont trust charities

actually help.

i.

Buy them lunch but

never give them moneybecause theyll spend it

on drugs/alcohol.


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j.

Volunteer with

homeless charity, crisiswhen I can.

k.

Hard to know the right

way to help.

4.

How do you think our society

perceives the homelesspopulation?

a.

Wealthy people look

down on them.

b.

Working class can

empathise.c.

Sometimes sympathy,

sometimes indifferent.

d.

I hardly notice them.

e.

Negative perception

we perceive thesituation as their fault

and dont help them

because of this.


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f.

Contempt

g.

Press paints them aslazy.

h.

They need help that

even the few homeless

shelters cant offer.

i.

Disdain, homelessnessis still a taboo.

j.

Delinquents.

k.

Bain to our society

l.

Ignored.

5.

What can we do to alter theperception of the homeless in

our society?

a.

National drive to offer

support to the homeless

community.b.

Put posters up in city

centres to show theres

a wide range of issues


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why homelessness

happens.c.

Break peoples

misconceptions

d.

Open communication

homeless people still

need a voice. If weheard their voice wed

have a different

perception of them.

e.

More should be done to

prevent homelesspeople becoming

isolated

f.

More education on

homelessness in

schools.g.

Stop asking what they

couldve done to avoid

becoming homeless, and


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start asking where it

was that we failed themand why we continue to

do so.

h.

Stop making them a

stigma, offer mental

health treatment, drugalcohol rehabilitation

and help them integrate

back into working

society.

i.

Awareness of thereasons why people

become homeless.

j.

Humanise the people

who find themselves

without a home.k.

Dissolve the social

stigma that every

homeless person must


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be an alcoholic or drug

user.l.

Create open and helpful

dialogue around

homelessness.

m.

Talk about homeless

like its something wecan combat rather than

something that irritates

us.

n.

Raise awareness about

the charities that canhelp those who become

homeless.


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A Home Without a Heart

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