SHELTER SCOTLAND
Last year, 34,100 homeless applications for homelessness assistance were made in Scotland and Dumfries and Galloway has seen some of the biggest increase in homelessness applications in the past year.
Through my research and meetings with Shelter Scotland it was apparent that homelessness was not just an urban issue. This led me to uncover the hidden stories within the area. I wanted to challenge the social stigma that individuals have with homelessness and to shed some light on problems faced within rural housing.
I worked closely with two Shelter Scotland representatives, Sue and Roz, to visit various Shelter Scotland service users. Working in partnership with them, I documented the work that they do to create a Shelter Scotland photographic exhibition, which will tour throughout their 50th year.
Read on to find out more about their stories.
Dumfries and Galloway I
ANTHONY
“I’m currently looking for an accommodation because of my health situation… I’m like a prisoner, I’m terrified to go to the shop or go out because I know what I have to face on the way back. Where I am staying at the moment is on a hill and I’m on the second floor. It’s not too bad going down the hill, it’s climbing up the hill that’s the problem. I have lung problems, COPD, but its worse now and its deteriorating, it’s the cigarettes… the damage is done, I am a recovering alcoholic, the drinking is ruining me too. I’m from Ireland, from Paddy land, the land of milk and honey… I get all my information form the television, that is my education. I can’t read and write… Roz helps me to read all my letters, she comes to read them and if I have a bill, the bill is paid.”
DOUGLAS
“I’m 75 years old and moved into permanent accommodation. Its quite strange at times to be near to traffic and hear the motors. I’ve lived in the same house for 71 and a half years. It was too big and getting old and it wasn’t easy to keep. There was an upstairs and downstairs. My foster brother had passed away last year and the rent arreas were looking for the place back. They allowed me to stay up to a month no rent whilst I had to find a place to stay... I never had a tenancy before and needed help with sorting out the moving, rent, forms. Where I was staying before it was difficult place to get to.” Shelter helped Douglas find a suitable accommodation that was close to supermarkets and transport to get around.
KATY
“I used to live with my husband, I left him about five months ago. He was abusive to me, it was getting too much to handle so I left him and took the kids with me and stayed at my mum and dad’s house for a couple of months until the council could get us a temporary house… I stayed there another two months and now we’ve got this nice big house… Shelter helped me as there are lots of forms to fill in. The misconception that people have about homelessness stops people from going into homeless services to get anything. To be honest, it did make me stay in the house with my husband a bit longer… but they were really helpful and told me what I needed to do was to be listed as homeless and take my name off the tenancy which is simple enough to do. My husband has good days and bad days… he literally piled anything I had ever touched out the front door, it was 3 cars load of stuff. There’s nothing I really wanted that he could throw… apart from the Christmas decorations. I kind of like a fresh start, but the Christmas decorations were sentimental to me because they were the ones that my mum put on the tree when I was little.”
WILLIAM
“I’ve been in Dumfries since I was 14, apart from 13 years when I was in prison… I decided to leave everything behind… my past life…coming here is like a fresh start. My dad was in the RAF so we were always moving around one place... I went to 6 or 7 different schools… My original thought a month after coming here is to leave, its been hard to settle down in one place. I was getting bogged down with paperwork, and Roz came over to help me through it. I’ve been more settled.” Shelter had helped William sort out his finances and support him in his new area, as he had two tenancies at a go and could not claim benefits for both.
ANDREW
“ I lived in my car for 6 weeks. My parents split up and my dad took the property and kicked me out. I was unable to get housing benefits as I was still a student and left stranded. There are no halls in Dumfries area… Friends kept me fed, let me use their toilet and internet. I suffer from schizophrenia and I had no fixed address to register for a doctor to get help from. Shelter gave me advice to where I could go to look for funding… and I got funding off the university and that allowed me to get a roof over my head.”
JAMIE
“I worked as a fisherman, in the boats since I was 13 and walked out of school onto fishing boats ever since. I been through a rough patch with my girlfriend and drugs and decided I needed to sort myself out. Shelter had helped me get the ball rolling and everything sorted really quickly. I had always stayd with other people, this is the first time I’m actually staying on my own. I struggled with paperwork and all… in just a couple of weeks, they got me a temporary accommodation. It’s the longest since I’ve been straight and off it now, as I’m free here, I’ve cut myself off with other people I used to hang about with… I got my family here with me it’s helped a lot…the housing people are brilliant.”
CALVIN
“Drinking got the better of me. I had been signed off sick from work and been on statutory sick pay for a few weeks… I never been in a situation to claim benefits before, I didn’t realize I was entitled to claim and wasn’t able to pay my rent. I earned £89 a week, and my rent is £73 a week, and that gives me about £17 a week to live off- for food, meter, a kid. The housing benefit cut off is £70 a week. As I’ve been unwell and things mount up… I didn’t have anything. Struggling on, I’ve always worked and got into this situation and didn’t realize I could get benefits and help. Its similar for most people… Roz did my bank statements, payslips… I wasn’t sure what to do about it as I never had support before.”
