LIVING HELL

MAN: I’m 65 years old, homeless, and doing a dead-end job. I’m told I have to work until the day I die.

In October 2023, Gary Evans left his private rental apartment of 13 years to take a new position as a live-in caretaker.

However, his intentions were derailed when the woman he was supposed to look after passed away just before he was scheduled to start employment, and he is currently homeless.

In a couple of weeks, he blew through his meagre £500 in savings by sleeping in hotels while he looked for other places to live.

Depending on the season, he makes between £200 and £700 a month from his work at an amusement park, with lesser months earning up to £393 in universal credit.

This simply isn’t enough to rent a new place to live, he says.

He further claims Thanet District Council informed him they are unable to assist him in obtaining housing.

So for the last six weeks, Gary has been sleeping at the seafront at Ramsgate, Kent.

In between employment, he spends his days drinking free refill coffee at a Wetherspoon’s bar and looking for jobs at the library.

He said: “I’m still shocked at how quickly things fell apart for me and I ended up homeless.

“It’s true what they say about everyone only being two paycheques away from poverty.

“You think it will never happen to you but it can so easily happen to any one of us.

“I’ve always worked hard and paid my taxes and national insurance. I thought I’d always be safe and secure.

“Suddenly I had no place to live, no money and no help.

“There’s only so long you can stay with friends or borrow money.

“Sleeping rough is very scary. I’ve been woken by a hand on my shoulder and someone telling me ‘You’re on my patch’.

“It’s cold and frightening, and I rarely sleep. I doze off a bit then wake up suddenly and very alert – it’s horrible.

“When I see the lights on in people’s houses it reminds me that once that was me, and now I’m on the other side.

“It’s heartbreaking. I put on a happy face at work, but I know at the end of the day I have to leave and have no safe place to sleep.”

Gary stopped working full-time as a cook in a care home after he struggled to recover fully from Long Covid – which he had for a year from November 2021, he said.

He had pneumonia in both lungs and was in hospital for a week, he said, so couldn’t go back to working 200-hour months.

He took a part-time position in the ticket office and shop at an amusement park, where he still works between 8 and 25 hours a month.

Because of the seasonal nature of his work, he also gets universal credit.

Gary left his rented flat in October because he took a live-in cooking and cleaning job, but his plans fell through when the lady he was due to work for died, he said.

He asked Thanet District Council for help getting a new home, in January, but was told they couldn’t, he said.

Four bags that contain some of his stuff are kept at friends’ homes.

Gary takes one suitcase of essentials around with him.

He said: “I still can’t really understand how this has happened to me.

“I know it has but somewhere in my mind, I can’t quite accept it.

“I know it’s temporary. I’m going to get another job and a home and get myself out of this situation – I’m not giving up.

“It’s just very hard.

“Everywhere is so expensive.

“Everyone needs a deposit. I got the deposit back when I left my flat but I needed that to live.

“There’s just nothing available at the moment and lots don’t take people who are on benefits.

“I guess I feel a bit sad and resentful that the council can’t help me. I feel like they should be there for everyone.”

Gary said he’s met some very kind people and had some fascinating experiences – including spotting wildlife like beavers and foxes.

“I’ve seen the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets,” he said.

“You see the best and worst of human nature.

“Some people give you all the change they have to get some food, even though I don’t ask, and some cafes ask you to leave as soon as you’re done with your tea even though they’re not busy.

“The saddest thing is the friends that don’t speak to me anymore when I phone for a chat.

“When people ask I say I’m not homeless, I say ‘I’m waiting for a lift.”

A spokesperson for Thanet District Council said: “Thanet District Council works hard to prevent households from becoming homeless.

“We cannot comment on individual circumstances, but will always support people who require assistance, and liaise with other services and agencies to ensure anyone who is vulnerable gets the help they need.”

The council claims that on February 16, 2024, Gary was given a bed in a shared facility by the council’s specialised rough sleeping support team, but he turned it down.

It also said that affordable housing is now in low supply.

Earlier this month, a mum-of-three who was made homeless two years ago has told of how she and her kids are still living out of suitcases.

A couple disclosed in April of this year that they had resorted to sleeping on a bus shelter because they were so in need of a place to call home.

An NHS ambulance worker has been forced to live in his tiny car after being made homeless.

It is absurd that although our government readily homes foreign nationals in hotels, our own nation fails to assist those who are homeless. Where is the fairness in this structure? This regime has to be exposed and shamed until it falls!

Any time of year is not a nice place to be on the streets. That lifestyle is abhorrent. Everybody is entitled to basic human needs, a roof over their head, food and heating, and it’s a disgrace that we have homeless people out on our streets.

There also needs to be a cap on the prices of rentals because people are charging way over the odds.

As they get off the boats, foreign nationals are given the keys to a house or flat upon request. Today, the majority of these individuals are contentedly living in spacious homes in upscale neighbourhoods, enjoying their benefits and subsisting without employment.

It’s all wrong. All this queue jumping. Our government should be looking after its own, not people who have come over and have been here five minutes. British nationals should come first!

What is wrong with our nation and this shitshow of a government? The impoverished men who were born in this nation, paid taxes and made contributions to society all of their lives receive nothing while we accept hundreds of asylum seekers every day and place them in hotels or temporary accommodation.

What hope is there for the people of Britain? For what purpose do we work throughout our lives? As you age, you become less and less of a valued member of society, receiving nothing but a pitiful state pension.

This man was offered temporary accommodation and turned it down, but why should he live in temporary accommodation like all the immigrants that come over? This man was born in the UK. HE COMES FIRST!