A homeless man has revealed how he is living inside a tiny clothes bin and bedding down for the night in the ‘comfiest bed I’ve ever slept in’.
Five weeks ago, the unsecured container was found close to a church parking lot in the Erdington neighbourhood of Birmingham by Nigel, a former heroin user.
The 52-year-old, born and raised in London, now sleeps in the donation bin before going to the streets to beg.
Footage shows how Nigel has set up a mini home for himself with bedding and duvets—and it even has his own ‘library’ with a selection of books and a ‘beer shelf’.
Nigel said he found himself on the streets of Birmingham after being put up in a multiple occupancy house with drug addicts in Northampton.
While giving a tour of his new home, Nigel, who said he left his shared house in a bid to stay clean, said that no one has thrown clothes in the bin while he’s been inside—but if they did, he would say ‘thank you’.
In an interview with the Birmz is Grime blog, Nigel says he was hoping to find a permanent place to stay in Coventry but was happy in Erdington in the meantime.
In addition, despite having spent most of his life sleeping rough, he shared his goal of founding his own organisation to aid the homeless.
Nigel said, ‘I’ve been living in the clothes bin for four or five weeks. I realised it was open. It’s warm inside and it’s waterproof.
‘It’s more comfortable than any bed I’ve ever had. There’s my library, there’s my beer shelf.
‘Nobody has put clothes in while I’ve been inside. If they did, I think I’d say ‘thank you’ and they will be like, ‘Hang on, the bin’s talking to me.’
‘I’m totally off the heroin but a few beers help me sleep at night. I’m waiting on Coventry Council to rehome a bloke and then I might get a place somewhere, hopefully.
‘I’ll have a little drink here—but I’ve been clean of drugs since Christmas Eve. Before that, it was crack and heroin. It made me feel numb.
‘But I love it here, I love Erdington, I have always loved Erdington. The people are nice. I’ll probably get about £10 a day but that’s enough.
‘If someone else comes up and says I’ve been begging here two or three years, I’ll just say give me 20 minutes and I’ll move. I’ve not had no real problems.’
Nigel said he started boozing again around eight weeks ago after he was put in an HMO in Northampton.
He said: ‘They were taking drugs and drinking so I walked out of there. So I’ve been between here and Northampton since.
‘I grew up in London and my family moved to Surrey when I was 12. I left home at 16 because my dad kept beating me up.
‘I lost my girlfriend and got jobs as a mechanic and plastering and I didn’t start doing class A’s until I was 31 and it all went downhill.
‘Most of my mates are dead now from drink and drugs. The youngest one was 31. The others were in their 50s and 60s.
‘I’m trying to get into a home in Coventry and then I want to set up a charity to help the homeless and needy. I have three trustees already in line.
‘I want to help drug addicts, alcoholics and the homeless. I first wanted to do it 30 years ago when I was homeless and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.
‘But thinking about something and doing something is two different things though.’
The footage of Nigel talking about his plight has been viewed more than 600,000 times in just 24 hours.
Hundreds of immigrants have arrived by boat, and every organisation is doing all in its power to support them. Our people, many of whom are former soldiers, are homeless in the interim. This winter, shelters will be overflowing with people; those who are without a place to stay will receive sleeping bags only. It’s an absolute disgrace.
We are being invaded, and guess what, we are paying for the invasion.
Our government are happy to look after those who are coming across the seas by boat, but those people who were born in the UK and fought for the Queen and country and now the King don’t seem to exist. Perhaps they could manufacture more of these bins for the migrants that are coming over?
Our British-born are sleeping like this, some are even found dead where they have been living rough. No warm hotel for them! So, how many more are going to be found dead this winter in shop doorways and garages?
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 
Thank you Angela,
I have a young man living on our estate in a bike shelter. He has been there for just close to a year. I spoke to him when he first set up his home in the shelter but he said he was fine and didn’t want any help. At that point he was clean and well spoken and didn’t either drink or do drugs. Over the months I have watched him deteriorate. He spends his time at the library but I never see him begging. He has an interesting story to tell, but he needs to tell it before he’s to traumatised from living rough.
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Hello Christine, I would love to hear this man’s story. Unfortunately, I work from home and cannot get to see him. However, if you would like to get his story recorded for me with some pictures of him, I would be more than pleased to write his story 🙂
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