The struggle that I went through for housing has scarred me for life,
and it didn't have to be that hard.
My favourite part about my bedroom is that I have it.
You know, I think that sometimes people fall into homelessness
because, like, life is hard.
You know, it's not easy, and especially in a kind of...
world like what we live in, you know? It's even harder, 'cause it's not...
every man in the community, it's every man for himself.
That's why people do just walk on by people that are just like...
you know, helpless on the street.
"Sorry, ain't my problem. See ya."
There's no community anymore.
I was 16 when I moved into the hostel.
At the time, things were just...
unstable at home.
And moving out doesn't even mean to say that...
It doesn't even mean to say that the hardship ended.
The hardship started. You know? So...
Yeah.
When you hear the word homeless,
you think of someone laying under a cold bridge at night,
but there's so many different levels of homelessness.
Having a home is a home that you can put your stuff out there,
and be like, "This is mine."
And that's not a room in a hostel, it's not sleeping in your car.
I was studying at college when I moved into the hostel.
I've always had a passion for dance, and, you know, I think...
being good to my body seeped into loving myself,
seeped into creating a lifestyle for myself
which I could be proud of, and also be happy in.
Just the fact that I had suffered a lot, I think dance was like my anchor, really.
I see eyes full of pain and regret
I see men that claim that they would be radically different
To the men that came before them
But sometimes, just sometimes
They find that they embody that which they once despised
And it breaks them
I'm working with the poet Rasheeda Page-Muir,
who is an incredible lady.
With homelessness, there's like this kind of this pornographic, almost, gaze.
-It's not cute. -They want, like, clickbait.
That's exactly what it is. It's clickbait.
But we've been working together, really, like a team,
putting my story into a poem.
And whilst our voyeuristic preferences Would probably be appeased
By stories of sleeping on the streets
Rather than pontificate over the pavements I'd rather deliberate the cracks
And the cracks in... people who, like, ignore this issue,
and, you know, people who find themselves...
Yeah, just the entire structure,
systemic faults that have not been changed for far too long.
Some of the things I have witnessed and experienced throughout this time
will take a lifetime to understand.
If you knew what laid behind my eyes In my mind would you judge...
What if we were all one consciousness?
One mind?
Would it be as easy to just walk on by?
Children can come from families
that don't have the support, or skills, or the mind frame
to keep on top of the challenges of everyday life.
When you throw different things into the mix,
like maybe, possibly, someone struggling with an alcohol addiction,
or someone struggling seriously with mental health problems,
I think that it's quite easy for children to find themselves in a position--
Or young adults, teenagers,
to find themselves in a difficult situation
when, you know, that's not what anyone wants.
But it can happen to anyone, and it does happen a lot.
Yep, yep, yep.
Okay, I like the way that you've written it as well,
like, the lines are smaller, they're more concise,
and mine's more like sentences from a book.
'Cause you got a lot to say, girl.
I know, girl!
This is not a story about displacement
This is a story about capacity
Rather than pontificate over the pavements I'd rather deliberate the cracks.
The ones we slip into
And those that flicker With just enough light to bring us back
What if we were all one consciousness?
One mind?
Would it be as easy to just walk on by?
You see only where I sleep at night
Not a body and mind intertwined In the pursuit to survive
Both have carried me from my pits to my glory
And both stand strong now
In the telling of my story
Yes!
I love it.
People hear that word "homeless" and they do think of someone who,
"Oh, you know, they've just ruined their life,
they've gone down the wrong path."
It's just... so oblivious to the reality of the world that we live in.
It's not a problem that should be brushed under the carpet,
because, you know, these young people are gonna be the future.
It's gonna take some work for me to heal those aspects of PTSD
from losing housing all the time.
I dunno.
It could be so different, you know?
It really could. It could be so different.