Do you know anyone who's homeless?

I have a friend who slept rough a few times.

It was just a desperate situation he was in at that point in time. He couldn't stay with family or friends and didn't have money for anything else. I was shocked when he told me because it all happened so quickly. From what he told me, it was a horrible experience. Thankfully, he got back on his feet and he's doing well.

I've been technically homeless for a very short space of time and it's an awful position to be in. I had just moved over to London and was working for a builder/publican who is a notorious arsehole and I was living above his pub as well as working for him. The hours he had promised me never materialised and we ended up falling out with me having nowhere to go and having nothing but two hold all bags to my name and no clue about what I was going to do.

I was in another pub I used to live in and thanks be to God the owner let me have a room and said he didn't want rent until I found a job, I had to share the flat with a filthy alcoholic who chain smoked rollies and nearly burned us alive several times but it was better than ringing home and ending up back in Ireland in failure.

Being faced without a roof over your head is an utterly terrifying prospect I wouldn't wish on anyone.

I've twice been in a position where I might have been homeless if I had been a bit less fortunate. Once when I was 20 and still living at home. My mother, who had problems with the drink threw me out of her house one night when she took one of her turns. Thankfully my sister had a bed for me and I was able to stay there for a few weeks while I made other arrangements.

The other time I was in Australia we had rented a house. We had enough money to cover the next month's rent, but were broke otherwise. Most accommodation required a deposit and at least a month's rent up front, so when our landlord threw us out on the street on Christmas Eve because there were bedbugs in the place and she decided it needed to be fumigated immediately, we had nowhere to go. Fortunately, we were able to borrow money from family and we just flew home to Ireland.

In neither case was I genuinely at risk of finding myself on the streets, because I have the support network of a 'middle class' family. But nevertheless the terror of that moment when you realise you've nowhere to sleep that night gave me a window into what life must be like for some people. It's so easy to say "nobody ends up on the streets without it being their fault," but it ignores the complexities of society, circumstance and the unpredictability of life in general. I feel sorry for anyone who ends up on the streets, no matter what chain of events led them there.

I find it disheartening how easy it is for people to believe that everything they have, they earned, while being blind to the various legs-up they were given along the way by variables far outside of their control.

I don't know of nor have ever known anyone who is homeless, then again my definition of homeless is someone who is out on the streets

There's nothing worse or more humiliating than not having a bed to sleep in or a roof over your head, nowhere to eat or wash your clothes or have a shower. Its ****ing soul destroying.

I've forgiven homeless people for being the closest to have ever killed me in my life (found non-responsive in Belfast city centre after being given a smoke of herbal, ended up in the Royal hospital for 2 days)... So I have no idea why others would hate them as much as they do.

But they do give Dublin a bad name since it's always them that is giving out the herbal themselves up here.

A bit like the Roma give Romanians a bad name I guess.

YerMasYerDa wrote: »

I've forgiven homeless people for being the closest to have ever killed me in my life (found non-responsive in Belfast city centre after being given a smoke of herbal, ended up in the Royal hospital for 2 days)... So I have no idea why others would hate them as much as they do.

But they do give Dublin a bad name since it's always them that is giving out the herbal themselves up here.

A bit like the Roma give Romanians a bad name I guess.

what ?

YerMasYerDa wrote: »

Yes. Big problem with it atm in Belfast. Utterly heartbreaking thing about it is they're sound as. I've seen homeless guys get woken up and checked for drugs by the PSNI and nothing being found.

I have been given money for the bus by homeless people, given menthol cigs for free by homeless people and given 2 for the bus when I was blocked by homeless people. They have my respect big time. All addicts/born into terrible situations I could easily have been.

Yeah only noticed homeless people in Belfast recently.Is it more a recent issue because I never seen homeless people in the city centre up until the last few years.

Horrible position for anyone to be in. The right to a roof over your head really should be a basic right.

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

The worst part about it (while we're on the topic) is it changes the way people look at you. If you've been sleeping rough in a public bathroom or an alleyway, you stink, your dirty, got no way of getting clean clothes or whatever, people avoid you in the street, most shops or fast food places won't let you in cos they think your there to rob the joint or cause trouble. To go back to that would be my worst nightmare.

You should do an Ask Me Anything mate, I think it'd be great to hear your perspective and perhaps people will learn something about the reality of homelessness as opposed to the preconceived notions they often have.

I used to see a bloke we grew up with around town, he'd often be sitting on the ha'penny bridge with a cup looking for change, or just sprawled out, out of it. Growing up he was always very camp and used to get dogs abuse from kids about being a 'rent boy'.

Came across him through work a while back and it turned out he'd been abused as a child, witnessed a family member kill the person responsible, ended up on drugs, ended up in prostitution, and then ended up on the streets. He's been in and out of prison and on various programmes but always ends up back on the streets.

Thing is he has brothers who could take him in but have disowned him to preserve their 'hard man' image.

A classmate from primary school. Haven't seen him in years so I'm not sure if he has passed on or got off the streets. It seems to be mostly drug/alcohol addicts and people with untreated mental problems that fall to the street. I guess maybe add in some financial casualties the last 5 years or so. For my ex classmate it was drugs.