the story of homeless people

The problems that people who are homeless face aren’t simple, and neither are the solutions.

Homelessness can happen to anyone. We see people who are educated, come from loving families, and have had successful working lives in the past. Some are suffering from addiction, mental illness, or both, and many have been victims of abuse; some are just temporarily lost

In 2011 St Mungo’s Broadway an Oral History project Street Stories gathered the stories of 41 homeless. Listen to some of their stories and watch a short video by clients who conducted the oral history interviews.

As many as 3.5 million Americans are homeless each year. Of these, more than 1 million are children and on any given night, more than 300,000 children are homeless.  

Homelessness is, in fact, caused by tragic life occurrences like the loss of loved ones, job loss, domestic violence, divorce and family disputes. Other impairments such as depression, untreated mental illness, post traumatic stress disorder, and physical disabilities are also responsible for a large portion of the homeless.  Many factors push people into living on the street. 

The great challenge for the newly homeless is to figure out how to return to their normal lives.

Lloyd's story
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• Lloyd`s  explains how he first became homeless when he was young, and the impact it's had on his life. As a result of his experiences, Lloyd is committed to speaking out for young people so that they don't go through the same thing.
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• • Andy's storyAndy has overcome many challenges over the years, and has struggled to access the support he needed. After seven years of sleeping rough, he is now staying at one of our London hostels and feels that his situation and his health have dramatically improved: “Things have improved. 100% – more than that,110%.”

References:

• St Mungo’s Broadway (2015)  Real life stories of homeless people http://www.mungosbroadway.org.uk/about/real_life_stories
• Home Aid (2014) Top causes of homelessness in America. http://www.homeaid.org/homeaid-stories/69/top-causes-of-homelessness

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