Homeless street angels - Lifestyle choice
Homeless street angels - Lifestyle choice. Filmed and edited by Jonny White.
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00:00 [sound of jet engine]
00:20 [sound of jet engine]
00:37 I would never ever ever choose to live in a tent, ever, ever.
00:41 But if it comes to the choice of living in a doorway or living in a tent,
00:45 feeling that little bit of safeness being in a tent, I'd rather be in a tent.
00:49 I don't choose to live in a tent. I don't want to be in a tent tonight.
00:51 I don't feel well tonight. I feel ill, absolutely ill, and I'm going to have to go put a tent up,
00:56 get my head down in a tent tonight. I'm not going to sleep in a doorway.
00:58 I'm going to have to find somewhere out the way. I just want to go to sleep.
01:02 It's hard when, you know, if I had a home I could just go to bed.
01:06 But yeah, it's not a lifestyle choice. I don't choose this.
01:10 Especially at my age. I'm nearly 50.
01:13 [music]
01:16 I've been to council today because they say I'm not vulnerable.
01:20 They cannot find me any accommodation. Feels like I'm stuck on red tape.
01:25 You know, it's like I'm climbing a ladder and there's no end to it.
01:31 And it's a slow process when you've got nothing.
01:34 Oh, why do they like to keep you with nothing? And now they like to keep you down.
01:38 Probably you think that's wrong what I'm saying, but that's how it feels when you're in this situation.
01:44 I know I feel a bit embarrassed about this, but I am homeless.
01:49 And it's, you know, it's taking, it's toll on my health.
01:57 It's my spine and my fingers and my toes frozen on a morning.
02:04 I've been everywhere to get a sleeping bag. We don't have any.
02:09 We don't have any, they're saying, fair enough, you know.
02:13 But there's nothing much I can say or do really.
02:16 [music]
02:20 I don't really, really want to be out here. You know, it's my choice.
02:26 You know, and I'll take whatever help I can get.
02:32 It's hard. It's really hard.
02:36 You know, it's like, you're sat there, you don't want to be sat there.
02:40 You're not dressed. So you just take whatever help you can get.
02:44 And, you know, there's a lot of people out there who are saying, don't because it's my choice.
02:48 It's my choice. Do you know what I mean?
02:51 But, you know, just listen to people and, you know, that's it.
02:57 [music]
03:02 People on the streets, it's a lifestyle choice.
03:05 Well, I did urge her on Twitter to spend a night on the streets in a doorway in Leeds
03:11 with the threat of getting urinated on, beaten up, raped and robbed.
03:15 And then let's see how much she's begging for a tent in the morning.
03:19 It's absolutely disgusting.
03:21 All these people on the streets, they've got no place to go.
03:25 The funds have run out, the hostels are full and there's nowhere for them to go.
03:29 It's not a lifestyle choice. I had no choice but to be in a tent.
03:32 I don't want to be in there. And it took three or four attempts for me, for my own, for the council to listen to me.
03:38 And even then I had to go to a homeless helping situation to get professionals to help me.
03:43 And even then, it still took another three, four weeks and I'm still suffering even now.
03:48 [music]
03:50 I think the banning of the tents is absolutely ridiculous.
03:54 You really, really do need to pay attention to the people who are homeless because they are really struggling.
03:59 I'm not going to lie, we need more buildings and more places where we can get in and get off the streets, out of the cold,
04:06 because it's obviously affecting a lot of people in a big way.
04:09 It's really, really serious at a serious point and that is no lying leads.
04:14 You really, really need to help us in a major way.
04:18 How would they like the only bit of shelter, whoever's saying that, took away from them or they can't get it provided?
04:25 We've helped, let them come and live out here for nothing.
04:30 And then when you're trying to help people and then you're saying, no, you can't do that.
04:36 It's stupid, isn't it? It is.
04:38 Tents give people a sense of responsibility, a little bit of shelter.
04:44 It gives them just somewhere where they can feel safe.
04:47 Even if it's a small tent, a big tent, it doesn't make no difference.
04:51 It's just their own sense of being safe.
04:53 Because, well, I lived in it. If I didn't have my tent, I couldn't feel safe at all.
04:58 Definitely not. If anybody had to choose to live in a tent or live on the streets, I'd rather be in a house.
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05:39 you