Homelessness crisis laid bare after man found living in a clothes bin on Erdington car park
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00:00I left home when I was 16 because Dad kept beating me up.
00:03OK.
00:04And so I couldn't handle that.
00:06Moved in with a girlfriend and a mum.
00:09And got jobs, had various jobs.
00:13Mechanic, bricklaying, plastering.
00:17And then I started...
00:19I didn't start training Class A until I was 31.
00:22I'm 52 now.
00:23I tried the dark first, the heroin.
00:26I didn't realise I had a habit, so I wanted to stop.
00:30About 18 months later,
00:33my wife was pregnant with my son.
00:36I thought, I've got to stop.
00:38So I was in London, back in London.
00:40We were living in Western Superman.
00:42I phoned her up, said, come and get me.
00:44And I kid you not, I had to stop at every lay-by,
00:48every service station to be sick,
00:50and stomach cramps and everything else.
00:52We got home to Western Superman.
00:54I said, look, you have to put a bucket by my bed.
00:57After 10 days, she said, what was that?
00:59I said, that's what you call rat-clucking or ratting,
01:01whatever you want to call it, off the gear.
01:03She said, I didn't realise you had a habit.
01:05I said, neither did I until I went back to London.
01:08And I've dabbled since,
01:12but I haven't had a habit since.
01:15I've come close to it, but I don't take Class A's any more.
01:18So you're totally off heroin?
01:21So would you say that you're dependent on drink?
01:24No, I used to be.
01:27I don't wake up wanting or needing a drink any more,
01:30but it helps me sleep at night.
01:33I actually sleep in a clothing bin behind the church.
01:48Four weeks, five weeks?
01:50Four or five weeks.
01:52Oh, wow.
01:57Oh, wow, it's inside there?
01:59Yep.
02:00No way, it's inside a clothes bin.
02:03Let me move this up.
02:07Show us inside, open it up.
02:13Oh, wow.
02:15That's a lot of clothes.
02:17That's a lot of clothes.
02:19That's a lot of clothes.
02:21That's a lot of clothes.
02:24Oh, wow, so that's where you're at?
02:26Yep.
02:27How long have you been here?
02:29Four or five weeks.
02:30Four or five weeks?
02:31Yeah.
02:32Oh, wow.
02:33What made you think of going into there?
02:36Well, I didn't realise it was open,
02:38so I went to look for some clothes,
02:40and I realised it was open.
02:42Oh, wow.
02:44So is it warm inside?
02:46Yeah, yeah.
02:47Yeah.
02:48It's not dug in or anything.
02:49Okay.
02:51Okay.
02:52And what's it like when it rains in there?
02:54It's waterproof.
02:55Yeah?
02:56Yeah.
02:57Okay, so people are still put clothes in here?
02:59Mm-hmm.
03:00Oh, that's mad.
03:01So you've always got a supply of clothes?
03:03Mm-hmm.
03:04Okay, you're smart, you are.
03:06You're smart.
03:09No way.
03:10So how long do you think that you'll be here?
03:13Well, until this bed comes up in Coventry.
03:15Oh, so you're waiting until it comes in Coventry?
03:17Yeah.
03:18So how long do you reckon?
03:20It might be Monday, but, you know,
03:22what they're doing is waiting for Coventry Council to re-house a bloke.
03:26I'm not running from anything or anybody.
03:28It's just that, you know, I've got a condition called DID,
03:32dissociative identity disorder,
03:34which is a multiple personality disorder,
03:37which means, I mean, the person you're talking to now is my original self.
03:41Okay.
03:42But sometimes somebody else will take over.
03:44Okay.
03:45And, you know, it's all a matter of if I can trust you or not.
03:49Okay.
03:50I mean, my ex-girlfriend said she's met about 97 different idols.