An autistic 27-year-old mum of four says she has only spent three nights inside in the past 18 months, with the rest of her time spent living on the streets. One of Sophie's children has been put up for adoption while the other three live with her parents.
Sophie says the council has decided she is 'too vulnerable' to be given a place in a hostel, reports DevonLive. She said: “Apparently I’m too vulnerable for to be put in a hostel, but not too vulnerable for the streets. I’m autistic so I don't meet their standards to be put in a hostel so they don’t put me there because I’m too vulnerable.
“They’ve taken all the drug addicts in but the vulnerable, we’re still left here.”
Sophie and her boyfriend Anthony were made homeless when the place they rented was sold. They then went to live with Anthony’s mother, but she sadly died of a heart attack.
They have been put on a list to move into a flat but they’re seventh on the list. Sophie said: "There’s nowhere that even does hot meals anymore for free on an everyday basis. The church does a hot meal on a Wednesday and Friday.
"Other than that we don’t get no hot food unless we’ve made enough money to."
Ray is also homeless. He lost his leg in a motorbike accident five years ago and was evicted eight weeks ago when his home was sold.
He’s now involved with Devon Home Choice which is trying to get him a temporary place to live.
Ray’s prosthetic leg’s straps have broken and so he uses bandages to tie it on. He said: “You’ve got to be positive though because if you go the other way you’re gonna end up topping yourself. It’s not gonna change anything or make anything go faster if you’re just miserable. Can’t afford to have mental problems and all that, you know? It’s hard enough as it is.”
Torbay Council, which covers the area where Sophie, Anthony and Ray sleep rough has activated a cold weather plan to get people off the streets while it is freezing. It has also been given £1.9m over a three-year period to spend on helping homeless people into housing from a successful bid to the Rough Sleeping Initiative.
