Before Covid, Andrei* counted himself as one of the lucky ones. He had moved to the UK from Romania to build himself a better life. Five years later, he had a job and a place to call home with a live-in landlord who had become his friend. But the pandemic turned his life upside down. The warehouse where he worked cut back on staff to meet social distancing guidelines, so his short-term contract wasn’t renewed, and he found it impossible to secure another warehouse job as many companies were making cuts.
He eventually found work with a jewellery business, but he was let go when the company began to struggle financially. With no job, he couldn’t pay his rent and, because he had never signed a formal tenancy agreement, he had no legal rights when his landlord locked him out.
After sofa-surfing for a couple of weeks, he realised he had no option but to sleep on the streets. “I felt very scared. I met some difficult people and didn’t feel safe,” he says. “From the moment you put your head down and fall asleep you can’t control anything around you – usually you don’t sleep at all.”
Sleeping rough, and working out what to do next, was a soul-crushing experience for Andrei. “It can be so overwhelming and confusing trying to get yourself out of that situation, to find out how to start again. You get to a point where you don’t know who you are any more. You lose your identity.”
Hungry, sleep-deprived and cold, he became ill and ended up in hospital. He quickly realised that unless he sought help the cycle he was in would continue and he would face a life of homelessness.
That’s when Andrei went online and found the homelessness charity Crisis, which became a lifeline for him. The charity found him a room in a Crisis at Christmas hotel (every year, Crisis puts up people who are homeless in communal overnight accommodation during the festive season, but the charity has been housing people experiencing homelessness in hotel rooms since the pandemic), the first step towards helping him rebuild his life. “When I was shown my room and I had it all to myself it felt amazing,” says Andrei. “It was so cosy and everything was perfect. It felt like all the tension, all the heavy weight on my shoulders had been lifted.”
Crisis at Christmas gave him a roof over his head for a couple of weeks and guaranteed him daily hot food and drink, a fresh set of clothes and a wellbeing pack, which helped him regain his equilibrium. He also had access to medical and dental help, and a whole range of support services while he was there, as well as a Crisis coach who worked with him to help get his life back on track.
When the Christmas break ended, the coach continued to work with Andrei over the following months. She helped him apply for universal credit, sorted out emergency phone credit for him, as well as a bus pass, and started looking for a permanent place for Andrei to live. With the continuing support of his coach, he finally found a new home.
Today he lives in a one-bedroom council flat and is looking for a new job. “My coach is my guardian angel. She was with me from the beginning – she was there for me every time, every day I needed help,” he says.
Crisis coaches, and the long-term relationships they build with the people they support, are pivotal in helping people such as Andrei to leave homelessness behind. According to research published by Crisis in 2020, one-to-one support from a long-term coach, which creates a “mutually trusting and positive relationship”, is instrumental in ending homelessness. Researchers identify it as one of the top three “mechanisms” that determined whether someone experiencing homelessness would successfully find a safe and secure home.
Jordan Forbes, coach at Crisis, acknowledges that the work he does is key in securing someone experiencing homelessness a home. “My role plays a very important part in getting somebody’s life back on track,” he says. “Guests come to Crisis at Christmas looking for support to resolve their homelessness, and my role is to step in and offer that support and put an end to homelessness.”
Forbes, who works with about 20 people at any one time, says he has contact “several times a week” with a guest once they are referred to him to “allow a positive relationship” to develop. He also organises referrals to the Department for Work and Pensions in order to sort out benefits, provides help registering with a GP and other key services, and with making first contact with housing providers.
“At the first point of contact, I sit down to establish what support the person is looking for and how I can help them achieve their goals,” he says. “Typically they are looking for housing assistance, ensuring the right benefits are in place, and employment opportunities.”
The journey out of homelessness can be a long one; it’s not uncommon for Forbes to work with an individual for a whole year. But while it may take some time, finally finding someone who is homeless a place to call home is worth the wait.
“Watching somebody sign their tenancy agreement has always been up there with the best things to witness – I always find it hard to describe the sense of satisfaction I feel knowing I have played a role in ending someone’s homelessness.”
*Names have been changed
If you’re interested in ending homelessness by volunteering, campaigning, fundraising or making a donation to Crisis, and want to find out more, visit crisis.org.uk
