I was having a week of fun and volunteering at The World Transformed festival in Liverpool, which ran alongside the Labour Party conference in October 2023. I was working on the TV and digital platforms of the festival and presenting shows for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities about homelessness. I had lost my phone but I was still having a great time with friends seeking to bring about radical change. However, my world came crashing down when I returned home to find my private landlord had changed the locks of my London flat. I had been given no warning that I was about to be evicted.
In a state of panic, I ran to a family member's home with all my stuff from my trip and no access to my clothes or passport, which was locked in the house. I went to the local council and that was when I found out I was being abandoned to the streets. The council told me I was not a priority and that I would need to return to my family home, despite the fact that the house was already overcrowded and I was 35 years old and had not lived at home since I was 15. To make matters worse, I was not able to move into a new property without my passport, which would be needed for financial checks to assess me as a potential tenant. I had to contact a third-party property manager to try and get my belongings back. It took nine weeks and most are still missing.
