Danièle was 17 when she hitch-hiked from Leeds to London with only £10
in her pocket. She had not been able to cope with the breakdown of the family
when her father lost his job. She thought she would easily get a job in London,
but unfortunately thousands of other young people had the same idea. Rejected
by the DSS (Department of Social Security) as insufficiently destitute, she
turned to begging. Later, she was lucky enough to become a street vendor for The
Big Issue and made about £70 a week. She rented a room in an old
hotel and was able to realise her dream of finishing her education.
Although Britain has a relatively well-developed social-security and
public-housing system, the number of young people like Danièle who have left
their parental homes with nothing but their hopes, increased dramatically in
the 1990s. More than 50% of those who left home early did so because of
difficult home situations like unemployment, family breakdown, violence and
child abuse. They went to the big cities to find a job there. As most of them had
not been able to prepare for leaving home, they accepted low-paid jobs. Their
income did not give them access to the limited housing available.
Only 10% of the teenagers who were homeless were thinking about
returning home. The others gave reasons why they cannot:
- They still do not get
along with their parents.
- They cannot ask their
parents.
- There is no room for
them.
- Their parents cannot
afford to have them at home.
- They have lost contact.
The Big Issue: The paper is sold by
homeless and ex-homeless people. The street vendors keep more than 50% of the
cover price and so have a chance to make an income. The paper is self-funding
through sponsorship and advertising revenue. The profits are spent on
vocational training for homeless people. The Big Issue campaigns on
behalf of the homeless, high-lights the more important social problems of the
day and gives homeless people a chance to express their views and opinions.
Centrepoint Night Shelter in Soho: The night
shelter in London provides emergency accommodation for homeless young people:
young men of 19 or under and young women of 21 or under. It is open 24 hours
each day of the year. Centrepoint provides single and double rooms, hot meals
and washing facilities. It also provides, most importantly, experienced
voluntary youth workers to talk to.
For more information, write to: Centrepoint Central Office, Bewlay
House, 2 Swallow Place, London WIR 7AA, Fngland. Tel. 0044-171-6292229.
Danièle's story first appeared in a section of The Big Issue where
young (ex-)homeless people are given the opportunity to write about their
experiences and how they became homeless in the first place. The steps leading
to homelessness are related to in "Streets Ahead": leaving home for
financial reasons, going to London, finding nowhere to live properly for a
longer period and, in the end, sleeping rough. Once away from her home area and
in London, Danièle soon finds out she is ill-prepared by her upbringing at home
and education at school for the problems she has to face. Consequently, she
sees her only chance of living a normal life in society in finishing her
education.