It was a normal day for most parents dropping their children at John Donne Primary School in South London. But, as pupils filed in, Limarra Sealy, 25, stood in the headteacher’s office and broke down in tears.
She had come to explain why her nine-year-old daughter, Nevaeh, had bruises all over her face. In her sleep, she had rolled o the chair she’s had to call her bed for the past four months. Limarra and Nevaeh were made homeless in June. Despite Limarra working full time as a restaurant manager, she was still unable to afford rent in London – where rental prices outstrip many people’s earnings.
Previously, she had used housing benefit to pay a quarter of her accommodation costs, but after seven years in her flat, the landlord asked for the property back. Suddenly, unable to find anywhere to rent that accepted a part-benefit payment, she found herself with three options: sofa-surf, stay in hostels or sleep on the street. ‘I felt terrified and didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t understand how this was happening to us,’ she says. She even attempted suicide, waking up in hospital one morning after taking an overdose.
For the first few weeks, they stayed in council-run emergency accommodation – an hour and a half ’s commute from Nevaeh’s school. Then they were moved to a homeless hostel, where the floors were so filthy they needed slippers in the shower and they shared the communal space with male drug addicts.
They are now staying in Limarra’s mother’s small flat in Peckham, sleeping between a two-seater sofa and an armchair. For Limarra, it’s been a humiliating experience. ‘I am so embarrassed taking Nevaeh into school. At night, I lie awake watching her to make sure she doesn’t roll off, feeling worthless and like I’ve failed at everything.’
The prospect of Christmas while homeless is something she never thought she’d have to face. ‘Christmas feels completely ruined. We can’t put a tree up because we live in the living room and there’s no space,’ she adds. ‘On Christmas morning we’ll wake up on the sofa or the floor. I haven’t even been able to buy my daughter a present – we’ve had to throw loads of our belongings away because we don’t have anywhere to put anything anymore.’
Limarra is far from alone. While the serious problem of street-homelessness is visible in large swathes of the UK, there’s another troubled group that many aren’t aware of – the ‘hidden homeless’. Those being forced to find difficult or dangerous makeshift arrangements for their families to avoid sleeping rough.
It’s a situation that can happen more easily than we think. Last month, Shelter revealed that 320,000 people are now homeless in Britain, and the numbers keep rising. In the last year, the charity found the number had increased by 13,000, meaning one in every 200 of us are on the street or stuck in temporary accommodation.
Then this month, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation ( JFR) found more than 500,000 British workers were living in poverty over the past five years, despite being in employment. Meanwhile, food banks warn this December could be their busiest month ever.
Against this backdrop, a UN report claims the UK Government has inflicted ‘great misery’ on the population, by imposing cuts under their austerity policies and bringing in Universal Credit – a new benefit system that charities say is leaving some people in debt because of a five-week delay in initial payments and because it doesn’t cover some people’s rent.
Ending his two-week fact-finding mission to the UK last month, Philip Alston, the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, declared that around 14 million people live in poverty here and 1.5 million are destitute and unable to afford basic essentials.
And so, instead of focusing on an international crisis this year, Grazia is setting its sights closer to home for our 2018 Christmas appeal – raising awareness of the dramatic rise in poverty and homelessness in Britain. We are supporting Shelter, a charity that campaigns to end homelessness and bad housing. Shelter’s CEO, Polly Neate, says, ‘[Our] services have never been more needed. That’s why we’re asking the public to support us this winter so that we can answer as many calls as possible and have trained advisers on hand when people need them most.’
Shelter offer advice to anyone who can’t pay their rent. The severity of the problem is exposed in a Facebook group called Universal Credit Survival. Here, one of its 4,603 members asks how to make a sack of potatoes go as far as possible. Another writes: ‘How are people budgeting for Christmas this year? I don’t know how I’ll afford a card for my son, let alone a present.’
Fiona*, 33, a dental nurse from Durham, scours the group for tips on how to survive on her £473 a month Universal Credit payment. Her rent is £404 and she has two children, who are six and two. She is left with £69 a month for everything else. Like thousands of others, Fiona never thought she’d be in this situation. But when she got breast cancer, as a freelancer, she found herself without sick pay or a salary. She went on Universal Credit in January, but because the system involves a five-week wait before the initial payment, she got into debt and couldn’t pay her rent. ‘It feels so awful – I’ve never ever been in debt before,’ she says.
Nothing feels worse than having to rely on friends and food banks, she adds. ‘I’ve had to borrow money just to buy [my children] Christmas presents this year. It makes me feel so uncomfortable.’ When she couldn’t afford her gas and electricity any longer, she moved back in with her parents. Now she’s adjusting to living three to a room. ‘I never thought I’d be in the position where I don’t know where my next meal is coming from,’ she says. ‘I’ve been to food banks three times this year. At one point all I had was a couple of tins of food left in the house.
‘Right now, it’s raining and I’d love to take my little boy to so play, but I have no spare money. There’s absolutely nothing I can do with the kids – it makes me feel so embarrassed and ashamed. e Trussell Trust, which operates 428 food banks, reported that its facilities were four times busier in areas where Universal Credit had been in place for 12 months. Abby Jitendra, a manager at the national network, says it’s because there’s been a steady cut-back of the amount of Government support people can receive.
She says demand for Trussell Trust food banks has increased – they saw a 3% rise between April and September in the UK this year. ‘ at’s only half the year so that’s really concerning,’ she says. From speaking to people in food banks, she adds, ‘I know there are cases of people sending their children to live with friends because they can’t afford to feed them... Alston’s report was really true to experiences I’ve seen.'
Brexit casts its shadow over everything, leaving some charities worried that issues of welfare are becoming increasingly sidelined. Kayley Hignell, head of policy at Citizens Advice, thinks there’s a big challenge at the moment about ‘political bandwidth to look at domestic policy issues ‘It’s a huge issue,’ she adds. ‘It’s what affects people day to day. It absolutely cannot be lost in that debate. There is a risk [that it’s being overshadowed].’
However, Amber Rudd, the current Work and Pensions Secretary, complained the tone of Alston’s report was ‘highly inappropriate’. A Government spokesperson told Grazia: ‘Universal Credit is supporting people into work faster, but we are listening to feedback and have made numerous improvements to the system including ensuring 2.4 million households will be up to £630 better off a year as a result of raising the work allowance.’
The question now is what will become of the hidden homeless generation, mired in an impossible situation? Equally, what is lurking around the corner for those of us lucky enough to have a home? ‘I never thought this would happen to me,’ says Limarra. ‘And now I’m in it, the scariest part is that I can’t see a way out.’ For those who can afford it, now’s the time to donate generously and support the fifth of the country who will spend this Christmas on the breadline.
To support Shelter__’s urgent appeal please visit shelter.org.uk or text SHELTER to 70020 to donate £3. Citizens Advice helps everyone to find a way forward – whoever they are, and whatever their problem. For help with Universal Credit or anything else, visit citizensadvice.org.uk