L, A 75-year-old gentleman had made a Homeless application to a London Council eight months previously. He had been placed in Temporary Accommodation whilst Officers made their enquiries. The Council decided that he was not in priority need for housing and therefore they had no legal obligation to accommodate him.
When I first saw him late in September, he was a sprightly Gentleman; I saw him accidentally drop something and bend over to pick it up without any difficulty! He said he wasn’t taking any regular medication and he even said they had good genes in his family – his mother was still alive – no wonder the Council did not find him vulnerable! It’s also an indication of the scarcity of resources that a homeless man of 75 years, who has £20 a month State Pension and approximately £500 a month foreign pension. is told to make his own arrangement for housing. He said that he had been homeless for nearly two weeks, he had some plastic bags with him and explained that his nightly routine was to go to McDonalds, buy a hot chocolate, nurse it through the night until the morning when he would go to a Day Centre.
He had lost his mobile phone, so I secured one for him and fortunately he had a spare sim card so he became instantly “contactable”. I then made an application to a Night Shelter. I also ran a benefit calculation for L and found that he was entitled to Pension Credit. I started the application for this benefit and completed it for him a few days later when he brought in the supplementary information.
The Shelter advised they had no vacancies on 02/10/24. On 10/10/24 when I was advised that there was a possible vacancy, I contacted L, his phone was switched off. When I saw him later, he told me that he would often switch his phone off when he was away from the Centre because there was a shortage of Charging points when he was outside. On 14/10/24 whilst I was interviewing another client, I saw an email advising that there was a vacancy for L if he was available. Fortunately, L had attended the Centre that day, I gave him the news and the contact details, the Centre called me later to advise that he had arrived an hour earlier than requested – fantastic, I thought at least he is off the streets now. I had also given him the contact details for a storage company which offers a service to homeless people at affordable rates, so that his meagre funds could stretch. Thankfully L’s foray into homelessness was short lived and this placement allows Manna to support L to find more permanent accommodation.