'When you are homeless it is about surviving'

For Rob Yates, who was homeless, navigating life was never about looking too far ahead into the future. It was about the here and now.

"When you're homeless you're not thinking about what you could potentially do with your life because you haven't got one," he said.

"You're just kind of surviving day to day."

Mr Yates, who grew up in Barnstaple, Devon, said he struggled to accept the reality of his situation but eventually sought help from charities such as the YMCA.

Figures from Centrepoint showed in the South West there was a 11% rise in youth homelessness in 2022-23 compared with 2021-22.

Mr Yates said he turned to "sofa surfing" after his relationship with his family broke down in his late teens.

He said his life became about trying to fulfil simple needs.

"My first thought when I was waking up in the morning wasn't, 'Oh, what productive thing can I get up to today?'

"It was like, 'Who's going to let me have a shower?'"

The 30-year-old, who is now married with children and lives in Exeter, eventually sought help.

"If I'm honest, I didn't actually treat it as homelessness," he said.

"I didn't think I was actually homeless, you don't.

"It's hard to swallow your pride and say you need help, but that's ultimately where it comes from."

He said his situation deteriorated while he was homeless.

"I've had to do some things I wasn't necessarily proud of, maybe roads that I shouldn't have gone down in terms of drugs," he said.

"[Now] I've been sober for eight years.

"It does take time you know, it wasn't overnight, but people see through the clothes that are dirty and they see through the past that you've had, because they can see the individual that you have potential."

Si Johns, joint chief executive of YMCA Exeter, said homeless people were often treated like statistics.

"All of a sudden they just become a homeless person," he said.

"We're not talking about a homeless person, we're actually talking about Rob.

"They are people and they're not defined by the current crisis that they're going through."

Mr Johns voiced concern about young women and girls finding themselves "inappropriately housed" ahead of Christmas.

"There will be some more data coming out this Christmas, I should imagine, from all the local authorities about just how many more vulnerable young women are finding themselves to be on the street," he said.

He said vulnerable women turned to strangers for help, which could put them at risk.

"You're just kind of surviving day to day, and if you've got a choice between sleeping on the street where everyone can get to you or spending a night in this apparently friendly, so far, stranger's house, which one will you actually choose?" he said.

"It's a really difficult choice to make."

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