Lisa, a woman in her 40s came to Opendoors in December 2021. Suffering poor mental health and some physical ailments she was not making much headway in reducing her rent arrears or combatting her hoarding tendency. She had other debts which CAP were willing to help her manage but again, due to her other issues she was failing to engage with them.
In June 2022 Lisa was evicted by the housing association because of repeated failure to respond positively to their demands. Bailiffs changed the locks and Lisa started sofa surfing with friend Katy and partner in a small flat.
In July 2022, faced with the last chance to collect her things and nowhere to put them, Lisa reached out to Opendoors. With the help of her befriender there, contact was made with her mother and a man with a van. All agreed to move her white goods etc and put them in storage. Opendoors then facilitated contact with Wiltshire Independent Living and a relationship was formed that then enabled Lisa, together with her Opendoors befriender, to go through the difficult process of picking through the mountain of her possessions. Lisa found this extremely difficult but with support, persisted. Lisa also needed the support of Primary Care Liaison Services (PCLS) and was in touch with the mental health team about her self-harming before being tested for bi-polar. In addition, a housing officer was involved but due to Lisa’s erratic accommodation arrangements, struggled to stay in touch with her. However, with the liaison help of her Opendoors befriender and her regular attendance at our sessions, the housing officer was able to contact Lisa and supported her while secure accommodation was arranged at Springers House, although it took the support and engagement of TP, Housing Options and WCIL in order to achieve this. Finally after some 5 weeks post eviction, Lisa moved into Springers House and re-connected with the world. She is in a position to assess and act on her issues with the support needed.
The help is out there but it took persistent and consistent contact with nine agencies to halt the slide into chaos and instability that homelessness engenders. By the time people become homeless many other things have gone wrong. They are caught in a maelstrom of chaos which is hard to escape. Homeless people have complex needs that are in turn unique to them, often built up over many years. They need friendly, non-judgemental support and unconditional personal regard to restore their self-respect and sort out their life issues.
