Hidden homeless: 'I slept on buses and in front of security cameras'

"Maria, now 53, arrived in the UK in 2001 from Spain, working as a hospital cleaner before getting a degree in London, and then being employed by the NHS as a healthcare assistant for the next two decades. But in 2021, Maria was sitting in her living room when a drink-driver smashed into the house she rented. She was injured and the house was left uninhabitable."

"I got kicked out with just my coat and my handbag. This is where the troubles started. My landlord and the council didn't help me. The police said it wasn't their business. The building was uninhabitable. I was contacted by insurance but I was a tenant not a landlord. My mental state started to suffer. I lost my job because of stress and trauma."

"I didn't know how to apply for benefits because I've never been in the system... I didn't know where to go, who to talk to, who to tell. I had no support network. I came to the UK in 2001 to be with my brothers after going through a divorce in Spain. But by this point my older brother had passed away, my parents in Spain had died, and my other brother had moved back and I was ashamed to tell him."

Research from the charity Crisis and Heriot-Watt University finds more than 200,000 families and individuals in Britain are experiencing hidden homelessness, a 30% increase since 2020. Hidden homelessness covers people living informally and not counted in official statistics, such as those in cars, sheds, industrial buildings or sleeping on friends' sofas. Individual cases show housing destroyed by incidents, resulting injuries, PTSD, job loss, and prolonged sofa-surfing or sleeping in public places. Barriers include lack of landlord, council or police help, limited insurance recourse for tenants, no support networks and difficulty navigating benefits.

Read at www.bbc.com