A tenant's story...

How John became homeless...

John moved to Exeter in order to maintain his relationship with his 13 year old daughter, and lived for some time as a lodger in his ex-wife’s house, working for an Exeter plastics company. His ex-wife asked him to move out of her house when she started a new relationship. Around the same time, John applied for and was offered a new job, and handed in his notice at the plastics company. When his new employer found out he had become homeless they withdrew the offer.

On the streets

Being new to the city John had no friends or family to turn to. He considered moving back to live with his parents, but he wanted to stay near his daughter in Exeter. Finding himself on the streets, John approached the local council, but was considered ‘non-priority’ and was not given any emergency accommodation. He started to sleep in a tent on the edges of town, cycling back in to try and find somewhere to live or to find work.

John says “Exeter is a well to do town but there aren’t enough resources to keep homeless people out of public view. I found being homeless very stressful. I kept thinking people were saying things about me, like, ‘Why’s he homeless, what did he do? Did he break the law?’ But it wasn’t my fault that I was homeless.”

How a deposit scheme helped John...

John went to the job centre and was given a ‘survival handbook’. This listed local services and housing referral groups and one of these was St. Petroc’s Day Centre. They told him about the SmartMove deposit scheme run by Exeter Homeless Action Group and sent off a referral. He had an initial interview with SmartMove, and was invited for an induction and training course that helped people who were looking for housing. It included advice about approaching landlords and which questions to ask when viewing a property.

John is now living in his own place and working again as a specialist welder. He says, “When the SmartMove worker found out I was in a tent and living with rats she was determined to find me somewhere. She found a landlord who had a vacancy and it was in the town centre, which is close enough for work.“