Queue the music? – Listen Up! homelessness insights hub

Music is a uniting force, regardless of what is going on for someone, it’s a means for people to be who they really are. Wherever you go in life, it’s a grounding force to come back to, not just the music it’s self but the community and subcultures of different genres. It’s a way to [...]

Rescued Dog – Listen Up! homelessness insights hub

Ace came into our lives last year after I became homeless. Ace hasn’t had a great start to life as his previous owner was in a domestic abuse relationship with their ex–partner. Ace used to protect his owner from the violence and ended up getting attacked himself. Ace took a while to get settled with [...]

We Reporters – Listen Up! homelessness insights hub

We reporters of Listen Up are Bringing stories we come from afar
Fields, estates, blocks and gardens
Guiding the Groundswell star
(Chorus) Oh, stars of writing, stars from the night
Royal William shining up our light
Oval meeting, northern leading
Getting homelessness policies right
Brought along by bus, bike and train
Mat we bring him [...]

'A Little Slice of Loveliness' – Listen Up! homelessness insights hub

With so much anger and hate in the news, I thought that I’d share something lovely here today. The lady behind this story works tirelessly behind the scenes to bring a bit of cheer to her corner of the world, and so I thought that I would spread that cheer with you and explain why [...]

Illegally Evicted and the Police (Eviction series, part 4) – Listen Up! homelessness insights hub

Read the previous report in Andrea’s eviction series My update on the police is more positive today. I’m now on my second case number with them regarding my landlord not allowing access to the property to get my belongings. I had to report online to the police that my landlord has failed to get in [...]

A heartfelt response to Steve by Dan Bleksley – Listen Up! homelessness insights hub

In this written piece, Dan, who has just started as a project worker at Groundswell, offers a response to a recent report done by our ace roving reporter Steve from Manchester. Steve’s gift as a communicator is to give deeply textured snapshots of life through his eyes and in the original account he wrestles with the [...]

Being Homeless Totally Sucks, Hopefully the Next Government will be More Sympathetic – Listen Up! homelessness insights hub

A few days ago, I was coming from the train station and happened to bump into a neighbor who was carrying empty cardboard boxes from the local Sainsburys. I didn’t ask him what they were for and we simply talked about what was on for dinner that night. Yesterday, I bumped into him again. I [...]

My life is mine, not yours – Listen Up! homelessness insights hub

Where do I come from? 1967, France, standard education. Waiter, sailor, hospitality, support worker. Married, divorced, pretty vagrant, addiction and recovery. REALITY. How did I get there? Car, train, auto-pilot. Flight, walk, hitch-hiking, Running. Walking. Any ideas. Breathing… Inputs contributed to own journey? Ancestry, heraldry, parents, grandparents, booze, recovery. Marriage. Divorce. Goodness. Madness, NVQ 3 [...]

The Freedom to Speak – Listen Up! homelessness insights hub

The good thing about this project has always been what I call ‘VIVE LA DIFFERENCE’. It gives us a platform to freely express ourselves. To report on issues from the heart, with emotion and passion and without the limitations imposed by journalists who work for commercial concerns funded by vested interests. To change the narrative [...]

Recovery in lockdown – Listen Up! homelessness insights hub

This post mentions recovery from addiction Relaxing with a group of friends around the pool at The Mar Hotel, host to Lanzarote AA convention. We were talking about this new COVID-19 Virus that came from a wet fish market in China. I remember saying with absolute certainty (like I had inside info) “oh it’ll never [...]

'That’s all I was, I was only my problems. I was nothing else.' by GG – Listen Up! homelessness insights hub

GG reflects on reconnecting with herself and finding happiness again, and overcoming the dehumanisation of a system that only defines people by their problems and challenges, rather than seeing their achievements, good things and unique experiences. I wanted to talk about a follow up to my piece on libraries, and I heard that it got [...]