Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ian Breen, centre manager of local charity, Acton Homeless Concern. We discussed the details of his job and experiences, and he gave some excellent advice for understanding homelessness as well as some insight into the homeless experience.
Acton Homeless Concern is a local charity that provides help and support to homeless people. It has two drop-in day centres called Emmaus House and the Damien Centre. They distribute over 6,000 items of clothing and serve over 40,000 hot meals every year. It is run almost completely by volunteers, and Ian is the one who oversees it all.
To begin with, how would you describe your job?
“Most of the time, it’s hectic, there’s people having problems, people needing things, people wanting help and support in housing, in clothing, in food, they all come to me.”
What does a typical day look like for you?
“It’s very busy, for example this morning, I had somebody who was living in a caravan, and the caravan was burnt down. I had to get him to the hospital and now when he gets out, help him find him somewhere else to stay. Then someone came in needing a hospital appointment,but they don't have a phone, so I rang the hospital and got them an appointment. Then you get a lot of people having no money for travel if they need to get to the job centre or maybe a house viewing or something like that, so I help them with that. And other things I have to do in between that, different things within the charity, like getting volunteers, so it’s always busy. “
Have you found any challenges from working here?
“There’s lots of challenges, you’ve got to treat every individual as an individual. So sometimes it’s a long process, getting to know them, getting to know where they’ve come from, trying to get them something, whether it’s housing or whether they need a service, so yeah, it is challenging. “
Why did you first come into this career and start working at Acton Homeless Concern?
“Well, I’ve always worked in social work, I’ve done it for the last thirty five years. Before this, I was working with learning disabilities and elderly people’s care, so this was a natural progression into all of those things put together.”
Out of interest, how long have you been working with Acton Homeless Concern?
“I’ve been here fifteen years on April 1st.”
In those fifteen years, are you facing the same challenges now that you were back then?
“I’m still facing the challenge of homelessness, I’m facing the challenge of poverty and people who are hungry. But I’m facing it in a different way and there’s a different type of person coming in and saying they’ve lost their jobs and things like that."
Do you think there’s been changes since you first started working here?
“I’ve seen a lot of changes, I mean, especially since the Coronavirus pandemic, a lot more poverty on the streets, a lot of people asking you for food vouchers, for example. People’s mental health has suffered during the virus, and so we’ve had lots of people coming to us with various different problems, a lot of them are marginalised, or there’s loneliness, and it’s a relief that they can come somewhere like here and talk to other people that understand their experiences.”
Do you have any advice for anyone who would like to embark on a similar career?
“Yeah, I mean, I think it’s a fantastic career, I think in all respects if you’re interested in people and the lives of people and how they’ve existed, where they’ve come from, where they’re going to, I really believe it’s quite rewarding.”
Due to the cost of living crisis at the moment, has it been any more challenging?
“It’s been a lot busier, a lot more people coming with their problems, such as they can’t pay their utility bills, they can’t pay their rent.”
We discussed the impact of higher bills, and Ian told me how exactly Acton Homeless Concern helps with that.
“If someone can’t pay their rent or are finding their utility bills too expensive, we can help with food vouchers to go to the food bank, and they can get free takeaway food if they want it, also clothing, they can get that too. So we’re helping them to cut out what they would’ve paid for, and the feedback I get is very good, they say it helps a lot.”
What if even with all of the additional help, some people still can’t pay their rent?
“Well basically, I try to refer people to the people that help with money and try to get their money accounted for, for example, someone who was paying £50 might be paying a pound a week now, and that’s because of the people who help, such as debt management.”
Obviously, a crucial aspect of charities such as Acton Homeless Concern is the volunteers, the people who come back day after day and give up their own time to help the homeless. I asked Ian about the volunteers over at Acton Homeless.
“We’re always looking for volunteers, a lot came back after the Coronavirus restrictions lifted but a lot of them didn’t, so we’re always looking for more volunteers.”
How many volunteers do you have in comparison to paid workers?
“We have four part-time workers and three full-time workers, whereas there’s around 210 hours a week worked by volunteers.”
Obviously, people are interested in how they can help with homelessness. What would you recommend?
“Fundraisers are always good, especially school fundraisers, you can always donate any clothes you have or anything you think you might collect. Some schools have cake sales, but in the past people have done things in Lent, for example, they’ll sit in a playground and they won’t eat for like six hours to see what it’s like and they get sponsored for that.”
What should people do if they see a homeless person or someone sleeping rough?
“It's best is not to give them money, because you wouldn’t know if they were an addict or not, so the best thing to do is offer them a sandwich or a cup of coffee or a cup of tea, just to see if they take it, they probably will. Then, tell them about Acton Homeless Concern or any local charity. You can also ask the person where they’re staying at the moment, and if they’re staying in a fixed position you can ring StreetLink, so they’ll be out within the next three nights, hopefully. “
Do you think that the way that most people perceive homelessness at the moment is accurate?
“I think that it’s getting a little bit better, because it’s such a big problem, and if you’d asked me that ten years ago, I would’ve said no. I think there’s a greater understanding of homelessness now, because it’s more prevalent than it ever has been, but there’s still ignorance too. Lots of people assume that homeless people are lesser people than they are sometimes, which is totally wrong. I think all schools should learn about it in their educational programs, and that’s a good thing for them to do. “
What do you think is important that schools teach about homelessness?
“I think it should be in their curriculum, I think it should definitely be part of what they learn. You can say alcohol, you can say drink, but no one homeless person’s story is the same. There are so many other reasons too, and they could’ve suffered with having trauma in their early life, you just don’t know, so you can’t assume, I’ve never assumed anything about anyone. This is not a job for being judgemental.”
How do you give everyone who walks through these doors some hope?
“I think that when people come through this door they’ve got such a low esteem of themselves. You treat a human being like you’d want to be treated yourself. You talk to them honestly and candidly. You get to know what they want, I mean, people come here and they’re homeless but they don’t necessarily want a home. They could just want a chat, or a bus fare to go somewhere. I’ve known people for fifteen years who don’t want anywhere to live, they’re just happy to be on the street and stay alive. We try to encourage them and we make them feel like human beings, because you can imagine a homeless person might not have talked to anybody for the last six months, nobody’s touched them or anything.”
“One lad came to me, and I said ‘Are you alright?’ and he jumped. I said I was sorry, and he explained that people didn’t touch him very much. That really got to me, because that’s just so sad. “
There were over 227,000 people experiencing homelessness (rough sleeping, sleeping in barns and sheds, being stuck in B&Bs) in the UK in the past year alone, and 10,000 recorded as rough sleepers in London. Not all homelessness is the same, either. There's 'hidden homelessness' and there is a variety of reasons why someone could become homeless. It is a problem now more than ever.
Acton Homeless Concern is just one local charity, but if you want to help the homeless, there are hundreds of shelters and charities in London that would accept donations or volunteering hours, whatever you can do to help with this critical issue.
