31 May, 2005  380,000 hidden homeless  When you come up with a
figure like three hundred and eighty thousand hidden homeless.
People ask how you came by these figures and what does hidden
homeless mean? Well. Firstly being homeless just doesn't mean
sleeping on the streets. The independent newspaper got it half
right when it told of homeless men and women sleeping on buses
and friends sofas. It also includes people sleeping in hotels,
hostels squats, condemned building basically anywhere. I myself
have been out and about on the streets of London giving out a
cigarette here and there and asking how they became homeless. I
have heard some appalling stories Like Marianne a twenty six
year old from Sunderland who came to London with her boyfriend
to get away from the abuse she suffered at home. Because she
wouldn't prostitute herself for her boyfriend. She was left on
her own to fend for herself that was two years ago. Now she is
addicted to heroin and sleeps rough most nights. She admits she
has to sleep with me