Bryn Haworth
Bryn's fundraiser for Church Homeless Charity
Fundraising for Church Homeless Charity
Story
I've been taking my music into prisons for over 35 years and see the revolving door of prison and homelessness on a regular basis.
Homelessness causes problems that increase the risk of reoffending. A third of prisoners will lose their house while in prison, two-thirds will lose their job. Around one in seven are homeless or sleeping rough. In England there has been a 159% rise in the number of people living on the streets after being released from prison in the last year.
Here are some stories from people we’ve met in prison:
It was a particularly cold winter and we were in Winchester prison. We'd met Paul in prison the previous December. He'd since been released / re-offended and sent back to prison. He said 'it's hard to keep out of trouble living on the streets. There's many of us living on the streets who just do crime in the winter to get a roof over their heads. No one will give you a chance when you're homeless'
Seb*, an ex-accountant now homeless, has lost everything since his conviction - his family, his home and his reputation. He deliberately failed to check in with the police after release as he had nowhere to live and didn't want to go back to living on the streets. He was picked up for breach of parole and now has a prison roof over his head.
A new report finds six in ten women are released from prison to homelessness. Lila* says 'I was released homeless; I had nothing to go back to and I ended up on the streets working as a prostitute.'
People don't want to hear about criminals being supported and that includes access to housing or services, and yet we know that prisons are full of young people who have come through the care system, been failed by it, and who have become institutionalised to the point of not functioning outside. .. She says 'we're not making excuses for bad choices.... but the alternitive is we lock people up and do nothing,... it can cost around £50,000 a year to keep a person in prison, and that's a lot of money especially if someone keeps going back again and again.
Having a home goes some way in breaking that cycle.'
We support charities working to end homelessness. Let’s work together to get the job done.