John* was proud of the life he had built for himself, he had worked his whole life, he had a stable career, a long term relationship and a home then like so many people we see one shock resulted in his whole life unraveling.

John’s work required him to work away from home for months at a time. He and his partner had been together for 20 years and he lived with her at her home when not at work, she owned the property as she lived there permanently.

When John returned home from work for the last time he was stunned by the news that his partner had left him for someone else and that he would have to move out of their home. John did not cope well with this news. His life had been turned upside down, he lost a lot of his social circle alongside his partner and home.

John rang a friend in Manchester for help and was offered the opportunity to sleep on his friend's sofa whilst he tried to get help and housing. Without any idea where he’ll soon be living he was also unable to work and had to take leave of his job, hoping he would soon be able to return.

John had never been homeless or out of work before, he had no idea what to do and spent several days looking for help. He found out about Barnabus and made his way to us looking for help to escape the new and scary situation he found himself in. Our teams quickly noticed that he was an individual who needed help quickly to prevent him from spiralling further and having more of his life collapse around him.

The first step was getting him registered as homeless with the council and getting into temporary housing away from the precarious situation of sofa surfing. In Manchester to be registered as a rough sleeper and get onto the lists for temporary housing you must be seen rough sleeping by the council outreach team.

John was a proud man who had worked his entire life and never imagined that he could find himself homeless. He was now sat down with a case worker being told that the fastest way to get himself accommodated was to spend a night on the streets. He looked devastated, he already felt that he had hit rock bottom, but now he was being told that he needed a sleeping bag and to find a spot on the street to bed down and be seen doing this by strangers in the council's outreach team. He had already spoken to several homelessness workers at Barnabus and the council and had to tell them the trauma that led to him becoming homeless and having nowhere to go. He looked flattened by this, his pride and dignity had collapsed and he was on the verge of tears.

John was registered as a rough sleeper by the council. He fortunately wasn’t waiting for long before a room became available. John got into temporary accommodation and he is there now waiting for their team to secure him some move on into his own home.

"Thank you for these. I'm going to take them home"

The morning that he received the accommodation offer he came in to Barnabus to say thank you. We set him up with food parcels, toiletries and clothing to help him settle into his new accommodation. John came to his case worker and shook their hand and said “thank you for these. I'm going to take them home“ then he said “Wow, I have a home again, I can't believe I am saying that after the worst month of my life”. Just a week ago he was tearing up at having to sleep on the streets. And now he is beaming with a night in his own bed ahead of him.

John’s story is a stark reminder that for so many of us homelessness is not far away. Relationship breakdown is the number one cause of homelessness. John's story of being blindsided by the loss of a relationship and stable home is one we see all too often. With many people struggling financially, having the savings ready to get a new home is not possible and their support networks may not be able to afford to help them for long.

Help us bring hope and a future for the people we support. 

*name changed to protect our friends identity