LC533 Research Methods

Thank you for agreeing in take part in this research.  We are interviewing people aged between 18-26 years old who are currently sleeping rough in London or who have been rough sleepers in the last year.  The research is interested in understanding young people’s lives and how they get to the point of sleeping rough and their experiences on the streets.

Yea yea that’s fine….

Could you start by telling me a bit about your childhood?

What like from when I was a baby?

Well wherever you want to start from …

Right.  I lived with my mum in .  

I went to school round the corner, played football, mucked about with my mates, all the usual stuff.  Then it was just my mum and me …. And my grandad.  He lived a few streets away. We were very close. I used to see him after school when my mum was at work.  He’d give me my tea and help me with my homework.  His big passion was his car.  He was always working on it and taught me all about car engines.  I loved working on the car with him…… When I was 13, Colin [mum’s partner] moved in with us.  It was OK at first.  He tried to be like a dad to me …. But not too in your face sort of thing …. He didn’t boss me around or anything like that ….. but then my mum and Colin had my little brother and they changed after that …

Colin got stricter with me, always telling me what to do.  Telling me off if I made any noise or left my stuff lying around.  Felt like it wasn’t my home anymore.

What did your mum do?

Sometimes she’s argue with Colin, say he wasn’t being fair … but she was so into the baby ... She just wanted a quiet life.

What happened?

When I was 15, I went to live with my grandad.  It was better for everyone.  I still saw my mum and Colin … I babysat for them sometimes …it was OK … better for everyone.  I had a place a college cos I wanted to be a mechanic.

Things were going OK then?

Yea, it was OK.  But then my grandad had a stroke and had to go into hospital.  I stayed in his house on my own until my grandad came home …… only my mum said he wasn’t going to come home.  He was too ill.  The social worker got him a place in a nursing home.  I went to visit him … I could tell that he needed proper looking after.  I wanted to stay in his house but the council said that I couldn’t.  Said I had to leave and go back to mum and Colin.  They didn’t want that and neither did

Where did you go when you had to leave your grandad’s house?

Eventually the council found me a place in a hostel but I hated it. I just wanted to be at grandad’s with all his stuff.  I used to sneak back to his house and break in you know to sleep there but then another family moved in and I couldn’t do that anymore.  Then I got thrown off my college course.  There were some other boys who were picking on me … winding me up … so there was this big fight and we all got suspended and I never went back.

Were you still living in the hostel?

Where was that?

Miles away …. Somewhere near Birmingham I think.

What was that like?

Bad in some ways, OK in others.  Some of the staff were OK.  You could tell they cared, some of them were like **** though.  Depended who was on duty …..

What about the other prisoners?

How long were you at the YOI?

Six months.

What happened when you left?

At first, my mum and Colin said I could go and stay with them in their new house.  I agreed cos I didn’t really have much choice …. But they lived in this village … right in the middle of nowhere.  It was sooooooo boring!  Nothing to do … no jobs ….no college ….no mates.  And I could tell they didn’t really want me there.  I was always under their feet ... like in the way. So they said I would have to go to the council and get somewhere to rent by myself.  **** knows how they thought I was going to do that! No job, no money and a criminal record!

What did you do?

I told them that I had a meeting with a lady from the council about a flat and I got the bus to London.

Why did you decide to go to London?

A couple of guys I was banged up with came from London.  They had been sleeping rough and they told me about a few places you could go.  I grew up near London so I knew my way around a bit.

What were these places like?

What do you mean?

They weren’t suspicious of me … knew I was kosher like ….. not going to cause any aggro

I: How long did you stay there?

Who do you mean by “they”?

Did you stay with the same group of people?

Yea quite a bit …. They were savvy … knew how to cope on the streets

In what way?

What do you shoplift?

Depends … sometimes stuff to sell on …. Sometimes food …. Oh and babywipes! Only way to keep clean.

How long have you been on the streets now?

Dunno …. May be two years …. Lost count really …. Live and die on the streets …

Do you think you will get off the streets?

Do you think being on the streets has changed you?

Do you think that being on the streets has affected your health?