How I finally found hope after 30 years of rough sleeping – Deryck McEwing

If you are homeless and without a relaxing place to sleep, it can be hard to recover when you are ill (Picture: Yui Mok) | PA

Over the last three decades, I’ve spent a fair bit of time rough sleeping and in and out of different kinds of temporary accommodation.

I’ve not been well recently, which is partly related to drug use but to be honest, it’s also related to all the time I’ve spent sleeping outside. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs over the 30 years and there have been times when my health was the last thing on my mind.

For that reason, I’ve had quite a few stays in hospital. The problem is, when you’re homeless, it can be hard to get better, when you don’t have a relaxing place to sleep.

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Hard to accept help

The first time I went into hospital, I was discharged and given a place in a B&B – the only option the council had to offer at that time. But I didn’t like it there, I felt like the people looked down on me. So I ended up sleeping rough again.

The second time I went into hospital, I met Susanne. She’s part of homelessness charity Cyrenians’ hospital in-reach team. She came up to me, really friendly, and asked if I needed help finding somewhere suitable to stay after I left hospital. I turned her down initially – I find it really hard to accept help and to talk about my problems.

But she kept coming back and asking again. I think that’s really important – it took me a while to open up, and I know other people are the same.

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Susanne was able to help me find a place called Milestone, where people who are homeless can stay after hospital for ongoing treatment and support. It’s been great for me, and things are starting to feel much better. If she hadn’t helped me find that spot, I’d likely be rough sleeping again.

I want to talk about my experience, because I think there’s a lot to learn about the way Susanne worked with me. She didn’t give up. When I described myself as ‘failing’ something, she said it was just a learning curve.

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Meeting each other half way

Recently I learned that £20 million had been spent on homelessness in Scotland, but sometimes I find it hard to see where that money has been spent. If you want a space in temporary accommodation, you have to start queuing up from 7.30am in the morning. For people like me, that’s just not achievable.

I think we need services which are designed for the people who use them. I’ve heard they’ve recently employed a housing officer who goes out with the outreach teams, to assess people where they are, rather than asking them to come to the office.

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I think we need more of this. But we need people to make the effort too – housing services and the people who use them need to meet each other half way.

I’m in my 50s, and I’ve never had my own home. I’ve moved into girlfriend’s flats in the past, but I’ve never had a place which is just mine. But I’m feeling hopeful now. I’m asking for help, and I’m telling my story. I think that’s important.