“Bedsits should be outlawed”

Wednesday 08 November 2017

Rising rents are making it increasingly difficult for some islanders to secure clean and safe accommodation at an affordable rate - but there’s one ‘hidden’ group who are being hit particularly hard.

Ahead of homeless awareness week, Express spoke to the Sanctuary Trust, a charity supporting homeless men, about the worsening problem of finding an affordable home.

“Bedsits should be outlawed,” says Matthew*. “When you’re looking at your bed all day, if you haven’t got friends or family, you’re completely on your own.”

The 59-year-old knows that situation better than most. As someone who has suffered with schizophrenia and the chaotic highs and catastrophic lows of bipolar disorder, he’s spent more days than he can remember looking at bedroom walls.

Part of that is due to the medication he has to take to keep him on an “even keel” (“It can cause me to sleep for about 12 hours”), while other times have seen him paralysed in the room in fear of attending an appointment or meeting.

But now “everything’s a lot brighter.” The Sanctuary Trust - a charity offering shelter and support to homeless men to help them reintegrate into island life - helped him get back on his feet. They offered him a home at the St Aubin’s High Street-based Sanctuary House shelter and helped him through his emotional anxieties with counselling. He’s now been able to ‘graduate’ to Sanctuary Lodge at L’Hermitage Gardens in Beaumont, where he enjoys more independence living alongside other former residents of the St Aubin’s shelter.

Pictured: Sanctuary Trust helps homeless men through a plethora of issues and back onto their feet again - but gaining accommodation is the tricky next step to becoming part of the island community again.

The next step in his journey will be to find his own accommodation- a home is not just a haven, but a vital registered address for setting up necessities like a bank account or a phone or internet connection.

But he’s already aware that there will be difficulties with achieving this goal.

Firstly, the stigma of having been formerly homeless or having a mental health issue can be a barrier to securing a new rented home. Then there’s the fact that rental prices continue to rocket in Jersey.

Data from the Statistics Unit shows that private sector rents have increased by more than 50% in a decade. A one-bedroom flat now costs around £198.89 weekly through the States social housing provider Andium, and £228.46 if rented through a private landlord.

Even with income support, keeping up with these costs can be extremely difficult - especially when trying to secure a job whilst managing a mental health issue.

Pictured: Even the most basic accommodation can be too expensive for those who have few savings or are unemployed.

“I’ve been unable to hold a job down because of my mood swings… I’ve found is that because you suffer with mental illness, you find yourself in the poverty trap. You pay for it, you don’t get the jobs where there’s really decent money in it,” Matthew told Express.

“The rents are astronomical. If you’re only on a low wage, you might meet the rent, but if you’re on minimum wage, there’s no way you’ll have anything left over. There should be a cap on that,” he added.

Such prices can be difficult for anyone from a low-income background to contend with, but can provide a particular challenge for Sanctuary’s former residents, who often have very few savings. Many leave Sanctuary still unemployed - and not for want of trying, management staff explained. Often it comes down to having few qualifications as a result of a “chaotic” upbringing or difficulties with finding the right opportunity or an understanding employer who will support them as they transition from the throes of addiction, step away from a life of petty crime, or learn to manage their mental health. A good deal of those that are lucky enough to find employment are often stuck in a pattern of low-paid shift work.

Having less money to spend on rent inevitably confines them to compromise on accommodation, either in size, cleanliness, or both. With one-bedroom flats out of reach for some, “stifling” bedsits are occasionally the only option - and there have been concerns that these end up having a detrimental impact on former residents’ mental health.

“Affordable accommodation is seriously lacking. Is it an attractive outcome to go to a bedsit where you might end up being lonely again? ...The whole thing about finding accommodation when people leave here is an issue really. If somebody’s on income support, they’re very often turned away by landlords or not favoured. In that respect, we need to be looking and expanding on what’s available,” Sanctuary Manager Ian Tomkins commented.

Pictured: Bedsits can be a lonely place to move to after leaving Sanctuary Trust, and upset leavers' mental health. Manager Ian Tomkins hopes that Sanctuary will be able to find "better outcomes" for its residents by working alongside housing trusts in future.

He said the charity will in future be looking to “link in” with housing trusts and organisations in a bid to remedy the issue, but that’s not something that will happen overnight.

In the meantime, there may be some comfort. Last week, States Members approved the principles of introducing a new law to improve the standard of rented accommodation on the island. There are currently few powers for authorities to act if dwellings are found to be sub-standard, but that’s set to change.

Once the law is brought in, landlords will legally have to ensure that housing is in a “reasonable state of repair”, has modern facilities and services and efficient heating and effective insulation.

Small steps, hopefully, towards the “bright” future Matthew now sees for himself.

Read the full report on The Sanctuary Trust’s valuable work in the community in Express later this week ahead of homelessness awareness week.