Merton Homelessness Project Manager Grace writes:
Several years ago, Faith in Action had hit a number of brick walls in attempting to support a Merton resident to move home after he reported alleged abuse and harassment by his neighbours. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to resolve the situation with his housing provider, and continued alleged abuse and harassment, the person (I will call him Thomas) felt unable to return to his home and spent nearly three years rough sleeping.
It was only when Thomas was befriended by Suzy and her husband Chris that his situation was finally began to change. Over time they built trust with him and learned that he had previously been supported by FIA. They contacted us (with Thomas’s consent) and we were able to clarify the situation and suggest courses of action they could try.
After more than a year of showing Thomas care and commitment to his cause, Suzy and Chris raised a safeguarding concern which highlighted his plight. This appeared to have the effect that Thomas’s housing provider finally understand the seriousness of his situation and, after several meetings, they finally offered him a transfer.
Suzy and Chris accompanied Thomas to view his new flat, which he liked. Keeping FIA in the loop with Thomas’s situation, they informed us that he had to now move very quickly. We agreed to support this, we borrowed a van from Dons Local Action Group, got together a group of volunteers, and booked a slot at the local Reuse and Recycling Centre for the following Saturday.
Suzy and Chris have been phenomenal in their care and support of Thomas. They also crowd funded more than £2,000 to make sure he has everything he needs, white goods, new carpets etc. On the day our volunteers were fantastic – a huge thank you to Bernie, his wife Sarah, Robin and Carol for rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in. Bernie booked and undertook the recycling run with Robin, they did most of the heavy lifting with Chris, Suzy, Carol and Sarah sorted and packed goods that Thomas wanted to keep, Sarah took home items of clothing to wash and sort, and there were many trips up and down the stairs. Sarah and Carol also undertook the very important and stressful role of carrying the plug and thus any preventing serious injury. And I got to drive and guard the DLAG van from getting parking tickets! 😊
The most moving moment of the day for me was when we were at the new property, furniture was in situ and I noticed Thomas taking his shoes off before walking on his new rug!
When we work together, we really DO make a difference!
