A dad has revealed how his life went from heaven to hell in weeks leaving him sleeping in a bank doorway and addicted to booze.
Former carer Andrew Hamilton, 40, who became homeless two years ago, lost his family, job and home in rapid succession.
Since losing everything, he has become dependent on alcohol and is forced to beg, reports Hull Live.
In the Mirror, Andrew, from Hull, said: “I’ve not always lived on the streets, it’s just in the last couple of years.
“I was my grandma’s carer in a bungalow and she became ill and went to live at my aunty’s. She had to give her bungalow up and I wasn’t on the tenancy so I was made homeless.
“I got a two man tent and a sleeping bag and I went and slept on Bilton Grange all summer but then it started getting a bit too cold.
“I didn’t really want to be homeless in the town centre but I ended up here anyway. I’ve been in Westbourne but I had some trouble there and I had to leave and I’ve just been dossing ever since really.
“I sleep in a bank doorway down the main street where there are more cameras and stuff because obviously things happen when you’re asleep in a doorway.”
Andrews says he feels completely isolated and unable to see his son: “I wouldn’t say I have anyone I can rely on. I don’t trust anybody and family. My family don’t seem to care.
“I am going to Park Street hospital to try and sort something out there but I don’t know, I really don’t know what I am going to do. The future scares me, definitely.”
He added: “Do you know what – I was living the dream, I had everything, my son, family, my home, everything.
“In a matter of weeks it was all gone and I was homeless, living in a tent – which wasn’t too bad in summer when it was nice and warm.
“It was quite pleasant actually, waking up in a tent every morning, taking the zip down and the sun shines in and your in a farmer’s field. It was nice but when it got cold it changes.”
He added: “I have been homeless for two years now, it’s just part of my life. I walk a lot, these streets I have walked thousands and thousands of times.
“It’s like I’m almost getting comfortable on the streets if you know what I mean, it’s weird because like I said I had everything.
“I was living the dream and you don’t even realise at the time until it’s all gone. That’s the truest saying I’ve ever heard – you don’t realise what you have until it’s gone.”
He has been forced to beg for cash for alcohol. He said: “I wasn’t alcoholic before I became homeless but I have become dependant on alcohol. If I need money for alcohol, I beg sometimes.
“People buy me food and stuff which is nice. Nine out of 10 people you ask for a bit of change will give you a couple of quid.
“You ask somebody for five pence and they will give you two quid sometimes. I only take what I need, I only ask for what I need. If I get enough for a beer, I get a beer and that’s me done for the day.
“I don’t sit there begging all day long everyday. I don’t ask people with kids and I don’t ask the elderly.”
He added: “Money becomes irrelevant. Money used to be the most important thing in the world but now it’s not so important to me.
“Even when someone gets me breakfast in the morning – that’s the best thing. Or a coffee. It’s nice when somebody does that.”
