I spent more than 20 years homeless and battling addiction. Giving me a home turned my life around

Without Housing First, Wayne wouldn’t have beaten his drug addiction, got off the streets, reconnected with his daughter or met Prince William. In fact, he would likely not be alive.

The 53-year-old told the Big Issue during our Big Community Roadshow in Cardiff how being given a home alongside intensive support had helped him turn his back on spells spent street homeless since he was 15.

Housing First is widely considered an effective way of helping the most vulnerable rough sleepers out of homelessness. The lifelong model, which has earned a big reputation for its success in Finland, sees people offered a place to live and support rather than having to jump through hoops to get a home.

Read more:

• ‘Explain to me why I’m homeless’: Rough sleeper’s rage tells us a lot about what’s keeping people homeless
• How Wales is showing the way for England on homelessness with one simple change
• Nearly half of Brits only £100 away from being overdue on their rent or mortgage: ‘On a knife edge’

The Salvation Army launched its Housing First service in 2017 with Wayne among the first people to be given support.

Now he has a ground-floor flat in the St Mellons area of the city which he shares with his pet dog, a Dachshund cross German Shepherd called Marnie.

“I’d been in other hostels but the support just ain’t there. You can only be there and then it’s ta-ra out the door, and there’s no support with your addiction or anything else,” said Wayne.

“With these you’ve got support constantly, as little and as much as you need. So yeah, it’s been a massive, massive help. Literally, I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for these guys.

“If I need to go anywhere, need an appointment or to fetch medication, they’ll contact me. To get to the shops they got me a mobility scooter. Because I’ve got emphysema so I can’t walk very far anymore. Whatever support I need, they are there for me 100%.”

It’s a far cry from where Wayne’s life was when he was homeless.

Struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, Wayne was admitted to hospital as his health problems mounted.

When it came to leaving hospital, he was relieved to find that he had a place to stay.

Wayne’s new home and support has been a platform that has allowed him to beat drug addiction while he has continued to make progress in reducing his alcohol dependency.

“They’ve given me the support and the tools to be able to do that,” said Wayne.

“I’m literally double the man I used to be. When I was first on the street I was about seven stone, all skin and bone. That’s the reason why they put a blanket around me, stuck me in the car and took me straight to hospital. I’d got abscesses and cirrhosis and everything else in my legs so I had to have surgery on both my legs. I was in hospital for about three months. Having somewhere to go to after that was a relief.”

Wayne’s newfound stability has also been a boon for his family life.

While sat watching the TV one day with his support worker, he received a phone call he could never have imagined while on the streets.

“It was my daughter. I hadn’t seen her for 20 years. That was a bolt out of the blue. I got my daughter back in my life. It was very emotional,” said Wayne.

Big Issue aren’t the only ones to hear Wayne’s story – he had the opportunity to tell it to Prince William last year.

Wayne’s meeting with the future king in Windsor featured in the ITV documentary Prince William: We Can End Homelessness charting the first year of the royal’s Homewards initiative.

“He’s a lovely bloke. A really nice bloke,” according to Wayne.

While the Prince of Wales has a big aim to end homelessness across the UK in five years, Wayne is convinced that Housing First will play a big role.

“I’d definitely like to see Housing First grow. They deserve medals here for what they do and what they have to put up with. It can’t be easy,” said Wayne.

“It varies for everybody in Housing First. They’ve got their own journeys to go on and all at different speeds. Some will do a mile a minute, others will take a week to get around the corner. But the support is always there for them if they give a little back and they are open with the support workers, they can get as much out of it as they need.”

The latest statistics compiled by Welsh charity Cymorth Cymru show 792 people were supported through Housing First projects between February 2018 and March 2023.

In total, 91.5% of tenancies were sustained – anything around 85% or higher is considered a success internationally.

Meanwhile, the Welsh government recently introduced new legislation to tackle homelessness, which focuses on prevention and faces a race against time to make it into law before next year’s Senedd elections.

Natasha Alexander, service manager at The Salvation Army’s Housing First service in Cardiff, told Big Issue that long-term funding and access to affordable properties are key to the future of the programme.

“Funding is needed for the project to grow and develop. We are having a housing crisis at the moment so that particularly affects the private rented sector,” said Alexander.

“I think funding is the biggest challenge at the moment in terms of growing and developing to much more than the size that we’re at, particularly because you want to take that long-term view with things. You don’t want any uncertainty over funding and things like that.”

Promises are easy to break. Sign Big Issue’s petition for a Poverty Zero law and help us make tackling poverty a legal requirement, not just a policy priority.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.