Killed by life on the streets (From Thisisdorset)

Killed by life on the streets

11:37am Wednesday 12th March 2008 in

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HOMELESS people are dying even after finding accommodation because years of sleeping rough wrecks their health.

The grim message comes from Bob Matthews, manager of The Hub in Dorchester, after at least six men who used the centre for rough sleepers died in just over a year.

He said news of deaths and attending funerals had become part of his work in helping people get off the streets and into accommodation.

Mr Matthews said: "It shows how vulnerable these people are.

"Even after they got accommodation the lifestyle of living rough meant they were already close to the end.

"I can think of probably the same number again who could be dead within months.

"People just don't realise how much the homeless suffer.

"They think people choose to live like that and enjoy it, but it's not the case.

"Being homeless can take 20 years off your life."

Mr Matthews said two factors - drink and the shortage of single-person accommodation - played a major part in what had become a humanitarian issue.

He said alcohol had been a problem for four of the men - known as Chef, Harry, Ken and Whitey - who have died within the last year.

He said: "They didn't do drugs, but they did drink.

"In fact Harry died of a heart attack at 53, not long after we found accommodation for him."

A few months before Chef - who earned the nickname because he had been a qualified chef - died while still in his 30s, another Hub user had been murdered shortly after moving to Bath.

And Craig Newbury, 44, was found dying in a public toilet in Dorchester last month. He had used the Hub briefly and Mr Matthews had found accommodation for him in Weymouth.

Mr Matthews warned that the current wave of binge drinking among young people was storing up more trouble for organisations like the Hub to deal with.

He said: "Look at the binge drinking culture. They are the next generation that will be round at our door.

"They might be living at home with mum and dad, but parents have enough of it and the kids get chucked out.

"They might hear of an empty trailer somewhere, but that's it. They end up homeless."

He said more single-person accommodation would help but that councils were already doing their best.

He added: "It's upsetting when you hear that another one has died.

"The homeless are like a big family, and it affects them all when there's a death."

He said former Hub-user Harry Eaton had been a local man and had gone to school in Dorchester.

But though people must have known him and walked past him while he was living rough round the town, he had been unable to get off the streets until the Hub found him a home.

And he paid tribute to Whitey - Ian White - who was not yet 40 when he died last month.

Mr Matthews said: "Whitey was a free spirit.

"He wasn't violent or a difficult man and people liked him.

"There were a lot of people at his funeral in Weymouth last week - and one of his dogs."

He said the Hub's increased focus on finding accommodation for rough sleepers who wanted to change their lives was proving successful.

The centre has found accommodation for 33 people since June - an increase on 20 in the previous 18 months. And he said problems with the homeless causing problems in the community had improved since last summer.