Mini Mag Hidden Homelessness issue 2021

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December 2020/Issue1

If it’s offbeat and in Cardiff then it’s in here

HOMELESS

but HIDDEN photo by Bryan Pelayo - Unsplash

PENARTH GOES PLASTIC FREE

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A new zero-waste shop has opened in Windsor Arcade to get more people living sustainably and help save our planet

ero Penarth has opened its doors their shop encourages its customers in the seaside town to introduce zero-waste warrior or not - to make a residents to a more sustainable conscious effort in reducing food-waste. way of life with its first ever completely Everything is filled and weighed at zero-waste shop. the refill stations so only the necessary Owned by climate change advocates amount is purchased to ensure no Debra Thorne and Alex Pearson, it morsel of food goes unused. opened on 20 November, offering an Located at three Windsor Arcade on Zero Penarth is owned and run by Alex array of food items and eco-friendly, Penarth’s high street, Zero Penarth, like Pearson (above) and Debra Thorne locally sourced products. The shop has many zero-waste shops, serves staple been enthusiastically received, gaining cupboard items like pastas, pulses nearly 1,000 Facebook followers; confirming the demand for and nuts. What’s unique is soon they will stock eggs, offer a local shop of this kind. ‘zero-waste starter packs’ with ‘pick’n’mix’ items to slowly Alex explains how people are keen to do little things to be introduce newcomers to the movement, alongside personal part of the zero-waste movement, and more shops like this care, and homeware items including hand-crafted ceramics, will start to make a difference. beeswax wraps, soaps, cleaning products and skincare.

One local resident said, “At last! A local shop doing what The shop opening had been in planning for the last nine so many people care about, which is doing our bit to help months, Alex explained. Though the pandemic delayed save the planet.” them, since November its popularity has grown, being Previously, environmentally conscious ‘Penarthians’ inundated with requests for specific items. Initially stocking would need to travel so they could shop ethically. Now the basics, they are excited to expand to offer even more Zero Penarth has filled that gap. The nature-loving owners products and help the fight against climate change. started the shop to help others get involved in this “positive “The more people support zero waste,” says Alex, “the change” and not only promote plastic-free shopping but more change happens and the more quickly it happens.”

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NEWS

MACARON MARVELS

CWTCH-UP AND HELP THE HOMELESS

any businesses have faced hardship this year due to lockdown after lockdown. However, one Canton bakery defied the odds by opening a new shop selling in-house baked goods and products all hand crafted by businesses.

Let Them See Cake was previously tucked away above Pettigrew Bakery and specialised in sugar-craft classes and celebration cakes. Due to the virus, it closed in March, but decided to expand. They re-opened in October in a new pastel pink premises next door. The business is run by award-winning, creative director Gareth Davies and managing director Ryan Rowe who started ‘LTSC’ in 2017.

Alongside cakes and mouth-watering treats, their eyecatching shop sells cards, dried flower bouquets, cake toppers and more. One customer on their Facebook said: “A treat for the eye as well as the mouth!”

Using traditional ingredients, its perfectly piped cupcakes are a ‘try-before-you-buy’ homage to the celebration showstoppers. Whats different? Apart from its eye-catching decor, the bakery produces delicate pastel-perfect Parisian macarons.

Setting up during a pandemic hadn’t been easy, said Gareth. But with all hands on deck, local craftsmen helped to complete the look; a vibrant insight into his mind, much like his cake design.

Let Them See Cake’ is thriving and once safe again, they will be back in action with “lots of exciting things to come”.

he pandemic has seen the nation come together to fight many challenges this year, and in Cardiff a voluntary organisation has been formed to give out supplies to those facing financial hardship as a result.

Founded in October 2020, Cwtch-Up started to help those in Cardiff who found themselves unable to afford essential supplies. Since 2020 began, the number of people in need has doubled, a report by the Joseph Roundtree Foundation has said. For Wales, it said, “The coronavirus storm has unleashed strong currents sweeping many people into poverty.”

Founder Nicola Williams, started Cwtch-Up after needing a food parcel herself. She explained how there weren’t any services like it in Cardiff, so started the charity herself with help from volunters.

Nicola and two of her friends Justine Heydon and Amanda Kane, who have worked with the homeless for many years, run it now.

“I wanted to build up slowly,” Nicola explained, “but it exploded and created a monster.” The organisation delivers up to 60 food parcels per week with food donations from the general public and FareShare, the UK’s longest running food redistribution charity, which provides food from the likes of Tesco and Iceland.

“Cwtch is my favourite word” explains Cardiff girl Nicola. Inspired not only by its meaning, Cwtch-Up is an anagram of Calling Welsh To Care and Help – Unfortunate People.

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Lockdown Stories

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LIVE FROM LOCKDOWN

INTERVIEW

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How a weekly music stream saved one Welsh musican

Cardiff-based musician Jim Swidenbank reflects on the streaming event that kept him playing and lockdown life as a single parent

im Swidenbank has written more music in the last

COVAID LOCKDOWN LIVE Jim is itching to return to real-life gigging once lockdown permits. Over the last few months, he has managed to scratch that itch by partaking in and later co-running Tomos Lewis’s Covaid Lockdown Live stream.

Starting in April, the live music stream – which hosted many of Cardiff and South Wales’ finest musicians – ran from midday until midnight, all and every weekend.

It became an interactive musical community offering escapism from lockdown life. After a few weeks, Jim offered a hand with his managerial skills and took charge of scheduling and booking while keeping his regular ‘themed’ slot – inspired one week to write and perform a song about Dominic Cummings’ Barnard Castle trip. For the musician, this was a godsend. Without it, Jim said he wouldn’t have kept up playing. “I had really rough weeks. We all had them during lockdown. You’re stuck on your own, you

Violin

Cornet

Mandolin

Harmonica

Percussion

Piano

Guitar

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Jim (pictured) performing with his many instruments live

I’d do the stream on a

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six months than the last few years. As a retail worker, he was furloughed over lockdown, meaning he had plenty of time on his hands to get creative juices flowing; though reigniting passion projects and skills were slower in burning than he expected.

“You need to be in a certain place, mentally, to create,” he says. “The first thought was ‘Great! I have all this time,’ and when it doesn’t happen within the first week, you grow a bit... ugh.”

Born in the Valleys (though his accent has faded after living in Australia for six years), Jim’s first brush with music making was learning the guitar at age 10. Now a professional musician, he plays “quite the array of instruments” – seven to be precise.

To escape Blackwood’s small-town monotony, Jim came to Cardiff in 2009 to get a taste of its bustling music community. He now lives in its neighbouring seaside town, Penarth. Before Covid-19, the 41-year-old’s credentials on Cardiff’s music scene included: sound engineer and regular host at NosDa open mic night; regular originals and cover gigs at Brewhouse, Live Lounge and more – alongside being the retail manager at Menkind.

Saturday and that would just pick me up for days

haven’t seen people and I’d do the stream on a Saturday and that would just pick me up for days.”

Jim adds how he loved seeing the viewer’s comments roll up on his and other artists performances with people often saying, ‘I’ve been waiting for this all week!’ He attributes this as part of what kept him going saying, “The streams really kept me sane.”

IT’S ALL RELATIVE “I don’t think we’ll ever again experience a situation like this,” he says, explaining how music wasn’t the only contributor in putting a positive spin on lockdown. Smiling, he says, “I got to spend six months with my son. And this one, she’s a beauty!” referring to his puggle, Poppy.

Fondly, Jim gushes about how he and his “miniversion” became closer and thick-as-thieves; bonding over knowledge, home-schooling, music, films and, like many of us, by baking.

“He makes pizza from scratch,” he says, bursting with pride for his 9-year-old son. “It’s been incredible.”

The hardest part for Jim was isolation. Being a single parent, weeks would pass without talking to another adult.

But what lockdown did give him was family time, a virtual music-loving community, and the start of a home-recorded album that, with many restrictions still in place, he intends to complete.

THE SEVEN INSTRUMENTS OF ONE-MAN-BAND, JIM

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OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF HO

Hidden homelessness: Wales’ invis

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he pandemic has instilled fear throughout the country with strict instruction to stay home and save lives. But for too many, staying home may not be safe or even an option. And with household restrictions, they resort to homelessness.

One young man, for whom this was reality, told homeless charity Llamau, “What scared me the most was knowing that the world was being broken by this nasty virus, and I was completely alone.”

With increased pressure on households, families and finances, Welsh government funding has helped to house most known homeless people during the pandemic, ensuring no-one sleeps rough. However, therein lies an issue: the word known.

NUMBERS AREN’T EVERYTHING

The latest official count by housing charity Shelter implies a few hundred thousand people in Britain are homeless: 280,000 of those in England. For Wales, the national statistics show nearly 10,000 were threatened with homelessness. In Cardiff alone, the number of people facing this is over 2,000. Though these figures are shocking, they are under-representative of the true scale. Research published by UK charity Crisis estimated 62 percent of homeless individuals and families are unaccounted for in official statistics.

This is known as hidden homelessness and most commonly describes someone who is homeless but finds a temporary, informal solution, for example, sofa surfing. The level of hidden homelessness in Wales is difficult to gage because, as the name suggests, they are hidden. However, reports show that since the pandemic hit, the number of people reaching out for help has increased.

Ailidh Durie, a manager at Cardiff’s Housing Options Centre – which offers not only accommodation but wrap-around support for the homeless – explained how she has seen more hidden homeless come to their service lately.

She says, “Those people who would be quite transient moving between different homes are struggling as people aren’t having them in their homes anymore.”

Before Covid-19, the Welsh government were aware of this type of homelessness, and in partnership with Shelter Cymru, are launching a digital campaign to raise awareness of this hidden crisis. Targeting young people, the campaign will advise those who are in contact with, or are themselves at risk of homelessness.

THE FIRST STEP TO ENDING HOMELESSNESS

The best way to end homelessness is by preventing it. For this to happen, youth homelessness must be tackled first, Welsh charities say. Cardiff Council member for housing and communities Lynda Thorne explains, “Often [it starts] with young, single people falling out with their families, leaving and staying with friends. That situation then grows and gets worse as they get older.”

Family breakdown remains one of the main causes of homelessness in Wales, and Llamau, which specialises in ending youth homelessness, is devasted by the recent increase in cases due to the pandemic. They saw a “staggering” rise of 150 percent in calls to their helpline because sofa-surfing was no longer an option; home may be unsafe or family life too hard. They said, “We’ve taken calls directly from frightened young people facing a cold night on the streets to parents who are desperate to find alternative

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Sofa surfing is the most common form of hidden homelessness young people face

accommodation for their son or daughter because their relationship is on the verge of breaking down.”

Out of 150,000 under-25s threatened with homelessness every year in the UK, 7,000 of these who ask for help are in Wales. “If we can address youth homelessness,” says Cllr Thorne, “we can start to stem the tide.”

62%

LOOK OUT Lonliness is familiar to those who are hidden in their homelessness. Here are a few things to look out for to identify someone experiencing this • Difficulties with parental and close family relationships • Reluctance to go home • Keeping belongings with them and difficulty keeping clothes clean • Asking for help with money and using food banks • Loss of job • Mental or physical health problems

of homelessness goes unaccounted for in national statistics because it is

However, recent national statistics indicate 67 percent of households in Wales threatened with homelessness were successfully prevented this year – with 80 percent in Cardiff, says Lynda.

What Cardiff Council and charities like Llamau are doing is working with and giving a safe space to people who reach out to talk about their HIDDEN problems, offering them wrap-around support before it’s too late. This, and finding the right DEFINING HIDDEN HOMELESSNESS accommodation for them will give stability and a secure Homelessness is not solved simply by putting a roof over the place they are happy to call home. heads of those in danger of it, authorities and charities point “Giving them a little bit of control over their home is a out. Instead of sleeping on the streets, many people who face small thing for us but a big thing for them,” says Ailidh. homelessness from situations like relationship breakdowns Everyone has the right to a home, and if there are people turn to sofas, floors or strangers. They may resort to living in who don’t have homes, that’s a problem, she explains. cars, unsuitable or overcrowded accommodation or hostels.

But because of the fear of the virus, even these places are no longer an option. So, they have no safe place to call home.

What scared me the most was “They’re often left with no choice but to make impulsive knowing that the world was and potentially dangerous decisions about where to sleep being broken by this nasty virus each night,” Llamau adds. and I was completely alone “Homelessness doesn’t always live on the streets,” states the government campaign. But many people in this situation do not recognise themselves as homeless and are either unaware to ask for help or afraid to do so.

Although the exact number of those affected is unknown, highlighting what hidden homelessness is will bring more SHINING A LIGHT ON WHAT’S HIDDEN people who need help to the forefront.

Hidden homelessness is a large issue becaue of its With help from the government campaign, which officially invisibility. Between August and September, authorities saw starts January 2021, more people will know the signs to be an increase in people needing emergency and temporary able to help prevent hidden homelessness and eliminate it accommodation, many of whom are still on the waiting list. being the only option.

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REASONS YOUNG Rising tensions Financial PEOPLE MAY Rising FACE tensions at home Financial Issues HOMELESSNESS Issues

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Mental health Covid-19 safety Mental health concerns Covid-19 safety issues issues

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