The Hidden Homeless - South Yorkshire people tell us how they cope

As part of our investigation into the hidden homeless in South Yorkshire, people have been telling us how they cope with having nowhere to live by sofa-surfing, camping outside and even sleeping in bins.

Hallam's Chief Reporter Laura Pennington has been out to meet them:

Tony Higgins sleeps rough in Rotherham under a bridge or camping out in some undergrowth.

He said:

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"Even if they walk past my tent they won't see it. You've got to crawl underneath this undergrowth and then it comes up big inside. Pitch a tent, nobody can see it. Walking about at night you see a gap and you think 'ah'. You get in and get your head down.

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"You've got company. You've got rats. They'll show you where the food is. If you use the rats they'll take you to the skips. If you see a skip you wouldn't know if there's any food in it, but then if you see a rat coming out you think 'ah food' because a rat needs food."

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It's as we've been told by numerous charities that there are likely to be many more people surviving like this than official figures suggest.

Emma's also one of those who says she probably doesn't show up in Government stats.

For the last few years she's been sofa-surfing in her ex-partner's home.

She told Hallam:

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"You can't call it your home. Because we used to be in a relationship it's like 'My house. My rules'. Sort of getting kicked out all the time and thinking at 2 or 3 in the morning where am I going to go? Am I going to be on the streets tonight or have a roof over my head?

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"When he's on a down one I get the brunt of it, so it's like 'Right this is my house, get out'. So then I have to get out and think where do I go. Luckily I do have a few people around the corner who will put me up, but I have slept out on the street before. I'm not totally homeless but I would be if he chucked me out."

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The night before we spoke to John, a dad from Barnsley, he'd slept on his sister's kitchen floor with the dogs:

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"If there was any more room I would have had it. So it's blanket on the floor and get cuddled up to the dogs sort of thing. It's an experience. The first pet dog I ever had was a whippet called Toby. And that's stuck with me. Now when I'm lying on the floor with the dogs I always have a joke to myself and it cheers me up. I think 'you're name is Toby!'

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"You just get on with it. It's not forever. I hope it isn't forever. I'm just a person trying to get by."

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All of them told us they'd like to see more support for homeless people, including help settling in to and coping with any accommodation.

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