John's Story

No matter how bad things were at his home, or how difficult it was for John to keep up with his friends in the latest fashions in clothes and footwear, he had something which all his mates looked up to and respected him for – he was the star of the football team.

This gave him a standing among his friends and schoolmates which allowed him to walk tall and face the world with confidence.

And then, through no fault of his, his family life was completely shattered when his parents became homeless. As luck would have it, John’s family ended up living in emergency accommodation a long, long way away from their original home.

Despite this, John tried his level best to continue to turn up for training and football matches, but, in the end, it was all just too far away and they could no longer depend on him.

Part of the isolation and the misery of what it’s like for a child to be homeless and living away from their friends and schoolmates is captured in John’s own words when he says ... ‘they took my place on the football team away from me.’

The moment families become homeless... the first victims are always the children.