After 30 years in the fire service, Nobby Clarke, 62, now helps feed people in need as well as help run an emergency night shelter in Coventry. He tells Maryam Qaiser how people are struggling to pay their rent.
When I retired I got roped into helping with the city’s night shelter in 2013 and 2014. The shelters were run through the churches. Back then there were a lot less people on the streets, there were about 20 odd people, but as time has gone on there has been an increase in people.
The problem we have is that people can’t sustain accommodation, people will work, they have jobs but they do not sustain their accommodation because they are not working enough hours which means they don’t get enough money to survive on. This then has an affect on how much Universal Credit they are owed that month.
The other problem we have is private landlords do not take people who are in receipt of Universal Credit because of the risk of sanctions, they want people with guaranteed income which you don’t always get when you are on benefits.
There is also a shortage of affordable accommodation and social housing here in Coventry. It is just a circle going round and round.
I run a food kitchen at Langar Aid House on Saturdays and I help run the night shelter from the base when the temperatures drop. We take around 25 people at a time for the night shelter, but we take those in that we know haven’t been offered a night shelter place anywhere else in the city.
They can come here for food, a shower and there is a trolley full of second-hand clothes which people can help themselves too.
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