Middle-class homelessness in city of lofty spires
Source: Agencies |
November 24, 2011, Thursday
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AT the meeting of the paths crossing Parker's Piece green in Cambridge stands an iron lamppost with the words "Reality Checkpoint" scratched in its paint.
Students and residents of the English university town gave it the nickname because it marks the boundary between two parallel worlds: the well-kept courtyards of the colleges and the ordinary town that surrounds it.
Near the lamppost is a picturesque pavilion, with the lofty spires of university colleges visible in the distance.
But a few strides east is Jimmy's night shelter, where every night a line of people queues in the hope of getting a bed for the night.
Paul Leonard, 47, had a career running the kitchens of gourmet restaurants. But when he was suddenly made redundant in 2008, within a month Leonard found himself joining the queue for Jimmy's.
"It can happen to anyone. It happened to me," he said. "I had a good job, my own place, a lovely car. My daughter wanted for nothing. I didn't have to worry about expense.
"From that to nothing. Weeks from having your own place, to sitting on a park bench."
A Cambridge native, Leonard was familiar with the sight of the shabby queue that formed outside Jimmy's night shelter - but he never thought he'd be joining it himself.
"It was initially a frightening experience, walking down those steps," he said. "You're walking down to rock bottom. There aren't any steps left to go down."
Leonard is part of a new trend that housing charities are calling middle-class homelessness. Professionals from well-paid jobs, without addictions or other problems traditionally linked with homelessness, were once practically unknown at Cambridge homeless charity Cyrenians.
But in the last year, this group has ballooned to 10 percent of the people they see, according to manager Brian Holman.
Holman thinks the fallout from the recession of 2008 is finally beginning to be felt as safety nets such as friends, family and savings begin to fall through.
"This is affecting a new group that wouldn't have been affected in the past," Holman said.
Students and residents of the English university town gave it the nickname because it marks the boundary between two parallel worlds: the well-kept courtyards of the colleges and the ordinary town that surrounds it.
Near the lamppost is a picturesque pavilion, with the lofty spires of university colleges visible in the distance.
But a few strides east is Jimmy's night shelter, where every night a line of people queues in the hope of getting a bed for the night.
Paul Leonard, 47, had a career running the kitchens of gourmet restaurants. But when he was suddenly made redundant in 2008, within a month Leonard found himself joining the queue for Jimmy's.
"It can happen to anyone. It happened to me," he said. "I had a good job, my own place, a lovely car. My daughter wanted for nothing. I didn't have to worry about expense.
"From that to nothing. Weeks from having your own place, to sitting on a park bench."
A Cambridge native, Leonard was familiar with the sight of the shabby queue that formed outside Jimmy's night shelter - but he never thought he'd be joining it himself.
"It was initially a frightening experience, walking down those steps," he said. "You're walking down to rock bottom. There aren't any steps left to go down."
Leonard is part of a new trend that housing charities are calling middle-class homelessness. Professionals from well-paid jobs, without addictions or other problems traditionally linked with homelessness, were once practically unknown at Cambridge homeless charity Cyrenians.
But in the last year, this group has ballooned to 10 percent of the people they see, according to manager Brian Holman.
Holman thinks the fallout from the recession of 2008 is finally beginning to be felt as safety nets such as friends, family and savings begin to fall through.
"This is affecting a new group that wouldn't have been affected in the past," Holman said.
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