But 12 weeks later, and in receipt of what is effectively an eviction notice from Fenland Council, Alan is homeless. Government funding will no longer pay for his stay at the hotel and he’s on his own.
“Nobody came to see me, no food parcels, no one gave me anything,” says Alan. “Then suddenly the hotel manager tells me he’s had a letter from the council kicking me out.”
50 Backpacks Vision co-ordinator Simon Spike Crowson
- Credit: Supplied
Spike tells me he can find – indeed guarantee – Alan a flat the following week but that is then, this is now. If Alan is homeless, even for five days, he is of no fixed abode and subject to recall to prison.