JOHN PUZEY has been director of Shelter Cymru for 30 years. And he’s delighted that the Homeless World Cup event has come to Cardiff: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to raise the issue, and especially the fact that it isn’t only street homelessness. There are families with children, for example, who have no decent home.”

He’s concerned about the current climate, which he dubs “a very hostile environment.”

Not only are there attacks on people sleeping out, but trendy projects such as “diverted giving schemes” are designed to stop passers-by from giving money to individuals. Organisations, more often than not funded by retail companies in city centres, pledge to support those in need.

“I’m not sure how much of that really does reach those in real need,” he says.

“What we’re seeing is a lot of negative messaging — this ‘othering’ of people on the street, and I do think there is a link between that and the hostile attitudes to people who are homeless.”

Puzey is pleased to see the issue covered by the media, but is well aware that there’s a lot of political will and hard work needed to tackle the problem seriously.

“People with complex needs need ‘housing first’ [hence the initiative by the same name]; they need a home. Then, you pile in all the support they need.”

He recalls a time when “the traditional approach was that someone had to somehow ‘earn’ their tenancy,” when that invariably meant stays in hostels, or perhaps mental health units, as if demonstrating some spiral of desperate need. “Thankfully, we’ve reversed that with the ‘Rapid Rehousing’ approach.” 

I can’t help but think of our “neighbour” John, who lived at a bus stop in Hampton Hill, eschewing charities’ offers of emergency hostel places, holding for out for a proper roof over his head, for the security and privacy that we all crave. He got a flat, but not before he’d been in that little bus shelter for close to two years.

The mechanisms to get to grips with homelessness are there, says Puzey, “but it all needs to be scaled up!”

He wants to see more and better links between existing facilities such as hostels, and the “Housing First” work. 

What about this question of self-esteem? What can events such as a football tournament do for individuals who’ve been through such a lot?

“That’s a difficult one. We did a piece of research last year where we talked with 100 people on the streets. The truth is that, if you’ve been through some traumatic situations, then people often blame themselves. But when we looked at what had happened to them — benefits cut and so on, we said: ‘Really? Was that really ALL your fault’?”

With three decades at the helm of a major homelessness charity in Wales, Puzey has a firm view of what politicians need to step up and do, and we can all help. 

“We should have a much more humanitarian and compassionate view. There is nothing inevitable about homelessness, and there are answers.”