Simon Community aims to provide a holistic service to our residents - it is not just about accommodation, it is about helping individuals to overcome problems and find their way back from the harrowing experience of homelessness to independence.  Each individual is different and becomes homeless for different reasons.   People who are without a home often experience the following:

• Isolation and a sense of loss.
• Feelings of failure and rejection by others.
• Feelings of powerlessness and low self-esteem.
• Anger at their situation and fears for the future.

Read the experiences of some of our residents, as told by themselves.  Names have been changed to preserve anonymity.

HOUSING & AFFORDABILITY (One Service User's View of Trying to Access Affordable Housing)

Siobhan is 21 year old girl who is living in cluster flats in West Belfast.  She has two sisters who are also currently homeless.  In the interview below she tells us about the difficulty she faces in terms of her housing options for the furture.

1. Can you tell us the background to you/your family becoming homeless?

I moved out of home when I was 17 due to constant arguments caused by stress in our household and moved in with my grandparents.  After about 1 year and a half I moved to England with a friend and lived there for 7 months.  My siblings also had to leave home and lived with my grandparents for a while until they were eventually put in foster care.  When I was 19 I moved back to Belfast and stayed in a women's hostel for 6 months before being offered the flat that I am now living in.  While I was there I decided to go back to school to study for my A-Levels. I have 110 housing points and am aware that I could be waiting a long time before I am offered a house.

2. What factors affect you from getting on to the property ladder?

I am currently studying my A levels at college and I have applied to do a PGCE next year.  I also work part time in a clothes shop in town.  With house prices being so high, buying is not even an option for me.  I can't afford to rent anywhere on my own as rent prices are also high and wouldn't be able to put down a deposit that is usually required when you rent a property.

3.  If you were given the opportunity to advise the Government with regards to housing, what advice would you offer to ease the current problems?

There is simply not enough social housing and so often you see houses boarded up and lying empty for long periods of time.  The housing waiting lists are far too long and it seems that it is those people who are on benefits, or have drug and alcohol probelms are re-housed more quickly than people like me, who are independent, holding down a job and attending full time education.  I also think that there should be some regulations on the amount of houses that are bought by investors as this would allow more houses to be purchased by Housing Associations.

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Christine's story

I've been made homeless twice in the past three years. I used to live in a house with my husband and two kids - they are 10 and 12 years old now. It was an unhappy home. I would secretly drink alcohol to cope with domestic abuse. It took me quite a long while before I acted on advice.

The end result was I left the kids at home with their Dad and left the house. Reassuring my kids was difficult. I remember telling them "Everything is going to work out. Mummy will never really leave you. I am always loving you." I stayed with friends and stayed in a hotel for a night. But I had to find something more secure. I started to look for a hostel.

When walking through Belfast City centre no one would have realised that I was homeless. I had been wearing my good jacket and was asked if I was a social worker at one hostel. I said "no" as I tripped over empty beer tins. I'd been turned away from two different hostels - one hostel in Belfast that has 100 beds was full, and another hostel turned me away because I needed to have had been referred there by phone. I had no money and no-where to go that night. I contacted my husband as a last resort and asked to go back home. Instead he lent me money to stay in a B&B.

A week later I found a lovely house to rent. The court let me have loads of contact with my kids because I told the truth about my alcohol dependency. When the kids visited the house they loved it. I cleaned toilets seven mornings a week to pay the rent. I had lovely neighbours and a kind landlord.

But there were other people who did not want me living there. I came from a different religious background to most people in the area and things were made difficult for me. My front garden was completely torn up and then a flag was stuck in the garden. The landlord said I'd have to leave before a petrol bomb arrived through the window. I knew I had to go. It was a lonely feeling watching as the large van drove off with my bed, dressing table etc. At least there was a carpet still there, so with that and few blankets I slept on the floor. I was homeless again.

Eventually I came to the Simon Community. They were very welcoming and I was given a room. They got me counselling. It really helped me. The tears erupted before the words spilled out. The Simon Community helped me to get the permanent home near the kids and my close family. They still call on me and if I need help all I have to do is call in with their Floating Support service.

I've been back to court a few times to sort out custody of the kids. That has been nerve wreaking. Now the kids stay with me in my new home three nights a week. It has taken time but I feel I've made it. When things got bad I told myself "Never give up". It may not be a castle but my house is a home where there is safety and love.

Recently my son reminded me of what I said, "Everything is going to work out. Mummy will never really leave you. I am always loving you." That was three years and three months ago. "Do you know, I think you were right" he added.

'Christine' is not the writer's real name. She asked to remain anonymous for the sake of her family.

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To the average shopper Janice looks like any other 18 year-old hanging out in the shops. She could be your sister, daughter, niece or grandchild, but while they have been going home to their families, food and a warm bed, Janice has been settling down at night in Belfast City Cemetery.

Janice is not a scrounger, alcoholic or a drug addict and until recently she held down a respectable job and lived with her family. The problem came when a family dispute forced her into homelessness like hundreds of other young people in Belfast.

"People who think there aren't any homeless people in Northern Ireland should go up to the cemetery or any park at night and they'd see plenty," she says. "Nobody wants to become homeless, there was just no way that I could go back home. People think because you're homeless you're a druggie or a hood, but you're not. You're just trying to get on with life without the things other people have to help them do it."

Squatting in a run down flat in West Belfast, Janice managed to continue with her job for a while, but when the squat fell through, so did the job.

"It broke my heart leaving it. I had to give all my bits and pieces to friends to look after and I ended up living on the street. I had nowhere else to go. It was terrible at the time and it was frightening because you don't know whether you're going to wake up the next morning or not. You eat when there's something to eat and wash when you get the chance. You can get used to anything."

As Autumn approached Janice got in touch with the Simon Community hostel on the Falls Road. Janice now works as a school cook and is taking an evening computer class and says her life has completely turned around.

"It was brilliant getting in here and knowing that you had somewhere to stay at night. I've been given support and advice and can plan what I am going to do with my life. Six months ago this would have been a dream. Now I've got a future and I'm looking forward to it."

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"After months of family conflict I finally left home and went to stay with some friends. After a while I felt that I was imposing because I thought that I was constantly in the way, so I left. I phoned my brother for advice and he told me to go to a hostel. The first hostel I went to had no beds, so I got a list of other places and went from there.

"I was accepted by the second hostel I tried and I stayed there for 4 months. My first night there was very scary - I was in a strange place, knew no one and didn't sleep a wink all night. The hostel was mainly full of alcoholics and I didn't feel at all safe. At night you would go to sleep with 5 other men in the dorm and wake up to find 10 more in the room.

"After a while I moved to the Simon Community hostel where I now live. At 25 I finally feel safe and contented. For the first week in the hostel I shared a room and then moved into a room of my own.

"Living in Simon Community has made me more independent as I now have to do everything on my own - things like cooking, cleaning and even budgeting my money. The best thing about being in the hostel is that all the other people are in the same boat (they're all homeless too) and they know what I am going through and can help when I feel down.

"Hopefully within the next year I will have a job and my own place where I can come and go as I please, without really having to answer to anyone. This is my hope for the future."

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"The reasons for me having to move into a hostel are all related to family problems. Our place was overcrowded and there were always arguments. One day I ran into a friend and she helped me look in the Yellow Pages for hostels. I moved into one and lived there for 2 years.

"I will never forget my first night. It was really hard and I was really afraid. The different kinds of people I met were terrifying. I knew that now I was alone and had to cope for myself. There was no one else to look after me any more. I knew that it was up to me, now, to pay the rent and to start buying my personal things - it was really hard.

"At the minute I am pregnant with my first child. I am really looking forward to my baby being born, but I am still living in a hostel, still waiting to be re-housed by the Housing Executive and I only hope that things will change before the birth. Things can get really hard - I have been in and out of hostels for the last 6 years and I honestly wouldn't recommend this life to anyone."

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"I am 22 years old and have been living with the Simon Community for almost 2 years now. Becoming homeless was something that I never really thought about until it happened to me. Up until then I had quite a good life. I was brought up by my grandparents who were really good to me. When I was 17 they both became quite ill and I spent most of my time nursing them. By the time I was 19 they had both, sadly, passed away.

"For me homelessness happened overnight. My grandparents' house was sold and there was no family that I could stay with. I started staying in friends' houses here and there, but I didn't always have somewhere to go. I spent many nights sleeping out on the streets - but you don't really get much sleep. It's quite scary and you can hear everything that's going on around you. I lost loads of weight and became very quiet and nervous. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore so I went to see the Housing Executive who sent me to a Simon Community hostel.

"Since then everything in my life has improved. I was quite sick when I came to the hostel but the staff organised doctor's appointments for me. A counsellor has also been helping me. I have put on some weight and started sleeping properly at night. Having my own bed and my own stuff around me gives me a lot of security. Within the last few months I have moved from the Simon hostel into the Cluster Flat Scheme where I have the luxury of my own flat and the ability to practice living independently again with the safety net of having staff there if I need them. I have a real direction for my life. As well as being part of Simon Peer Education Group, 'Outspoken', I have just got a job and I am in the middle of a computer course.

"I think every young person should know something about homelessness. I was really ignorant of it until it happened to me. It really is a weird thing to be homeless. Everyone's story is different and they are all so sad. It scares me how many people - especially young people - are becoming homeless and how easily it can happen to absolutely anyone."