Supporting J

One of our advocates in Oldham recently got in touch with us about a particularly tragic set of circumstances. As per our policy, the advocate has posted 3 separate requests on behalf of the man in need, J. We'd love you to support J in addressing his housing needs. We have included J's story below and some pictures of his current living conditions (these are quite upsetting, but the reality of the living conditions of many of our recipients).

"J has suffered for most of his life, he has been in and out of care homes, becoming dependant on drugs and alcohol at an early age and subsequently spent a significant part of his adult life in prison, and then on the streets. He has mental health issues including schizophrenia, paranoia and has suicidal thoughts. Due to the pandemic his support network has collapsed, his family have turned their backs on him and he is effectively living in squalor.
Housing has threatened to evict him unless his living conditions improve, although hopefully now our church is involved it won’t come to that. He is now a regular attendee at our twice weekly support evening. He openly says he wants to change his life as he himself feels that doesn’t have many chances left. He needs a skip, furniture, including a bed, bedroom furniture including a wardrobe, and a cooker. The flat also needs a very deep clean.
The church will provide all necessary labour and source the furniture for him. J has given permission to include the photos of his living conditions inserted at the end to this document, but not his bedroom, where he is sleeping on the floor."

Requests:
1)A mini skip: "J is a man who has been missed by the system and all his support work has stopped due to Covid. He needs a skip so that the cleaning and painting can begin, making his flat a home again. Church are helping with cars to move some items, but larger furniture and rubbish needs to go in a skip. J has major depression and is trying to start afresh."

2)A bed, bedding and wardrobe:"J has suffered without support for a long time due to Covid and is desperate to have one last chance, but has no family to help him. He suffers with his mental health and is living in very squalid conditions which is making him more suicidal. Can you help us to provide him with a bed, bedding and a wardrobe?"

3) An electric cooker: "J has extremely severe mental health, due to Covid when his support was taken away. He is living basically in squalid living circumstances and has suffered suicidal thoughts due to depression. He has absolutely no support, except from church and volunteers, who try to help him. He has asked for help from other charities but they are overwhelmed with requests."