Northumberland councillor Les Bowman reveals he once slept rough on the streets of London

Coun Les Bowman, who represents the Holywell ward on Northumberland County Council, said he came from a “violent upbringing” and left his native North East for the capital as he felt it was his “only option”.

Coun Bowman was speaking at the recent meeting of the Bedlington, Cramlington and Seaton Valley Local Area Committee, where council officers had been discussing the various safeguards in place which help homeless people and rough sleepers in the county.

Asked whether her team had enough resources to carry out its role, homelessness team manager Vicki Flint said: “The team is really under pressure and our accommodation is very full.

“We’re very reliant on the Homelessness Prevention Grant from the government, which is under review. We’re waiting to see if we’re going to be worse off or better off.

“Normally we get half a million, but if there was a loss in that grant we would be really concerned. Resources are tight, we don’t have a lot but we do fantastic work with what we do have. The team is amazing.”

Labour’s Coun Bowman hit out at the government and explained why the cause was close to his heart.

He said: “If the government does cut its grant, they should be ashamed.

“I myself, at the age of 17, was homeless. I came from a violent upbringing and I left the North East to go to London.

“I lived at Euston Station and worked at the Dorchester. I fed millionaires and I was sleeping rough.

“It is a situation I would not wish on anybody. It wasn’t a situation I wanted, but there was no alternative. It is a situation I see day in day out with residents.

“There should be a policy in this country where one of your rights is to have a home. I would like to see that day come.”

The government’s Homelessness Prevention Grant provided £315.8 million in funding to local authorities in 2022/23. However, it is currently consulting on the approach to funding arrangements and conditions for the grant for 2023/24 onwards.

A statement from the government explained: “We want to make sure that funding is allocated fairly to authorities based on current homelessness pressures. We also want to improve government’s understanding of how the grant is being spent.”

It was stressed during the meeting that rough sleeping in particular is not a significant problem in Northumberland. The council’s homelessness service prevented a total of 398 people from becoming homeless in 2021/22, while 258 were relieved from being homeless within 56 days.

Last week, when the same report was presented to the Castle Morpeth Local Area Committee, Coun Mary Murphy called for more to be done to protect victims of domestic violence and their children from homelessness after the report showed the main reason for homelessness in Northumberland “remains consistently domestic violence”.

She said: “It shows us that the victims and children are made homeless. Children often lose their school and face disruption to their health and learning.

“We have policy around removing perpetrators. I would like to see that figure fully in reverse and leave victims and children in their own homes, and make perpetrators homeless.”