Graham with the staff at Shelter Scotland's Blantyre office.
HOMELESSNESS is one of the great issues of our time.
In Scotland, one family every 19 minutes presents as homeless. That’s a staggering statistic that should shame a so-called progressive country.
Imagine if you didn’t know where you were going to sleep night after night.
Imagine if you had nowhere to sleep, if you ended up finding a spot under a bridge or on a park bench, or in a doorway.
Or if you were in temporary accommodation with no idea when you might get a place of your own.
This is the reality for tens of thousands of people in Scotland.
It’s impossible for most of us to imagine the reality of life for those people but it’s going on everywhere.
I live in a nice part of East Kilbride but as I sleep in my comfortable bed in my nice family home, just down the road there are people who aren’t so lucky and I’ve been meeting some of them.
I’ve been working with the charity Shelter Scotland, among others, to find out what life is like for those less fortunate than me.
The answer is, it’s pretty grim.
Shelter Scotland’s project in South Lanarkshire is contracted by the Council to work with some of the most challenging cases.
Working out of a nondescript office in Blantyre a team of dedicated staff cover the whole of this large county.
Recently, I accompanied support worker Janice (I won’t give her surname) on a visit to client Jim (not his real name).
Jim’s living in a temporary flat with his two children and he has been there for nearly a year. Nearly a year, not knowing where he will eventually end up.
He split from his wife due to her addiction to alcohol. This is becoming more commonplace as I discovered on a visit to a family contact centre in East Kilbride where estranged parents bring their kids to meet their mum or dad.
Jim was stabbed on a bus and suffered mental health issues as a result. He is lucky to be alive. Then he was stabbed again by someone else.
Talk about bad luck.
He is a proud dad who wants stability for his children.
His day consists of taking them to school and getting ready for them coming back.
I asked him if he was thinking ahead to what he might do when he gets a permanent tenancy but Janice told me that they take things step by step.
When you’ve been through what Jim has then that makes sense.
Janice helps by dealing with the council’s housing department and any other agencies.
I was impressed by how Jim is coping. He keeps his flat – which is in a fairly rundown area – spotless.
But he was having a good day when I was there. They are not all like that.
His experience has actually been pretty good and maybe that’s because he is in South Lanarkshire, which has a reputation for dealing with homelessness effectively.
I was honoured to spend time with him.
It’s quite something to let an MSP into your life, albeit briefly. I hope things work out for him.
With Shelter Scotland’s help, he has a reasonable chance.