Could you go five days with living only on a single pound per day? Jessica Moorhouse investigates.

This month I was challenged by The Global Poverty Project to live off the diminutive sum of one pound a day, for five – full to the brim with deadlines – working days. Now, I’m never one to turn down a challenge but the thought of living off something as meagre as this, in London of all places, seemed ludicrous. However, for 1.4 billion people worldwide (Londoners n’all) this is a stark reality. If I were to accept this challenge, then I would be placing myself in the footsteps of what the World Bank defines as ‘extreme poverty.’ But then again, living off a fiver won’t exactly be hard will it? And besides, it’s only five days.

On average I spend around £30 a week on the ‘essential’ foods, you know: bread, yoghurt, cereal, vegetables and meat. Although I still like to indulge on simple things such as the occasional Pret sandwich, Costa Coffee latte and then I have to set money aside for my tube fees, of course. That adds up to approximately £60 a week, which seems perfectly acceptable in the context of my life; that is however, until I attempt my first food shop. Pounding the aisles of Sainsbury’s I’m surprised to learn how outrageously expensive food is. I never gave buying free range eggs a second thought because I was being altruistic, by putting the vulnerability of another animal before myself; yet I still walked past the homeless man sat outside without even offering a glance. Oh how the tables have turned, now as I fly past my usual options and jot down the prices of each value item meticulously, I silently think to myself ‘how on earth am I going to make a single fiver last me all week?’ The answer comes in the form of the basics, super noodles, cous cous, baked beans and tinned tomatoes (my only 5 a day) and the luxury item is a bag of bread. On arrival back at the flat, I’m only one hour into the 120 I have left to go and I’ve already began to realise how hard this way of life is; I curse myself for thinking this was going to be easy.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of ‘homeless’ is someone who is ‘without a home and therefore typically living on the street’. Informative as this is, it fails to mention the stereotypical prejudices that go along with it. To gain a better understanding of these I spoke to Ceriann Tunnah, a substance misuse officer for Conway and Derbyshire Community and Safety Partnership. ‘The definition should be based around whether someone feels as if they have somewhere safe and secure to return to each day, somewhere you feel as if it’s your own’. This is why Ceriann’s company commissions services for ARC Communities, an open-door drop in centre, where the homeless can gain the invaluable help and support they desperately need. There are facilities such as the use of a toilet, a hot shower and washing machines, all the things I perceived as life’s givens. ‘Being able to wash means a lot to someone who is homeless because when you can’t wash, that’s when you begin to look like the stereotypical shaggy homeless person, and they also end up being treated worse by the local community’. Later on I am appalled but more disappointed to learn the cruelty of what society throws at the most vulnerable, things like being beaten up, spat on and name called, just for having the wrong appearance. ‘The stereotypical view is that being homeless is your own fault. Often people don’t know the story of why someone has lost their home and believe they caused it themselves’, however I still do not think this justifies the foul behaviour our society hurls at them.

As I approach the third day of my journey, I’m feeling absolutely drained, ratty, unable to concentrate, and to top it off my feet are riddled with blisters because I can’t afford public transport. The solution to this, provided by The British Dietetic Association is to eat more glucose. Apparently it provides the essential fuels needed to stimulate the brain. I’m unable to do this however, because I am bankrupt due to my idiotic food choices three days ago. Quite frankly, I am poorer than a church mouse. My journey has also made me increasingly aware of the homeless bodies that amass the streets of Camden each day. Now, as I feel closer than ever to the man begging outside my local Sainsbury’s, I watch as people swerve to avoid him as if he’s the sole carrier of the plague. But what cuts me the most is the pitiful smile people offer him, and the added layer of humiliation that he must feel, ‘you are seen as the lowest of the low’ explains Ceriann despondently.

I wanted to learn more about why the term homelessness generates such bad press, I am beginning to feel that it is misunderstood due to the negative messages that are being passed down to us from generation to generation which we have allowed to shape us unwittingly. According to the statistical releases from the DCLG Statutory Homelessness England, ‘homelessness both causes and is caused by many other aspects of poverty and social exclusion, including financial problems, lack of work and deterioration in mental and physical health.’ In agreement to this Amanda Allmark, a drugs and alcohol practitioner with ESPAS, explains how ‘nine times out of ten the person I will encounter has suffered from serious abuse in their life, and for whatever reason they’ve not been able to deal with it…so they get into a pattern of life where drugs and alcohol they use means they don’t have to think about the pain they have suffered’.  For this reason, Amanda broaches her clients problems holistically, hoping to cure their internal scars before the outside wounds can be healed. This method is known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming whereby it focuses on the values and beliefs of a person. Amanda’s aim is to break the patterns of behaviour learnt on the street by turning the negatives into positives. It is a method she feels very passionately about but unfortunately this technique is often overlooked by recruiting companies. She tells me ‘it’s difficult for this to work because some places are not that concerned about who they employ; there seems to be a sort of clinical way of working with the vulnerable. But this shouldn’t be allowed because the same treatment plan won’t work for every person.’

I’m now drawing to the end of the fourth day of my journey and I’m excited at the prospect of it being over. This week has been miserable; although I am aware how significantly harder this journey would have been if I had been without the comfort and safety of my own home along with the wholesome support of my family. To be honest, I don’t think I would have taken up the challenge if I had to sleep rough, even if it was just for one night. It is something I feel angst with guilt about but the truth of it all is I know I am not alone in this decision. ‘Living on the streets is tough and one of the things that softens the experience is by taking drugs and alcohol. Heroin for example, is like a blanket. It’s a big snugly blanket, and if you think of being street bound and homeless amongst the horrible weather, you can see why someone would meet with a drug like that because it takes all the pain away.’ Drugs are one of the reasons why people choose not to give their money away to the homeless, feeling that it will only fuel their drug habit which in turn prevents them exercising their kind nature.

However, there are other ways to tackle homelessness; first of all ‘we need to think very differently about the homeless and see them as people not drug addicts’. Interestingly enough, Amanda explains how at a needle exchange programme she worked for, wealthy men addicted to the gym and steroids would come to them for fresh needles. They would make the valid point of excusing their behaviour for something that is completely different and less degrading than the crack addicts at either side of them. ‘Of course they were no different to anyone else’, says Amanda ‘they were still pumping something in their body to make themselves feel better’. Even so, often homelessness is not the only issue and therefore donating to a charity will make a world of difference. ‘We have a stereotypical homeless man who is a very well known individual in the community, someone gave him a flat to live in out of the kindness of their heart, but even then he couldn’t be helped because he needed support to go along with it.  He just wasn’t equipped to know how to live on his own… our services are equipped to help them in the right way’ explains Ceriann. Obviously, there is the hesitation of ‘where does my money go to’ because unfortunately in a lot of cases, the money donated is poured into administration fees and scarcely makes it to the deserving person. This is why laudable charities such as Street Smart were born. It describes itself as ‘an innovative, easy fundraising scheme which works during the holiday months when people begin to think about those less fortunate than themselves’. All they ask is that you donate a minimum of a pound at the end of the bill and they will do the rest. It works by using electronic tills which record donations therefore administration is minimal. Most importantly Deutsche Bank, the leading global investment bank, pays StreetSmart’s admin costs for the London campaign, so every penny raised in the capital is spent on the homeless.

Thankfully, I have made it to the end of my journey. Although I’m 5 pounds lighter, my skin is a shade of grey and people now approach me with caution, I made it. By doing this, I have learnt how we are a society where poverty and the privileged have become secret neighbours yet we act as if no man’s land leaves them miles apart. Although I am not proud to admit it, before this week I would look at the homeless in pity and even felt threatened at times, but I am only human and it is in our nature to judge. I doubt we will solve the problems of homelessness and poverty in the near future but hopefully we can abolish our prejudices. The vulnerable men and women who are forced to demean themselves day in day out for the sake of making it through another day are not the problem. We are, and our approach towards them is what needs to change.