A drama documentary produced by Swing Bridge Video about youth homelessness in the region. The film dramatizes the story of three individuals who are all on the street for different reasons and what happens to them over an eighteen-month period. These dramatic sequences are inter-cut with interviews with real young people who talk in detail about their own experiences. This film features a young Anthony McPartlin shortly after he left the BBC children’s drama Byker Grove. Title: Mean...

A drama documentary produced by Swing Bridge Video about youth homelessness in the region. The film dramatizes the story of three individuals who are all on the street for different reasons and what happens to them over an eighteen-month period. These dramatic sequences are inter-cut with interviews with real young people who talk in detail about their own experiences. This film features a young Anthony McPartlin shortly after he left the BBC children’s drama Byker Grove. Title: Mean Streets Sitting in a sofa a young woman talks about her imagined life before being made homeless with ideas of having a secure home and a family. A series of black and white images follows of the homeless sleeping on the streets and begging. An aerial view looking down onto a housing estate in Newcastle. Credit: Written by Steve Chambers. Produced and directed by Sarah McCarthy. Assisted by Ian Jeffries A ‘Cityworks’ garbage truck drives turn into a street where dustbin men empty bins of rubbish into the back. A row of 1960s terraced houses, the camera focusing on the windows of one of the properties. Inside the first in a series of dramatic sequences begins with a young woman, Loraine, opening her bedroom curtains and looks outside. Beside her laying on their beds three small children. She leaves the bedroom heading downstairs before putting on her coat and leaving walking across the estate towards a series of tower-blocks in the distance. Title: Homeless women have fewer options than homeless men – there are less hostel places Title: Young people from ethnic minorities are even more likely to become homeless because of discrimination Title: Young lesbian and gays also face discrimination Title: There aren’t enough hostels large numbers of young people are turned away A second fictional character is introduced, a young black woman called Gail. In the family kitchen she is sexually harassed by her stepfather. Her mother appears and an argument begins and ending with Gail being forced to leave. As she walks away along the street, she counts what little money she has in her pockets. Title: Overcrowding, poverty, family arguments and sexual abuse all lead young people to leave home Title: For the estimated ten thousand aged 16 and 17 who leave care every year, returning home is not an option A third male character is introduced, Philip who lives in a care home. He is introduced packing a rucksack with his clothes as he plans to run away. A man knocks at his locked bedroom door wanting to talk. After he leaves Philip puts on shoes, grabs the rest of his gear, and departs the house jumping over a wall and racing across the estate watched from the window by the man. Arriving at a busy road Philip sort his gear and puts on a pair of trousers before flagging down a car, gets in and is driven away. Title: Despite aftercare support, 40% of young people who leave care end up homeless Six young people, including the woman seen at the start of the film, explain the reasons why they all became homeless with some of them talking about their experiences of sleeping on the street or finding support and accommodation in a hostel. Title: For 16- and 17-year-olds access to benefits is complicated – six different agencies may have to be visited A young woman walks into a hostel, across the road Philip standing beside a second teenage boy. Six young people talk about the problems dealing with various government or council agencies. One South Asian man believes the government thinks young people are a ‘menace to society’. In a council office Gail tries to explain to a male Housing Officer her circumstance and why she can’t go back home. She isn’t comfortable explaining the true reason for her homelessness, so he is unwilling to help her. She is unaware that she can ask for a female housing officer. Title: Homeless single people have no right to council housing unless they are considered vulnerable or in priority need In another office Loraine is told that being under 18 she can’t be given a council tenancy without a guarantor. Again, she attempts to explain her circumstances to a male housing officer who isn’t very sympathetic. Title: Pregnant women under 18 are only entitled to income support for the last eleven weeks of pregnancy Back in the other office Gail is told she made herself ‘intentionally homeless’ and her only option is to go home. She storms out of the office throwing his papers over the floor. She comes out of Groat House onto the Bigg Market and passes Philip now standing with two friends beside the Victorian public toilets. The young woman seen at the start of the film states that she didn’t consider herself to be homeless as she was staying with friends. Three other young people, including the South Asian man, talk about their experience staying in a hostel. Philip and his two friends come along a street of derelict houses onto a piece of waste ground near to a railway bridge and erect a tent. As his friends leave, Philip goes inside for the night. Four young people talk about their experiences of trying to find a flat or bedsits. Some explain why this type of accommodation isn’t suitable including a young woman with a child. In a high-rise flat Loraine gets ready to go to sleep of a sofa, four young people talk about their experience of staying with friends: sofa-surfing. From a room in a hostel, Gail looks out of her window at sounds of men laughing. She retreats into a corner in fear. A young mother talks about her experience of squatting with her young children. In the evening Philip returns to his tent, in the near distance traffic crossing the Scotswood Bridge. Inside his tent he eats a couple of bread rolls. A young man talks about his experiences of homelessness, a 16-year-old girl talks about attempts to get a flat for herself. The next day Philip sneaks into a local sports centre. Title: Very many 18’s who leave home without support end up living a nomadic existence – sleeping on friends’ floors, staying with relatives, in hostels or other types of temporary housing In the changing room Philp strips and takes a shower changing to the now heavily pregnant Loraine arrives at a clinic where she is greeted at the door by a friendly woman. A 19-year-old young woman talks about her own pregnancy. At a busy roundabout leading onto the motorway Gail waits for someone to offer her a lift to Scotland. Eventually a car pulls up and she gets in and is driven away. In a Kwik Save supermarket Philip buys a pint of milk. As he leaves, he is stopped by two policemen who after seeing inside his rucksack arrest him for shoplifting. He is led away. Title: Citizens Advise bureaux have lists of local agencies who will help young people – if you are desperate, Samaritans have confidential help-line numbers for abuse victims and addresses of agencies for further support Title: End of part one [Blank] Title: Mean Streets part two A police cell door is closed and locked, sitting inside Philip. At a clinic Lorraine sits with her new-born child, another young mother and baby sits beside her. At another council office Gail speaks with a woman behind a barrier. The woman refuses to help her and so Gail walks away in frustration. In a doctor’s surgery Loraine with her baby speaking with a female doctor who is making notes. A young mother talks about her experiences of dealing with the benefits office following the birth of her two children. In a different office Gail sits looking bored and frustrated. Several young people talk about the issues they’ve had with either hotel or flat living. Many talk about being broken into while other talks about issues of violence. Title: Six months later Loraine and her friends happily go window shopping inside the Monument Mall at Newcastle. They come outside into the rain and pass an Evening Chronicle newspaper seller beside the steps leading down to Monument Metro station; his headline ‘North Crime Wave Horror”. From her room in a bail hostel Gail looks outside before returning to a book she is reading. Outside the Westmoreland Road Men's Hostel Philip stands in a queue alongside other homeless men. Title: Where can young people live? The options are limited – private rent accommodation is expensive, buying is out for most, council house waiting lists are long and not geared to young people's needs. Two young men break into the downstairs flat where Loraine is now living by jimmying open a window. They climb inside and the sound of the property being ransacking. Philip comes out of Westmoreland Road Men's Hostel changing to him walking along a cobbled street overlooking the High Level and Tyne bridges towards where a charity bus proving hot food for the homeless is parked. He climbs onboard with other homeless , including some of the young people featuring in this film being interviewed. Bowls of soup with bread are served. Back in the bail hostel Gail explains to another woman what has happened to her in the past six months, about being arrested for possession and why she is now back in Newcastle. She lights a cigarette and heads into the kitchen. Back on the bus Philip starts chatting with a support worker about where he has been the past six months. Loraine and her mother come home to her flat with the baby to find it has been ransacked. Six young people talk about their experiences of having their own flat, issues of crime, loneliness and lack of money are discussed. Title: Always get advice before signing any agreement or contracts – beware of sharing tenancy agreements – you may be liable for the other person’s rent arrears! On board the charity coach Philip says that without access to any benefits he’s turned to begging and stealing. The man says that as someone from care he does have rights. Back in her accommodation Gail makes a cup of coffee for herself and the woman she is chatting to. She is told if she will need to leave the hostel if she isn’t sent to prison. Loraine, now living with her mother, is given a bill by the council for repairs to the flat following the break-in. Her mother tells her that her baby will have to stay with her until Loraine has sorted new accommodation out. Again, the experiences of the films participants about living on their own or as a couple while under the age of 25. Title: Twelve months later In her room at the West Parade Hotel Loraine brushes her hair before sitting on her bed looking sadly at a photograph of her and her daughter. She turns to the camera and provides details of what has happened to her in the past year and her dream of one day living in her own home with her daughter. A young woman asks why there are so many empty flats and home while a young man is critical of the then Conservative government's response to issues of homelessness. Philip takes the camera on a tour of the shared accommodation he now lives at. He complains about the lack of training places for him to become a mechanic. A young man comments that if councils built more houses, it would get people of the street and thus reduce crime. In the bedroom of her shared accommodation Gail lights a cigarette and talks to camera about being in college and hope for the future. In a local job centre two young people look over boards of Youth Training Opportunities placements, nearby three others sit in chair waiting. One of them is Gail, behind her looking at the opportunities is Philip. Title: Get help and get advice. You can’t survive alone Title: Don’t go for interviews with benefits agencies, housing depts or other official agencies on your own The aerial of a housing estate seen at the start of the film Title: Further information in the pack Title: We would like to thank all those young people who helped us to make this programme and the agencies who gave their support Title: Crew Credit: Drama camera Paul Otter Assistant O’Neil E.A. Johnson Sound Jane Barnett Costume and props Bessie Williams Offline editor Sarah McCarthy Online editor John Kyle Music composed by Trevor Sewell Female vocals Irene Hume Researched by Ian Jefferies and Sarah McCarthy Title: Cast Credit: Philip Anthony McPartlin Loraine Sharen Percy Gail Amanda Webster Gail’s stepfather Trevor Laird Gail’s mother Kay Purcell Loraine’s mother Judy Earl Housing Officer Colin MacLachlan Housing Officer Mark Lloyd Coach worker Donald McBride Care worker Bill Speed Policeman Phil Hayes Credit: Also appearing George Butler, Alan Edge, Alison Daglish, Lizzie Thynne and Natasha Title: Funded by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Northern Arts, The Percy Bilton Charity, Northumberland Village Home Trust, Francis C Scott Charitable Trust, RW Mann Trustees, Hadrian Trust, Continuation Charitable Trust Credit: © Swingbridge Video 1994 End Credit: Swing Bridge Video