True life tales of the hardship faced by the homeless on the streets of Sheffield

The Cathedral Archer Project (CAP) this week revealed the first of four films, made by social enterprise Homeless Stories.

The film tells the story of Chris Lynam in his own words. He talks about his abusive childhood and how this set him on the road of drug and alcohol addiction and following a time in the army and finding himself homeless of the horrific effects of ‘gas lighting’.

He said: “When you are homeless you don’t exist - you are invisible.”

When he was introduced to CAP he had lost all contact with family and friends. He said: “My assessor genuinely cared, and that was life changing to have someone to care for and trust me.”

Chris discovered a passion for writing and now he says: “I pour all my pain and all my trauma into my writing.”

In the last five years he has turned his life around - is clean, sober, has a home, married to the woman of ‘his dreams’ and has a one-year-old son.

The other three films include Danielle’s story talking about her journey and experiences of being a woman who has been homeless - how she has also managed to rebuild her life, and now volunteers at the project.

She said: “I thought I was useless, but where I first was to now is a massive difference.”

Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales has funded the project and Tim Renshaw, chief executive of CAP, said: “We cannot thank Homeless Stories and Lloyds Bank Foundation enough for giving us the opportunity to make these films. It is so much more meaningful to hear the stories in their own words from the people we help.

"We have been so impressed and humbled by the open and candid way Chris and Danielle have shared their experiences in order to help others and increase understanding of what homelessness really means. Also it reinforces the fact that we are talking about individuals and that every single person that comes our way deserves our support.”

He added: “The public have been very supportive to the project during the pandemic.”

To see Chris’ film visit https://youtu.be/L4TZEDSfuy4