Landscape character

Data presented earlier reveal that contemporary homeless landscapes resist

documentation using traditional mapping techniques. Reasons for this include that to be homeless is to be theoretically ‘placeless’ and the transient and impermanent nature of homelessness renders maps of bounded entities a difficult and erroneous task. In this way, homelessness may be seen to share landscape features with indigenous world views which tend to question the possibility of land ‘ownership’

central to the capitalist ideology. The definition of landscape according to the

European Landscape Convention is helpful because it allows for the consideration of areas of each city which can be characterised by their uses and perceived functions according to different perspectives and include intangible as well as tangible aspects.

What follows is a presentation of data according to human needs and social activities. I present themes in order of priority as relayed to me by colleagues with whom I worked.

5.9a Sleeping

Homeless people, as data reveal, are able to disguise the fact they are homeless during the day (for example, spending time in the library, by the river or in the park).

Some colleagues chose to sleep in public areas (for example, York railway station and Bristol bus station) because it afforded them a sense of security (for example, public areas tend to be monitored by CCTV or security guards). In all but one case (Noel in York) colleagues reported that sleeping in stations is now almost impossible because these ‘public’ spaces are now private and those working for (private)

train/bus companies move homeless people on. The majority of colleagues in both cities therefore opted to stake out places they could ‘skip’ (sleep rough) or ‘doss’

which were away from public view and where they felt they had an element of privacy. As sleeping places tend to be changeable colleagues tended not to feel the need to spend time or work close to sleeping places because these places do not function as ‘home’ as defined earlier in Chapter Two. That is, a fundamental aspect of ‘home’ being the act of returning regularly. This was significantly absent from

sleeping places I encountered with colleagues from both cities. Colleagues tended to have several places they used regularly but few people had one place to which they would return every night with the exception of Andrew’s place by the river. Sleeping places tend to be located on the outskirts of the city centre, outside the city walls of York and away from the city centre of Bristol.

5.9b Eating

Colleagues repeatedly told me that obtaining food for free is relatively easy in Bristol making it a more attractive place to be homeless. Many colleagues became homeless in other towns and cities (for example, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Shipley, Birmingham, London, Southampton, Swindon, Chippenham and Plymouth).

Free food was obtained during every day of fieldwork with colleagues. In Bristol, the three main ways that food was obtained for free were: 1) non-homeless people giving food to homeless people usually when colleagues were begging 2) through a process of food donation usually as part of services run by church groups and 3) through ‘skipping’ (looking for food in bins). In York, where most people were also residents of Arc Light homeless centre colleagues returned to Arc Light for lunch and supper where these meals are given to residents as part of their residential package. In some instances, colleagues ‘skipped’ for food in bins or went to ‘Care Bears’ (Carecent, St Saviourgate) where breakfast is served daily. It is of note that Bristol based colleagues often reported not eating for days at a time despite free food being widely available. The reasons given for this were that addiction to drugs and alcohol greatly suppresses the appetite as do pharmaceutical drugs prescribed for conditions such as anxiety and depression. In each case, knowing where food could be obtained for free and on which days shaped the routes colleagues took through the city on given days.

5.9d ‘Using’ (drugs/alcohol)

Everyone with whom I conducted fieldwork had experienced addiction or was currently addicted to alcohol or drugs. Several colleagues had been diagnosed with some form of mental health problem, where depression, bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia were most common. All colleagues were taking regular prescription

medication of which benzodiazepine or diazepam (anti-anxiety or sleep inducing), tramadol (pain reliever or treatment of liver problems), clozapine, risperidone and phenothiazines (anti-psychotics) and methadone (synthetic opioid) were most common. Of those colleagues who used heroin, the drug cycle penetrated every aspect of their perception of landscape - the need to find money and buy drugs over-riding all other commitments and interests. As Andrew put it, ‘the whole routine becomes addictive. It’s a continual battle to get money. And it don’t matter how much you’ve got because you’ll always want more.’ Those colleagues addicted to alcohol identified with areas of each city where their particular brand of drink was available for the lowest price and data reveal that availability of favourite brands determined routes through the city. ‘We used to be able to buy white cider en route to our place by the river but they stopped selling it’, Dan said, explaining why he now routinely detoured to a shop that continues to sell white cider.

For most colleagues in receipt of prescription drugs the location of the pharmacy responsible for supplying medications and associated health services featured

strongly as the place to which colleagues returned with most regularity. For Andrew, this can act as a landscape obstacle for people attempting to recover from

homelessness and addiction, as he explained:

‘I’m prescribed such strong medication for my condition [trigeminal neuralgia, a complex neurological pain problem] that I have to go to the pharmacy to collect medication every day. They won’t give me, like, a week’s worth, in case I overdose.

But the problem is that I have to go through town and see all the wrong ‘uns that I’m trying not to be involved with anymore… for some people…it’s the reason they end up back at Square One because they get dragged back into it all.’

Similarly, the Post Office closest to these pharmacies was the most likely place from where people with whom I worked would draw their benefit money.

Perception of the landscape according to homeless colleagues is impacted by drugs and alcohol in two distinct ways. The first is the physiological effect of the substance

in question, the second is the legal position of the substance, its availability and the potential for the person in question to be criminalised if found in possession.

Working with colleagues who were under the influence of alcohol, drugs or strong prescription medication revealed that individuals’ experience of each city changed according to which substances were ingested and impacted reactions to places and surroundings. For example, whilst field walking ‘the frontline’ (St Paul’s, Bristol) Little Tom talked about ‘crack walks’ which he described as ‘when you’ve got the money for crack, your walk speeds up because you’re so impatient to score. You’d run if you could but it would look too obvious so you try to walk. But you can’t walk normally. I’ve seen it. I’ve done it!’

Throughout fieldwork, colleagues’ reactions to places changed depending on their place in their individual cycles of medication and/or addiction. A related

phenomenon mentioned by several colleagues was the experience of having their actions or words (under the influence of drugs or alcohol) described to them by others at a later date but having no recollection of their own. As Punk Paul put it, ‘I can’t remember half my life. I hear about it later from people who saw me.’

Describing how he had been introduced to heroin when he first became homeless in Bristol, aged seventeen, Whistler said that his first impression of the drug had been that it was ‘a nice warm fluffy place to go where nothing matters.’ For Whistler, taking heroin was about perceiving a change in his physical surroundings. Drugs and alcohol play a significant role in the creation of ‘places’ in homeless landscapes in Bristol and York and their availability or scarcity dictates the routes colleagues take and the way in which they perceive the world around them. An associated factor is that in the case of illegal substances, there can be an added threat of physical danger created through the abundance or scarcity of a particular drug. For example, if heroin is difficult to obtain then opioid substitute prescription drugs (for example, Subutex or methadone) become worth more money on the street. There is a thriving trade in prescription medicine on the streets of Bristol and York most of the time but when illegal drugs are unavailable (for example, because a shipment has been intercepted) the trade in certain prescription drugs is more volatile and operates along ungoverned

capitalist rules, the nature of the black market being unregulated inflation and commonplace fraud.