We’re stuck living in filth in shadows of mansions owned by billionaires & celebrities – council doesn’t care about us
LOCALS in one of the country's poshest areas have shared how they are living in filth - while just a stone's throw away from celebrity mansions.
The encampment, in the heart of Westminster, London, is just metres from the five-star Savoy Hotel, which can cost more than £1000 per night and hosts the likes of the royal family.
These aren't the only famous faces gracing nearby streets, with celebs from John Nolan to Dua Lipa to Brooklyn Beckham also reportedly living in the grand borough.
And just a 15 walk away from the encampment is 10 Downing Street itself.
The "village" of people living in tents is opposite the famous Adelphi Theatre, and in the shadow of a grand Grade II listed commercial building.
Eric, 45, who lives there, told MyLondon: "Look at what's in front of you. Look where we are. Check the housing register. See how many people are waiting."
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He added that the "system makes sure that this stays like this", explaining: "You ain’t going to get rid of homelessness, mate.
"There’s no way a prominent building like this is going to have something like this outside.
"So why are they tolerant? It’s all by design, my friend."
He then described how, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the authorities "got rid of every single person off the streets".
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Eric said: "There’s isn’t no homeless problem, man. I’ve got health problems. Every now and then, they put me inside because of weather conditions. It is for two or three days, and then I’m out again. It’s for show."
He has been living at the encampment for more than a year. Now consisting of around 10 tents, it used to be larger, Eric told MyLondon, comprised of up to 25. People living on both sides of the Adelphi Terrace made the area feel like a "village".
"This is why they put the plant pots," Eric claimed. "There’s a lot of things being put specifically to restrict [where people can put tents]. That would be okay, if you were offering an alternative option."
Describing himself as a "resilient person", Eric explained how he had come to the UK from Uganda when he was 10-years-old with his mother and sister. The DJ - Eric runs an online radio station called Streetvybz - left home in North West London when he was 16.
"I was so independent I went straight into private renting," he said. "Only when I was about 22, I started to get to know about all the benefits and stuff and all that. I never liked the idea of benefits."
He has worked in "everything from security to removals", adding: "I’ve always had work, and obviously my music.
"I’ve seen the best of what the world has to offer before coming to this country.
"I grew up where I thought every household had cleaners - that was standard. Coming here, it was backwards. This country doesn’t have its priorities right."
He added: "Put me anywhere and I can survive. I have to leave my stuff right here. I know at the very least there’s cameras here.
"[I'm] 100 per event safe, but I always feel safe wherever I am. If I didn’t [trust the other people living at the Adelphi encampment], they can’t stay here, and that’s for my own personal protection.
"I’m not having people that I don’t know sleeping next to me. There’s a lot of mental health problems out here."
Eric added: "Can you imagine putting a five year old out here and telling it to look after itself? I’ve seen people get destroyed.
"Nine out of 10 people need a place where you’ve got 24 hour support. Like, you’ve got a nurse, a doctor on site, a psychiatrist."
On rough sleeping support, he said: "They’re designed to keep the mechanism rolling. The machine has to be fed, and, for that to be fed, you need a clientele that’s using their services."
Eric also said: "There are so [many] problems out here.
"It’s actually a melting pot. It’s so dangerous. You’ve got a lot of people out here you, and you don’t know what’s going to tick them off."
Eric also described how he had seen people "get their heads caved in and all kinds of s***".
When asked about Sadiq Khan's promise to end homelessness in the city by 2030, he said that he had once seen the Mayor of London get out of a car near to the encampment. Eric shouted at him.
"These people are f****** actors," he said. "You’re being fed a lot of bulls***. You can’t fix this.
"I’m not afraid to tell him [Mr Khan] straight. I’ve been on the streets long enough to know you’re not trying to do something."
During a subsequent visit to the encampment, MyLondon also spoke to a man named David Dewan, 56, who was squatting on the floor with bags containing his possessions, rolling cigarettes.
He claimed to have been kicked out of his flat in 2021.
Since then, he has not had a permanent home. David, who says he grew up in care and is from Hanworth originally, said he "moves around" and he can "look after himself".
"It's not a good environment to be around people that are constantly drinking all the time, because it just doesn't do you any good," he added.
David, who "smokes a bit of weed", added that drug problems have lately got "a million times" worse.
He said: "This spice stuff at the moment, they're all smoking. Not only that, it's different. It's a different formula out there now for whatever it is they're doing.
"The drugs have been changed into something else. They're making this new formula that they call cocaine, and it ain't cocaine.
"And then, this stuff they're calling crack isn't crack. So they've got these formulas, a lot of synthetic stuff.
"Because what's going on is you've got a law saying 'this chemical formula's not allowed'. So they're getting round it by making another formula that does the same trick, but it's a different formula."
This has "got a lot worse", David says, over the past three years.
"Literally, you see them in the morning when they've woken up, and you see them and they've smoked all that s***, and they're like zombies," he said.
Addiction services, the rough sleeper added, are "put under pressure, so they don't have the ability to help people in the way that they need it".
In order to feed their addiction, people are "robbing" possessions of other rough sleepers, David said, such as mobile phones and cards.
He has had stuff "nicked" out of his bag, and a tent stolen.
"There's people that even come into London especially to rob the homeless," he added.
"Because a lot of them have got smart phones. They've all got this background story; people are married or whatever.
"So some of them have got stuff. And when they come here, they're targeted for it. I would have been a perfect target had I not grown up in the world I grew up in."
On rough sleepers' mental health, David - who says he has daughters and grandchildren - thinks that it is "unfair" to put it in those terms.
"A lot of people have lost their families; they've got no one left. There's an underlying story for every one of them."
On Sadiq Khan's promise to end homelessness in the capital, David was also cynical.
He said: "I think they'll do what they did for the Olympics. They'll make the figures while he's still in office, if he is still in office, look like he's done it.
"But as soon as the Olympics were over, all the people that they housed to get them off the street to make London look a little bit more presentable, were chucked out before they had the right to have the place given to them."
He added: "This whole system needs to be broken down and stopped. The elite that are running this place like a game need to be seen for what they are, that's all it is."
Homelessness help
HERE is some useful information if you are homeless or know someone who is experiencing homelessness.
FIRST CONTACT
If you or someone you know is sleeping rough you can use the alert Streelink service to help connect them with outreach services:
FOOD
You can find free food stations via:
The Pavement - for food and soup runs:
Homeless Link - for day centres:
The Trussell Trust - for food banks:
Food Cycle - for food services -
HOUSING
Councils have a duty to help people who are homeless or facing homelessness. Contact the Housing Options team from the council you have a local connection to and see if they can offer:
- Emergency accommodation - a place in a shelter or a hostel
- Longer-term accommodation including independent or social housing
Visit:
During times of severe cold or heat, local councils have special accommodation known as Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP). Find out more here: .
For advice, support or legal services related to housing visit or call 0808 800 4444.
You can also contact Crisis:
For housing advice, call Shelter on 0808 800 4444 or visit: .
DAY CENTRES
Day centres can help by providing internet access, free or cheap food, shower and laundry facilities, safe storage for belongings, phone charging and clothes, toiletries or sleeping bags.
They can also help with services for benefits or immigration advice; health support; finding work; educational or social activities; hostel, night shelter or outreach referrals.
Centres can be found through Homeless Link:
BENEFITS
Normally you can claim Universal Credit if you are sleeping on the streets or staying in a hostel. If you are in a hostel, you can claim Housing Benefit to help with rent. You do not need a fixed address or a bank account.
USEFUL CONTACTS
Crisis - visit: or call 0300 636 1967.
Shelter - visit: or call 0808 800 4444.
Centrepoint (for people aged 16-25) - visit: or call 0808 800 0661.
St Mungo’s (Bath, Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Christchurch, Leicester, Oxford, Poole and Reading) - visit: or call 020 3856 6000.
Depaul UK (for young people) - visit: or call 0207 939 1220.
Citizen's Advice (legal advice) - visit: or call 0345 404 0506.
The Samaritans (health and wellbeing) - or call 116 123.
David has also challenged businesses throwing away food, while "people are going hungry".
He said: "Loads of times in the train stations or wherever, I've asked some of these people, 'look, are you throwing that lot away? There's six Cornish pasties there.
"'I've got a bit of money; I'll give you the money for the stuff you're throwing away, mate. Put it in your bin, if you want'."
Over the years, the Londoner added, he's "regulated his body" to live with minimal food as he buys provisions with benefits, collects grub from handouts set up by charities.
Before saying farewell, David, who says he is "always on edge" reflected on life on the street in London overall.
"The most annoying thing about it is the looks you get," he said.
"I've still got to watch my back. I have to watch everything. Constantly watch my bag, being dipped into.
"You've got to find your little niche. Some people are quite angry. But, in general, people will look after each other.
"Always the food thing. If someone's hungry, everyone tries to offer each other a bit of food and that. Simple stuff like that.
"I'm the kind of idiot who gives away everything. I've given away loads of tops and the things people need when they get cold and that.
"People do look out for each other, but again you just need to watch what they've been smoking.
"Or if they haven't had a smoke, or what they've been drinking, or if they haven't had a drink. Because they're not regulating how they feel."
On the coming winter, David described how he had grown used to cold conditions, and the best way to heat up is to move.
"I'm kind of used to it," he said. "If you can't put more layers on you've got to get up and move; start walking around. You move yourself around, get warmed up."
He added: "You've got to be so shattered to the point when you get some sleep. It used to be you can have a bevvy.
"But food gets wasted; any food you eat gets wasted, your body's not preparing yourself."
When challenged over the level of homelessness in London, Sadiq Khan told MyLondon: "In London, we know there's been an increase in rough sleeping.
"We also know that, since 2016, we've increased by more than fourfold City Hall's rough sleeping budget.
"And that's enabled us to take off our streets 17,600 people sleeping rough. Those aren't just numbers, those are people who've been taken off our streets."
The Mayor added that the GLA has funded wrap around care for those with drug or alcohol dependencies or mental health problems.
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"I do hold the previous government responsible for a lot of these challenges," he then said, suggesting that homelessness across the country has increased since 2010 because of 'underinvestment'.
The Sun has contacted Westminster City Council for comment.
