Man Alive

No Room at the Doss-house (1972x44)

Air date: Dec 20, 1972

Over 8,000 men sleep rough in London on park benches, in derelict houses and railway sidings. No one knows the total for the whole country; how many will spend Christmas alone this year, out of doors? These men weren't born homeless. Many of them had good jobs, a home and a family and they thought they were secure. Ending up jobless, without a roof and alone, is a gradual process, but those who've dropped to the bottom rung on the ladder say you get there almost before you know it-once things really start to go wrong. Harold Williamson talks to men who admit they brought it all on themselves; some who are trying to fight their way back and others who've accepted life on the doss-house circuit at a time when hostels for homeless men are fast disappearing in property development schemes.