A North East man has opened up about his "awful" experiences becoming homeless and how he found help.

Kieron and his partner were living in rat-infested accommodation in the "worst area" of the town trying their best to make ends meet.

They made regular complaints to the landlord about sewage coming up out of their sink and noise at all times of night from other tenants in the building.

After coming home from a night shift Kieron, from Hartlepool, found their rooms had been broken into and that was when he decided to stop paying rent.

He says that he was given advice by the council that he was allowed to withhold his rent.

Kieron and his partner were then evicted. Bailiffs turned up at their door and after deciding that they weren't safe they left and became homeless.

It took months to find Kieron a home again with the help of the staff LilyAnne's Wellbeing cafe.

(Image: Stuart Boulton) Kieron said: "I was living in a flat block in the worst bit of Hartlepool. It was me and my partner, we were the only people in the flat who had jobs. Everyone else was on drugs and everything.

"We used to complain every time and it just became daily, it was the noise. We had to go to work and try to sleep. 

"We were doing our best. We had a kitchen sink that would fill up from sewage from the drains.

"We had rats running around and everything. We videoed everything for evidence.

"One night we were both on night shift, and we came home to find everything had been broken into. I was fuming."

He explained that once he became homeless it became very difficult to get support from the council.

Kieron added: "We stopped our rent and everything until something was sorted out because the council said I could do that.

"Then when I got evicted the council said that they didn't say that. The landlord kept changing how much rent arrears we were in and it kept going up.

"He was sending private bailiffs to my door and I just didn't feel safe so I moved out.

"The council said 'Well, you've made yourself homeless and there's nothing we can do'."

He had help from LilyAnne's Wellbeing charity who helped him evidence what had happened and convince the council that there had been wrongdoing. 

(Image: Stuart Boulton) Angela Arnold, co-creator of the homelessness charity, said: "They tried to say that Kieron had been in accommodation in November 2023 but he had been homeless since September 2023.

"The council then said that they had looked at the records and the landlord had been trying to claim rent even when he was homeless.

"That's when the housing team realised."

Kieron was housed in August 2024. He was staying with friends in the months in between. He described it as "awful" but uses that lived experience to help other homeless people.

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Trevor Sherwood, co-creator of the charity, explained that Kieron was one of those people with a priority need but he couldn't prove it. 

He said: "He experienced mental health and anxiety but it was hard to prove."

A Hartlepool Borough Council spokesperson said: "Homelessness is a priority for the Council and homeless applications are assessed in line with the Government’s homelessness legislation. Anyone contacting the Council to be assessed as homeless does receive an initial response the same day from our designated duty officer. We would ask LilyAnne’s to please support and encourage their clients to make a homeless application to us.

"We commission Cornerstone, the homeless charity, to go out into the community during the day and at night several times a week looking for rough sleepers to offer them advice and help and to refer them to us for assessment for temporary accommodation.

"We also hold a regular multi-agency rough sleeper action group – to which a wide range of agencies are invited, including Cornerstone and other local charities, housing providers, NHS mental health services and the drug and alcohol support service START – to discuss how we are helping current rough sleepers and to find positive solutions to the issue."

Kieron has now been working at LilyAnne's Wellbeing café for the last few months and got himself back on track.