A homeless man has described the crushing reality of spending Christmas sleeping in the doorway of a busy shopping centre, as festive shoppers laden with gifts pass him by.
A desperate daily struggle for warmth and shelter
Paul Straffon, 47, spends his days seeking warmth inside the Wimbledon Quarter shopping centre in south-west London. As crowds file past with bags full of presents, he struggles to muster any festive spirit. When the mall closes for the night, he is forced to retreat to his sleeping bag on the cold pavement outside.
Paul is a born Londoner, raised in a family home not far from the centre, but now finds himself destitute. He told Metro: "It's very hard to keep my spirits up. I'm surrounded by people with bags full of shopping and laughing and joking while I am freezing and without a roof, struggling on."
He ended up back in his home city after being evicted from a flat in Devon, unable to make ends meet. All his worldly possessions are now contained in a few suitcases.
Council support and a system under strain
Paul has visited the offices of Merton Council to ask for help. The local authority stated that outreach teams made contact with him on 20 November and ensured he had temporary safe accommodation. He was invited for a statutory homelessness assessment, which he attended, but later chose to pause the process while seeking further advice.
The council says its support remains open, but Paul's experience points to a wider systemic issue. He explained that only when temperatures plunge below zero is he guaranteed a bed for the night under London's Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP). When the mercury rises again, he is back on the streets.
"I had a bed for a few nights and I am thankful for that but it's not the answer. This is a crisis," Paul said. "I was brought up close to here and can't imagine being able to afford the rents. There's nothing affordable."
A capital in the grip of a homelessness emergency
Paul's plight is far from unique. Recent estimates suggest 13,000 people slept rough on London's streets in 2024/5. In the same period, more than 180,000 people were living in temporary accommodation.
Homelessness charity Shelter states that more than 382,000 people in Britain are without a safe place to call home. Chief executive Sarah Elliott said: "Thousands of people are bracing themselves for their next freezing night on the street, while over 84,000 families are facing up to the grim reality of spending Christmas in damaging temporary accommodation."
The charity is urging the government to end the freeze on housing benefit, arguing it would immediately help lift thousands of children out of temporary housing. Meanwhile, the Mayor of London's office has announced new measures, including £1 million in funding for floating support hubs, as part of an aim to end rough sleeping by 2030.
For Paul, the immediate future remains bleak. "All I want for Christmas is a bed to sleep in and a roof over my head but that seems too much to ask," he said. "I don't know how long I can go on in this situation."
