Bit of a thread. A rough sleeper turned up on my doorstep earlier. Dog was barking like mad and I could see a young man outside the window. My street is a dead end so I assumed he was delivering something and opened the door. He was early 30s, carrying a mat and rucksack...

He looked broken, weak and so sad. Asked him to stand back and he said sorry, he’d just been admiring the flowers. I think he was scoping out quiet streets and spots to sleep rough in in hindsight. I asked him if he had anywhere to stay and he broke down.

Told me he hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning. The usual story. Lost his job, couldn’t pay his rent, got evicted, doesn’t want to stay in hostels as he doesn’t like being around drugs. He’s scared about the virus. He was so polite. All I could think is that he is someone’s son

Cobbled together a bag of food for him and left it on doorstep for him to take away. Called my local councillor @LyndaT48 who arranged for the city’s outreach team to meet him nearby to sort something out for him. I’ll probably never see him again but I’ll never forget his face.

This young man in tears in the street, asking if I knew anywhere safe he can sleep tonight. We’re heading into a recession and I feel sick thinking about how much worse this is going to get. @cardiffcouncil have done amazing work housing the homeless in hotels during this crisis.

And Welsh Govt is extending funding for this until June. But what then? The funny thing is, as he walked off, he turned back and said “your poster in the window..fuck the Tories...what is a Tories?”. “That’s our government” I said. “You don’t like them?” he asked.

I laughed. “Not much”. “I can tell” he said. A brief moment of human contact for both of us that will stay with me for a long time. I hope he’ll be ok, gets help and somewhere safe to stay. It’s easy to get fed up about lockdown. But I fear homelessness -

which was already chronically bad in Cardiff - is about to get a whole lot worse. Sixth richest country in the world and we let it get this bad before all of this. God knows what lies ahead. But it’s not OK. There must be a different way. To just accept this is how things are

is to admit defeat and extinguish hope for a better future, isn’t it?