'I'm in full-time work but I'm homeless'

A man who sleeps on his mother's living room floor has said there is not enough support for homeless people.

High deposits and a low credit score mean Damo Buxton from Stoke-on-Trent has been unable to afford private rented accommodation, despite earning up to £2,500 a month.

The level of homelessness in the West Midlands has reached a record high, according to a charity working to help rough sleepers.

A recent report by Shelter found the number of people sleeping rough or living in temporary accommodation in the region rose by 18% between 2023 and 2024, to about 28,200.

The charity estimated 39 people were sleeping rough across Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme, but warned the figure could be far greater.

Trevor Bailey, who helps Shelter record the numbers, said the data did not give a true reflection of the problem because only people bedded down on the floor could be counted.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the average monthly private rent in Stoke-on-Trent rose to £669 in April 2025, an annual increase of 12.4%.

Mr Buxton, who works at electrical retailer AO, said he could not afford the deposits required by private landlords.

He had never taken out a loan and so did not have a credit score, he said.

He added some social landlords had refused to take him because he had a dog, and did not want to give it away.

He unexpectedly became homeless after being evicted from a friend's house following a disagreement over bills, he said.

"I'm a 36-year-old man. At the end of the day, I should be standing on my own two feet," he said.

He added it was difficult for people in his situation to get any help from the authorities.

He said: "If you're a working person like myself who doesn't have any drug addictions, I find they just [say], 'it's ok, he's not a vulnerable person'."

Izzy Longmore faced a similar situation when a relationship breakdown meant she ended up sleeping in her car in a village on the Staffordshire border.

She said she had been denied housing support because she was earning £1,000 a month, and ended up running out of sofa-surfing options.

The 29-year-old said she felt there was a stigma to being homeless and she had kept it secret from her family.

"I didn't want to put that guilt on them by basically saying, 'if you don't help me I'm going to be homeless'," she explained.

"It was like a sense of pride, I guess."

She was later helped by a housing association, but has since faced further financial issues after being made redundant.

Charity bosses said people could become homeless for a variety of reasons, adding that visible homelessness had reached a crisis point.

According to Shelter, the number of people in the West Midlands recorded as either living in temporary accommodation or rough sleeping increased by more than 4,000 between 2023 and 2024. The figures do not include hidden homelessness.

Shelter said Birmingham had the highest number of people in the region affected - with 18,300 people homeless - followed by 3,500 in Coventry and 770 in Sandwell.

A spokesperson for the charity said it could help if people were homeless, had nowhere to stay tonight, were at risk of abuse or harm at home or were worried about losing their home in the next two months.

Details of its emergency helpline were available on its website, along with advice on those topics which they said had helped other people.