Shaun Bailey: I’ll fight for the homeless after years spent ‘sofa surfing’

Insight: Mr Bailey says he knows “what it’s like to be broke”
Alex Lentati

Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey today told how the five years he spent “sofa surfing” made him determined to tackle London’s epidemic of “hidden” homelessness.

In a highly personal interview with the Standard, he revealed that he had learned the difference between “hope and hopelessness” when he was forced to sign on after losing his job.

He gave exclusive access to his family photo album and said his upbringing made him only too aware of the challenge faced by Londoners who can only dream of owning their own home.

Mr Bailey, who was raised by a single mother in a North Kensington council house, said he had to leave home aged 19 when he “grew too big”.

At one point during his childhood there were 11 family members living in their four-bedroom house in Bracewell Road. He opened up as he went for a walk in the area where he grew up, close to Grenfell Tower.

Shaun Bailey less than a year old at his aunt’s house
Shaun Bailey Family

He described his childhood, playing in the skate park with the “Moroccan boys”, riding his bike to Canary Wharf and floating on the Grand Union Canal in inner tubes from lorry wheels.

Mr Bailey worked as a youth worker for more than 20 years and recounted stabbings and shootings in the area, saying: “We had pure war and drama.”

The 47-year-old added: “I was physically on sofas for at least five years and stayed at my aunt’s which was a little bit more secure. This was mid to late twenties.

“You don’t always realise it’s a tough life. I wasn’t thinking to myself where am I going to get on the property ladder? I was thinking at least I’m not on the street. It was a different world. None of us had any money.”

Shaun on a day trip to Brighton at nine years old, right, with younger brother Dwain, left, and cousin Colis
Shaun Bailey Family

As he grew close to finishing university, around the age of 26, Mr Bailey said he feared he would become homeless until he spoke to an aunt who offered him a place to stay.

“The sense of relief was incredible,” he said. “I remember the pressure going to the council to get on the housing list and the woman saying, ‘We’ll put you on the list’, but she was trying to tell me the chance of me getting housed were nil. All of those things form your view of housing, that hopeless feeling.”

He told his aunt he needed three weeks to “sort my life out” but ended up staying for three years.

Losing his temping job around the age of 20 forced him to sign on. “That changed my view of the world and made me feel the difference between hope and hopelessness,” he said. “I know what it’s like to be broke. I signed on for months. I ran out of work and no one was going to give me any money.

“I could see how the situation could defeat you. I learnt a lot then — it did a bit for my compassion. Then I got a security job at Wembley.”

Shaun Bailey graduated from Southbank University aged 27
Shaun Bailey Family

Mr Bailey, who now owns a home in Romford where he lives with his wife and two children, added: “When people ask me what made me want to be mayor, [my answer is] nothing — except my experiences of growing up, having no opportunity to be housed and growing up in an area where there’s a lot of crime.

“I would do something about affordable housing — something very radical. Sadiq [Khan] has blocked us looking at SILs [Strategic Industrial Land].

“If you can’t do that you are reducing the amount of land you can build on.”

He said he would also look at rent controls and ask TfL to consider becoming a landlord rather than selling off sites.

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