I am in a WhatsApp group with four friends. We are all men who have just turned 50 and three of them are unemployed. There are others in my wider friend group who are facing the same increasingly common stage of life.
Having had careers since their twenties means that redundancy, at first, appears to be a gift: a time to reflect and prioritise, a time to take stock before moving back into work.
The job market, however, has other ideas. I read an article in a national newspaper this morning that brings credence to their experiences. One of the people reported that in two years they submitted 598 job applications and were invited to only eight unsuccessful interviews for jobs that covered the spectrum from under- to overqualified and everything in between. This particular interviewee is currently staying with a relative.
Since April this year, we have registered 251 new people aged between 46 and 61, the highest number of any age bracket.
At our focus group in August, an older gentleman described his journey to homelessness as a “house of cards”. Health crises resulted in the loss of income: a loss which in turn forced him onto the streets.
Sitting where I am, adjacent to the frontline of homelessness relief work, the fragility of what we take as stability is cast in stark relief. I hold a unique position of concern for my friends and every person struggling to join or rejoin the workforce, and it is that position I want to share with you.
When work is all you have known for 30 years, the consequences of its sudden loss can be catastrophic. You had built a network of support over that time, you had built yourself a small financial safety net, and more than that, you had purpose.
So where do you turn when it is all gone? Founded in 1993, KCAH was created to be that last door to turn to. We want to keep the door open for another 30 years, facing whatever changes and challenges arise alongside the people who have nowhere else to turn.
I worked out that if even a tenth of the working population of Kingston borough gave just £1 a month, we could sustain our services long into the future.
Please give what you can, while you can. The people needing your support will continue to evolve as society develops, and we want to be there to provide it.
