The Homeless Hotel
Seriously...
BBC
4.1 • 885 Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2020
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Simon had been sleeping in shop doorways in Manchester for three years when the coronavirus pandemic reached the UK. Suddenly, as the government released emergency funding to get people sleeping rough off the streets during lockdown, Simon found himself being offered an en suite room at the Holiday Inn. This is the story of the unprecedented operation to get the country’s street homeless inside - told through one hotel in Manchester. The experience has been transformational for some, including Simon - proof that radical change can happen and happen fast. Government ministers say this is an opportunity to end rough sleeping “for good”. But homelessness charities are warning that as emergency funding runs out, people will end up back on the streets. So what will happen to Simon and others like him as the country moves out of lockdown?
Reporter/Producer: Simon Maybin
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This was an impregnable fortress. The only way you get out was in a wooden box. |
| 0:05.0 | The controversial maximum security prison impossible to escape from. |
| 0:09.0 | And one of the duties of a political prisoner is the escape. |
| 0:12.0 | The IRA inmates who found a way. of a political prisoner is the escape. |
| 0:12.5 | The IRA inmates who found a way. |
| 0:14.5 | I'm Carlo Gableer and I'll be navigating a path |
| 0:19.5 | through the disturbing inside story of the biggest jailbreak in British and Irish history. |
| 0:25.0 | The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by them. |
| 0:28.5 | Escape from the maze, listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:35.0 | BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:39.0 | Hi, I'm Riana Dillon, |
| 0:41.0 | and this is seriously. |
| 0:44.0 | Each week we feature interesting stories told a little sideways |
| 0:48.8 | and we have a real treat for you this week. This week. The University of Manchester. |
| 0:57.0 | It's Monday, it's the 2nd of March, it's exactly 6 says Locko with the news. |
| 1:00.0 | Health officials are reassuring people in Barry where a man has become the first |
| 1:04.4 | confirmed case of coronavirus in Greater Manchester. |
| 1:07.6 | The patient began to feel on when... |
| 1:09.6 | My career is 10 years long now. I started as a waitress back in the day and I've made my way up and now got my own hotel. |
| 1:20.0 | I've actually been at this property since the 2nd of March. |
| 1:25.0 | My name is Victoria York, I'm the Hotel Operations Manager for the Holding Express, Manchester East and we're part of Atlas Hotels. |
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