Homeless at Christmas: Eating out of bins is only way to survive

One filmmaker captured some of the homeless on Wolverhampton's streets talking about their struggles.

Known only as Luke from Apex Visuals, his video features chats with several homeless people on the streets.

At the end he encourages people to do something and support their local shelter, foodbank or homeless person.

One man in the video, who is not named, said of his time on the streets of the Black Country city: "It's horrible, I get treated like rubbish, spat at, abused, looked at like a piece of s*** on someone's shoe. It's just horrible, I can't explain it really.

"My mum and dad are dead. I've got aunts and uncles but I wouldn't even know where to start looking."

Asked about how he survives, he said: "However I can. Some people give me money, some times I busk with my harmonica.

"I've eaten out of bins before its been that bad but you've got to survive.

"I've worked all my life, paid taxes all my life, now I need some help but where are the taxes I paid?" A second man on the film spoke about his battle with mental illness.

He said: "I suffered a breakdown over my parents.

"I do suffer from schizophrenia and that does stop me from getting jobs."

A woman filmed added: "I've been told I'm supposed to be under the mental health team, I've been told I should be getting a lot of support, a lot of care workers but I've been denied it since Bilston because it's not a safe area to live and the council denied helping me."

A second woman also spoke of her trouble trying to buy just the most basic of supplies.

She said: "I can't buy food, toiletries. At the moment I'm just struggling, struggling."