Pictures show squalid conditions of community who live in TUNNELS beneath one of UK's busiest streets

[Tony Gosling]

Manchester's hidden homeless: Pictures show squalid conditions of 
community who live in TUNNELS beneath one of city's busiest streets

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4461332/Manchester-s-hidden-homeless-Pictures-conditions.html?ito=whatsapp_share_article-masthead 

    * Tolik and Valeriy, both from Lithuania, live in a tunnel 
beneath a busy road in the centre of Manchester
    * Father-of-seven Tolik, 57, says another eight temporary shacks 
are dotted around the city
    * He says worked in his home country for 27 years and both men 
say they are not on government benefits
By 
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4461332/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Harvey+Day+For+Mailonline>HARVEY 
DAY FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED: 00:57, 1 May 2017

Just a few feet beneath one of Manchester's busiest roads, a small 
community of homeless people are living in squalid tunnels filled 
with blankets, duvets and sofas.
Pedestrians walking across the carriageway could never imagine the 
harsh conditions endured by those living in this makeshift home.
Tolik and Valeriy, both from Lithuania, lie just inches from the 
water's edge behind two metal barriers perched beside the running 
water and supported by concrete blocks.

Tolik (left) and Valeriy (right), both from Lithuania, live in


What few possessions they have are kept neatly in a set of plastic drawers.
Their scruffy clothes are hung neatly from a railing to prevent them 
getting dirty.
The floor is littered with broken bottles, tin cans and food 
wrappers. But among the dirt is a bottle of Febreze air freshener and 
a sponge, hung up next to an old toilet bowl.
They say they are keen to maintain some semblance of normal life.
'I will not live like people live on the streets,' says Tolik. 'We 
have a sofa and bedding, it's very comfortable.
'I shower three times a week, at hostels,' he tells an interpreter, 
in Russian. 'If we need to wash our faces we use the toilets in a garage.'
His friend, Valeriy, says both men are staying here after a friend 
set up the makeshift shack many months ago and invited them to stay.
This dark, dingy tunnel is their home. Tolik, 57, speaks of another 
eight temporary shacks dotted around the city centre which are 
regularly frequented by homeless people.
The father-of-seven says he never expected to end up living this way 
when he first arrived legally in the UK eight years ago looking for work.
The floor is littered with broken bottles, tin cans and food 
wrappers. But among the dirt is a bottle of Febreze air freshener and a sponge
He worked in his home country, which joined the EU in 2004, for 27 
years and hoped to do the same in England. But after working in a 
factory in London he came to Manchester and was homeless within months.
No longer able to send money home he is desperate to find work again 
and has been learning English in the hope of increasing his chances.
'I try,' he says in broken English. 'I would be able to find a job in 
Lithuania but I have no house and nowhere to live,' he says. 'If I 
get some money I can go home. I want a normal life.'
Each day he feeds the ducks and geese that float along the canal. He 
treats them, and a rat that visits his 'bed' each night, as pets.
While living in this secluded tunnel close to the city's intricate 
canal system Valeriy and Tolik stay dry and relatively warm. Hidden 
from the world they believe they are safe here.
'We are not afraid of anyone,' says Valeriy. Despite the shocking 
living conditions Valeriy insists that he would rather stay here, out 
of sight, than return home.
He speaks of the freedom in Britain. 'This is a house. A home I built 
with my own hands.' The men say they are not on government benefits.
During the week the two friends visit homeless shelters for food and 
walk around the city. On weekends they pass the time by drinking when 
they can but insist this is just a leisure activity.
'From Friday England starts to drink so they do, too,' the interpreter says.
Valeriy, 43, was invited to the UK by a friend and worked in a 
chicken factory for three months.
Valeriy says both men are staying here after a friend set up the 
makeshift shack many months ago and invited them to stay
A professional driver by trade he struggled with the language and 
could not find work. He has been homeless in Manchester for eight years.
He explains that his three children, aged 13, 15 and 27, still live 
in Lithuania. He has never told them about his living conditions in the UK.
'I don't want to spoil their lives,' he says. 'If I told them they 
would probably come here and take me home but I don't want to be a 
burden for them.
'Their life is not easy either. I would be an extra mouth to feed. 
Here I can find food.
'I just wish I could find my happiness but I can't find it.'
When asked if he is lonely, he replies: 'Yes. Very much so.'
But he offers a warning to anyone who plans to come to the UK. 
'People should understand that if they come here they will end up 
like this,' he says.
The co-founder of a homeless charity says the men's living situation 
is an example of how many people have become completely 'cut-off' 
from modern society.
This is a house. A home I built with my own hands
Hendrix Lancaster, 38, helped found Coffee for Craig which helps feed 
hundreds of homeless people across the city every week.
And he says they have experienced people setting up makeshift homes 
in the outdoors increasingly regularly.
He said: 'It's definitely happening more and more. There have always 
been people who chose to live like that, nomadically and on their own.
'They're not right under the noses of the council like many people in 
the city centre.
'I think in a way it could be seen as a fingers up to modern society, 
which is so pressurised, so commercialised, which so many people feel 
detached from.
'They won't be able to get any public funding or benefits. And we all 
know getting a job isn't easy particularly in their situation.
'That means their only option is going home but in many cases what 
would they be going back home to?'
Mr Lancaster said, despite the current homelessness epidemic, 
services were there.
'We have done so much in Manchester, the services are there if they 
want to come indoors and engage. No one should feel like they have to 
live like that.'  
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So much emphasis is placed on select Jewish participation in Bormann 
companies that when Adolf Eichmann was seized and taken to Tel Aviv 
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