Young, broke and homeless: the British property scandal - Telegraph

Young, broke and homeless: the British property scandal - Telegraph

Shivering in his sleeping bag on a park bench in central London, student Leon Rossi felt helpless. It was December – supposedly the season of goodwill – yet he had been turned away from every hostel in King’s Cross. He was 26 and in good health, which put him at the bottom of the priority list for getting a bed.

“It was frightening and unbelievably lonely,” he says. “I couldn’t sleep at night. All I could think about was how to survive.”

Seven years on Leon, who features in forthcoming Channel 4 documentary The Great British Property Scandal, now has a spacious, one-bedroom flat in Finsbury Park. It’s rented to him by Real Lettings, a social enterprise that takes on abandoned or empty properties and lets them out to vulnerable people who are ineligible for social housing.