By Liam Barnes, BBC News, Nottingham
BBCA man who stood for election to Parliament despite becoming homeless during his campaigning says he wants to help other people who fall on hard times.
Wesley Milligan stood in his hometown of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire as an independent candidate in this month’s general election.
The seat was won back by Labour after seven years under the Conservatives, with Mr Milligan earning 335 votes and finishing seventh out of nine candidates despite his personal turmoil.
The 32-year-old said he was grateful for the support of friends and family.
Mr Milligan’s electoral campaigning began before he became homeless, which he says happened about three months ago.
When the election was called in May, Mr Milligan said he was moved to stand because he wanted to see change.
“I think that society, as well as our politics, is moving into a really concerning place, and I’m very concerned about my hometown [of] Mansfield,” he said.
“You look around it and you can see it’s really, really struggling.
“I come from a chaotic background, a difficult background, and I wanted to change things so that if I have children, it’s a bit better for them.”
Mr Milligan – who worked as a musical performer for 10 years – said he was in part-time work earlier this year to keep money coming in while he campaigned for election, but as he was due to start a new job his father died.
He said he soon fell behind on rent, and then ended up living in a tent.
“I couldn’t start the new job emotionally, I ran out of money, got given my notice and I ended up homeless,” he said.
“I think it’s the kind of situation that you see quite a lot when you speak to the homeless community – it’s just a sort of confluence of bad events.”
Though he had friends who offered a sofa at times, Mr Milligan said he was conscious of not being “too much of a burden” to others who had their own problems to deal with.
“I tend to take a night at a friend’s, get a sort of refresh and then move on,” he said.
‘Love and friendship’
Mr Milligan said it was difficult to adapt to homeless life initially, adding he had some possessions stolen when leaving his tent alone.
“Especially at first, you’re very jumpy, you’re very nervous about who’s going to come along and take my stuff, or who’s going to attack me,” he said.
“A lot of the nerves come from worrying about members of the public coming along and maybe calling the police on you, or shouting something abusive towards you, which happens reasonably often.”
While living in a tent has its dangers and difficulties, Mr Milligan said there was a camaraderie and community spirit among homeless people.
“Amongst the homeless community, there’s a huge amount of love and friendship and support,” he said.
“There’s still some chaos that goes on, because that’s just part and parcel of the homeless life.”
Mr Milligan also said the level of support and accommodation for homeless people was a major concern, with some choosing to sleep rough for their own safety.
“In terms of housing, in terms of finance, there’s just nothing, but thankfully there are organisations [and] charities that can help you out with a meal, a shower, that kind of thing,” he said.
Despite his situation, Mr Milligan decided to carry on with his bid for election, with a donor helping to pay the deposit he needed to stand.
He said he did not approach the local council to register his homelessness as he was “worried” it could affect his candidacy, with only a few close friends aware of what was happening.
“I had this choice to make where I [could] either invest a lot of time and energy into trying to get a place, trying to get a job whilst the election is around the corner, or I can just accept my homelessness for a while and run the campaign,” he said.
“I kept my homelessness quite quiet during the campaign – I’ve only been open about it recently.
“It definitely made things a lot harder, because what people don’t understand is the chaos and the difficulty that you’re dealing with [by] being a homeless person.
“Most of your energy and time is put into trying to stay dry, trying to stay warm, fed, clean, not getting your stuff stolen, all of that, and by the time you’ve managed to do all of that, you’ve very little time and energy to do other things.”
Mr Milligan completed his campaign and made it to election night, with a charity helping him to find an outfit for the count itself.
He said the response from people when they learned what he had been through was heartening.
“The networks that I made when I was trying to build a political base advised me against telling people about my homelessness [while campaigning],” he said.
“To be honest, now I wish I’d just come out with it, because it’s nothing to be that ashamed of, and maybe it highlights some of the problems that we’re facing at the moment.”
Though the election is over, Mr Milligan hopes to find a new job and a permanent place to live.
“I’ve handed out some CVs over the past week since the election,” he said.
“I’ll probably have to come back to my tent after I’ve finished my shifts, hopefully save up a bit of money and put a deposit down on a place, but it’s going to be difficult.
“There is no clear pathway out.”
Currently camping out in Nottingham, he said he wanted to return to his hometown and find a way to help other people who had faced homelessness.
“I hope to be able to work with the homeless community in Mansfield, and maybe work with the new MP [Steve Yemm],” he said.
“I want to work with the homeless in some way – I want to be able to highlight that it can really happen to anybody.
“We need a bit more compassion, it’s a problem that’s caused by all of our excessive greed, especially the excessive greed of the very wealthy, and we can’t ignore it just because we don’t like the sight of it.
“We’ve got to do something about it, and that means like building a bank of social housing, it means things like spending a bit more on public services, and giving people a hand up.”
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