During the Big Freeze several homeless people made their way to Kew Bridge eco-village where they received shelter and food and have remained ever since.

Whilst the majority of the people at the eco-village are idealists with a shared community vision, several of the 32 permanent residents are homeless people with little or no alternative.

Ieuan Davies has been a resident of the eco-village for several months and finds it preferable to his previous residence which was a tent on Richmond River. Whilst Ieuan seems happy enough with his current position and fits in with the general ethos of the village, Julia Wadams who is nearing her 60th birthday is there because she has nowhere else to go.

After a rent increase Ms Wadams, 59, found herself unsure where to go next. She visited the Citizens Advice Bureau and her local Council, but with no success she moved into a caravan. In November she heard about the eco-village from a friend at the homeless centre crisis and moved on site.

Whilst Julia says she is not ungrateful for the food and shelter of the eco-village she is also “Running out of patience, I’m 60 in two weeks and it’s nearly two in the afternoon and I’ve not even had a hot drink yet, the majority here are men, they are politically driven and I just want a basic standard of living”

Diane Nestor, 50, Director of Services at Westminster Housing Co-op says that Julia’s case is typical “We see this all the time, people having to move around for all kinds of reasons”. Ms Nestor believes “safe secure housing is a basic human right”. She has since taken up Ms Wadams’ case and hopes to have her housed within the next month.