FreqOUT! worked with Shafiq, one of a group of 12 young people who produced a film about their experiences of homelessness in London.  The film drew attention to the issue of ‘indoor’ or hidden homelessness, where people can use temporary hostel places but opportunities for permanent accommodation are harder to come by, preventing progression from this difficult situation.

Shafiq joined the Hidden Homeless project when he used to go to the Drop In Centre at the Cardinal Hume Centre for Homeless Young People, a meeting place and day time refuge in Westminster.

Shafiq had been living in hostels for three years and had a very powerful story to tell through the medium of film making: “One of the experiences I had was in a medium term hostel that had people that were homeless, many had mental problems… drug users, alcoholics and other support needs.  At the time I was 20 and the youngest person in the hostel.  I basically kept myself to myself there, the hostel was clean most times but by the end of the day it would end up dirty somehow.”

Shafiq worked with established film makers, Lucy Williams and Tania Harris, to tell his story.  Shafiq became very enthusiastic about film making through the project and moved into a volunteer position with Vital Regeneration marketing team.  He volunteered one day a week for two months to manage the online catalogue of student work.

Shafiq worked with Vital Regeneration Project Managers to log and develop the back catalogue of student work.  During this time he worked with Adnan Hanzi from Goldsmiths University to upload work to the Broadcast Machine, an online open-source platform for the storage of film.

Following his time on the project Shafiq moved into secure housing and took on a full time role in market research.