A man who lost his job and spent four years living on the streets got his “self-respect and confidence back” by working for The Big Issue.

Paul Logan was evicted from his home after losing his job as a drayman and slept in a churchyard.

However, his life has turned around after he was approached by The Big Issue, who were looking to help aid homeless people with their placement programme, and he has since worked as a vendor for seven years.

He has spoken out as The Big Issue celebrates its 30th birthday this month.

Paul Logan was aged 47 when he was forced to live in the streets and felt isolated from the public.

Although he was born in England, Mr Logan moved to Canada as a child and lived there for around 30 years until he came back to London in the 1990s.

Things were mainly fine for Mr Logan, who worked at a London brewery as a drayman and lived ten minutes away from his workplace – however once the council instructed him to move to Dagenham, his situation began to get difficult.

Mr Logan explained he struggled to attend work on time, which started at 5am, due to the distance.

He was on a final warning after being repeatedly late, and Mr Logan said “unfortunately three strikes and you are out”.

Recalling the moment, he explained: “I went from losing my job to having to apply for benefits and I missed three payments, and that was it.

“I didn’t have a lot of support here at that time, all my support was in another country, so it just happens.”

Mr Logan said he felt “too embarrassed” to ask for help overseas, and was forced to sleep in a churchyard.

The transition from a life of comfort to being homeless was also difficult, as he explained he felt “invisible” and was isolated from others which knocked his confidence.

Eventually he was approached by The Big Issue who were looking to help aid homeless people with their placement programme, and he has since worked as a vendor for seven years.

After being approached by The Big Issue, he said: “The main thing is what happened next – I steadily worked myself out of homelessness with the opportunity The Big Issue gave me. I found that as well as putting some money in my pocket, it gave me my self-respect and confidence back.”

At first he was placed at Moorgate, before moving to the extremely busy Liverpool Street station. He continued: “Ever since my placement, my confidence has developed a great deal. I’ve also spent some time in the company library developing my IT and blogging skills.”

The Big Issue has launched a new #StopMassHomelessness campaign that calls on the government to take immediate action to support people who are at risk of losing their homes and long-term action to end homelessness for good.

An analysis of data from UK Finance shows that a household was made homeless every three and a half hours in the UK during the first three months of 2021.

Now The Big Issue, which helps provide a source of income for rough sleepers in the UK, is launching a mass campaign to stop homelessness.

Specifically, the team is calling on the Government to pay off £360 million in rent arrears and to suspend no fault evictions until a Renters’ Reform Act is passed.

The campaign also calls to make a permanent £20 Universal Credit uplift and to unfreeze Local Housing allowance.

To find out more, visit: bigissue.com/stop-mass-homelessness