Homeless Bridgwater man ‘overwhelmed’ with job offers and support

A homeless man has been inundated with offers of work after writing a sign saying he wanted a job – not money.

Self-employed roofer Mark Hamblin, from Bridgwater in Somerset, said his work dried up after he had to take time off to look after his sick dad.

Because he is registered self-employed he was not entitled to benefits and ended up living in a van, but he said he had been “overwhelmed” with offers of work after making his appeal.

“It makes me feel that there is hope out there, that there are good people who will help you and give you words of encouragement,” Mr Hamblin said.

He had set himself up in Bridgwater with a cardboard sign explaining he was looking for work.

“I’m absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of replies I’ve had,” Mr Hamblin said.

He added he had been sent about 500 messages including some job offers from as far away as Scotland and Tuscany.

“It’s encouragement from people who don’t know me from Adam but have kind words to say,” he added.

Mr Hamblin said he had now accepted a full-time job with a local roofing company and would be starting it on Tuesday.

Somerset has the sixth highest number of rough sleepers in the country and Samantha Parr, who works for homeless charity Arc in Taunton, said the county was facing a housing crisis.

“Lots of factors contribute to this; a lack of social housing, high rents and lots of issues with shared accommodation,” Ms Parr said.

“Second homes is another big problem in Somerset at the moment.

“We do what we can to help people. We noticed it has got worse recently – we have the biggest waiting list we’ve ever had.”