SA man’s journey from homelessness to working, thanks to Hutt St Centre’s Aspire program

Sandor was unemployed, homeless and sleeping on the streets of Adelaide. Today, he has a job, a home and a happy future. Here’s how he did it.

For 10 years, Sandor’s life slipped down a devastating path that led to him sleeping rough on the streets of Adelaide.

A carpenter by trade, he fell into unemployment and was forced to find accommodation in boarding houses and on friends’ couches. Then, five years ago, he moved from Melbourne to Adelaide just as Covid hit and found himself homeless and spending his nights sleeping on cardboard in the parklands or in city shopfronts.

Those cold, terrifying nights left Sandor, who fled apartheid-led South Africa with his family as a five-year-old boy, feeling “depressed and scared”.

A homeless person’s belongings on the streets of Adelaide. Sandor was forced to sleep rough in the city, laying down on a piece of cardboard for comfort, when he found himself homeless and unemployed. Picture: Russell Millard

“I’d spend the day trying to get money to get some food, putting my hat out. Most of the time I felt like I was invisible. It brought my self-worth down,” said Sandor, who struggled with alcohol and marijuana use after suffering back injuries in a car accident about 20 years ago.

“Not knowing where the next meal was coming from, finding a place to sleep where you weren’t told to move on and wondering whether you were going to be attacked or not.”

Today, the 50-year-old has drastically turned his life around. He now has a job working five days a week with the Scouts bottle depot at Magill, lives in his own one-bedroom unit in inner-city Fullarton and is “feeling very proud”.

Sandor has a job, a home and a happy future. Picture: Brett Hartwig

“Now I’ve got my self-confidence back. I stand a bit straighter … I’ve got a reason to get up in the morning,” said Sandor, who started his job sorting bottles, cans and recyclable materials such as steel, copper and aluminium about six months ago.

“The job’s been good. I interact with different customers … and I feel part of the team. The job’s simple, but it’s not easy. The money’s not bad, either.”

Sandor, who is saving for a holiday in Queensland with his mum, who was turning 70 this April, is a success story from Hutt St Centre’s Aspire program, which provides ongoing support to help homeless people find homes and jobs.

Hutt St Centre chief executive Chris Burns said “seen incredible transformations as people experiencing homelessness regain independence through meaningful work”.

James Sellers, Scouts SA chief executive, said employing people through Hutt St Centre had been “a fantastic experience in the truest sense”.

Sandor secured work five days a week with the Scout Recycling Centre through Hutt Street Centre’s Aspire program. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Sandor said without Hutt St and its Aspire program, “I wouldn’t be where I am today”.

“I used to wonder when my next meal was coming and where I was going to rest for the night. Living in surviving mode instead of thriving mode,” he said.

“Now I can have stuff that’s stored and not think ‘when I come back later, will it be gone?’. Now I have food in my cupboard and a roof over my head. Things are just going up and up.”

Originally published as SA man’s journey from homelessness to working, thanks to Hutt St Centre’s Aspire program