It’s hard to not believe Wesley Hall when he talks. In his recent interview with the BBC concerning the Manchester Angels — a homeless activist group he leads — being granted permission to squat in a building by Gary Neville, he cuts a contrasting figure to the other homeless men that preceed him. They, as well-meaning and nice as they seem, cannot match Hall’s obvious wit and conviction.
Hearing him talk, it boggles the mind that Wesley Hall is homeless, but it makes all the sense in the world that he is the leader of the Manchester Angels.
But for Hall, it appears, the only confounding thing about all this is that it was Gary Neville of all people that gave Hall and his group permission to live in an abandoned building.
"It's crazy because my little brother is a Man United fan and I spent 10 years of my life in a Man United bedroom because Burnley didn't do wallpaper," Hall said according to the Mirror.
"I grew up hating Man United, now I love [Gary Neville].”
That love is born from the fact that Hall and his Manchester Angels will now have a place to legally stay through most of the cold months of winter this year.
They had originally broken into the abandoned building intending to use squatter’s rights to stay there, but feared that the building’s owners would want to kick them out. Gary Neville — who owns the building along with Ryan Giggs with the intent of turning it into a hotel — allayed those fears and gave permission to stay during a phone call he had with Hall.
Hall admits to crying during the phone call, and even though he and his group can only stay until January, he has big plans. He wants to create a community hub for the homeless; they will not turn the building granted to them into a drug den or “party place.”
“We’re going to literally sign-post people to the professional services, get recovery groups involved, get the mental health support involved, get people who can offer work, jobs, intervention, and get all them to facilitate that all under one roof.”
Well aren't you in luck? Photo: @ManUnited_Hub | Twitter
While we don’t have a transcript between the phone call that occurred between Hall and Neville, if Hall spoke of all of those plans with the conviction he had in his BBC interview, then it is no surprise that Neville allowed the Manchester Angels to stay. All of those plans show a real ambition to change the lives of homeless people for the better, and get them operating as a self-reliant human beings. This community hub, as it is said to become, can be a life-changing place.
The building itself is an old stock exchange, and during the Manchester Angels’ time living in it the group plans on cleaning the place up, maintaining it, and furnishing it all by themselves. They do not take financial donations, and that policy seems to be a very important one for the organization.
“We’ve made a point that Manchester Angels will not take financial donations.” said Hall. “If we need sleeping bags, we’ll ask for sleeping bags. If we need cameras, we’ll ask for cameras. If we need beds, we’ll ask for beds.”
True to form, Hall has taken to Twitter and Facebook to ask for security firms to get involved with protecting the property from other, malevolent homeless people.
We are desperate for security firms to get involved in protecting Gary Nevilles property that he's kindly allowed... http://t.co/cwkly49Mcp
— Wesley Hall (@ukstreetangels) October 19, 2015While he never expressly says so, this lack of accepting money has to help curb the purchase of drugs, which in turn curbs the kinds of drug use that can derail a homeless person’s betterment, or even prevent it from beginning at all.
“We believe that money is the root of all evil.”
It is indeed ironic then, as Hall points out, that they will be staying in an old stock exchange. Even more so that the man who has allowed the stay in it used to be known as a devil.
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