Paul Hallas knows better than most that without a home, it’s hard to get a job – and the same is true in reverse. His problem was that as soon as landlords heard about his past, they turned him away.

He’d spent six months in prison for burglary. “It was something stupid I did while drunk,” he says.

So, when Paul was released in January last year, he ended up homeless. “I can’t get accepted on a housing waiting list because of my past, and I tried numerous private landlords to no avail,” he says.

Fortunately, he was offered a place in supported accommodation for homeless people, in Dragonville, Durham, run by Durham Action on Single Housing.

The move meant that Paul could start to put his life back together. He contacted his old employer, a wholesale catering firm based four miles away, and when a vacancy came up, he was offered the job. “I’m a good worker, always on time, always taking overtime,” he says. “I like the work and it’s decent pay.”

Now he’s trying to sort out his money problems, with help from DASH. He’s paying off debts and starting to save, as the only way forward, he thinks, will be to find private rented housing.

“It takes time,” he says. “It is hard but I have to stick at it.”