When Farhad moved to Manchester in 1975, he was just 15 years old. Besides one trip back to Iran three years later, he has never returned to his country of birth. In fact, he has hardly left the UK.
A grandfather of four and great-grandfather of two, he had a 'comfortable' life here, with a career as a building surveyor taking him all over the country. But everything changed when he received a letter from the Home Office in 2015. A few years later, he was homeless.
Like members of the Windrush generation who came from the Caribbean after the Second World War, he was unable to prove that he had the right to live in the UK. As a result, he was threatened with deportation to a country he hardly had any connection to anymore. READ MORE: Mum, 44, 'doesn't know how long she can manage like this' - and she is far from alone After spending thousands of pounds on legal fees to apply for visas, Farhad eventually ran out of money and could not afford to renew it.
At the time, he was working in Chester, maintaining the vicarages and listed buildings belonging to the Church of England. He had a company car and a 'luxury' flat that he got at a discounted rate. But with no visa, he had no right to work and lost everything.
Farhad lost his job, his flat and his car in 2020 (Image: Kenny Brown) "My flat in Chester had two bedrooms," he said. "It was like a luxury flat, five minutes from Chester station in a place called Hoole. "Very cosmopolitan.
Then I had to go to hotels and hostels support.