Watch the full Local Focus interview for Gill Howard's views on the region's biggest issues, and our less important quickfire questions.
"It's very hard for people who have disadvantages to be heard," says Gill Howard. It's why she is running for council, despite being homeless until recently.
"Being heard is
not accessible to people without power or money."
Howard has been a beneficiary for 20 years and was homeless living in a caravan by the river for about a year. She found her way out by gatecrashing a social workers' meeting and personally tracking down the person she thought "seemed to be involved with the new social housing in Victoria Avenue".
Despite being in a building with four walls and a roof, she describes her living arrangement as "very scary" and says she has been accosted and frightened there.
