‘I had a good life and I lost it’: How one man survived four years on the streets

A former European Commission employee, Latyr had been living a stable middle-class life in Belgium. But that stability gave way to uncertainty almost overnight, as he found himself sleeping in a tent on the streets of Spain. There, he remained trapped for nearly four years while authorities investigated a fraud case. He was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.

Now, at the World Urban Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan, he is sharing his story publicly through the documentary What Nobody Wants to See.

At WUF13, UN-Habitat has brought together partners including The Gere Foundation and HOGAR SÍ to place homelessness at the center of the global urban agenda - highlighting not only the scale of the crisis, but also the possibility of ending it.

HOGAR SÍ, a non-profit, independent organization founded in 1998, works to end homelessness in Spain. Over more than 25 years, it has supported more than 10,000 people across 11 regions by focusing on housing solutions and defending human rights - among them, Latyr.

"I had a good life," Latyr told UN News on the sidelines of the forum. "And I lost it from one day to another."

A journey that never ended

When Latyr arrived in Spain, he expected to stay only three days.

At the time, he was around 40 years old, living in Belgium. He had just gone through a divorce and lost his job at the European Commission. Still, he had a family, children and what he describes as a "normal life". Then came a decision that changed everything.

Some people approached him with what appeared to be a legitimate bank transaction involving a cheque. Thioye never even touched the document himself - he simply asked for it to be sent directly to his bank in Spain.

But when the cheque arrived, bank officials discovered it was forged.

Authorities confiscated his passport, bank cards and documents while they investigated what they suspected might be part of a larger criminal network.

"They told me: you have to stay in Spain. You cannot leave the country until the investigation is finished," he said.

Every month, he had to appear before a judge and sign papers proving he was still there.

He could have fled. There were no real border controls preventing him from leaving Spain for another European country. But he chose not to.

"I didn't want to take that risk," he said quietly.

Life under the trees

Instead, he stayed - and slowly slipped into homelessness.

For nearly four years, Latyr lived on the streets. Alone in a foreign country and unable to work legally without identification papers, he survived day by day.

He found a small community of homeless people living in tents beneath trees near a wooded area. Together, they created a fragile version of ordinary life.

"We were well organized in our place," he recalled. "We bought vegetables, meat, little things for cooking. We tried to make life."

To survive, he took informal jobs at street markets, helping vendors move boxes of fruit and vegetables. Despite holding degrees in economics and finance, he earned just enough money to buy food and basic supplies.

"It was surviving," he said.

Illness - and a turning point

Then came illness.

Doctors first diagnosed him with emphysema. Later, he learned he had lung cancer. Although Spain offers medical care to those in need, treatment was not straightforward.

"The doctor told me: if I give you chemotherapy while you are living in the street, you are going to die," Latyr recalled.

The treatment was too aggressive, he was told. He needed a safe place to rest, eat properly and take medication regularly.

That was when HOGAR SÍ stepped in. The organization placed him in a shelter known as "Espacio Salut" - literally "health space" - where he received a bed, meals and support while undergoing chemotherapy.

"That saved my life," he said. "But it also gave me the opportunity to get out from the streets."

Slowly, he began rebuilding. Drawing on his background in economics and finance, he started taking freelance assignments on his laptop. Former contacts and clients from London, France and the United States began sending him work remotely.

Years later, he still struggles to understand how quickly an ordinary life can collapse.

"Sometimes, when you are down and not very strong in your mind, you can make mistakes," he reflected. "And those mistakes can take you very far from reality."

'Four years of my life gone'

What still pains him most is that, after years of investigation, authorities eventually returned his passport and belongings without explanation. No charges were ever brought against him.

"They said: okay, take back your passport, take back your laptop," he recalled. "And that was all."

By then, four years of his life were gone.

Today, Latyr speaks publicly about homelessness through the documentary What Nobody Wants to See. At the World Urban Forum, his message was directed not only at governments, but also at businesses and housing developers.

A crisis that can be solved

He believes homelessness is solvable.

According to him, Spain has around 37,000 people living on the streets - a number he considers manageable for a country of nearly 50 million people.

"If they want to stop it right now, they have the means," he said.

He points to partnerships between non-profit organizations and private real estate companies already exploring affordable housing initiatives for vulnerable people.

"There is something really possible to do," he said. "We just need to think about the right business model and how to connect all these organizations together."

For Latyr, homelessness is not simply about lacking a roof over one's head. It is about losing dignity, identity and connection to society - often through a chain of events that can begin much faster than people imagine.

UN News is in Baku covering the Summit throughout the week. Follow along here.