Toni Swyer and Mark Hilton enjoyed being in their new flat (Picture: BPM)

A couple who found love living on the streets are back sleeping in a doorway after they were evicted from their dream home.

Toni Swyer, 44, and Mark Hilton, 42, got the keys to their new flat in February – but due to their benefits being cut they are back living on Hull’s streets.

Murder investigation after 'particularly violent' stabbing near Manchester

The couple claim a block was put on their benefits so they were unable to pay rent or bills.

Toni told the Hull Daily Mail: ‘Life is cruel. It’s like we have been set up to fail.


‘We really thought we had turned a corner, improved our lives, now here we are back in the same doorway.

Toni lived in a squat for part of last year before getting a home (Picture: BPM)

‘They’ve told us we didn’t show up for medicals in Stanley Street but we never got a letter or anything. We’ve tried ringing the benefits people but we’ve heard nothing.’



Between them the couple had spent decades living on the streets but their luck changed when they began squatting in a giant town centre tower block last year.

They were one of ten squatters, which MRC Lettings, which owns the building, found homes for to end the dispute.

But their feel-good story which saw them being given the keys in February quickly turned into a nightmare when their benefits were cut.

Mark HIlton is back sleeping in the same doorway he was in before finding a home (Picture: BPM)

Toni claims the pair are not drug-addicts despite Mark overdosing on Spice after he found a discarded roll-up cigarette on the floor and smoked it.

The pair are back to living hour-to-hour relying on the generosity of passerby and total strangers but wanted their story to be a warning to others who are on the brink of homelessness

MORE: YouTube prankster arrested for breaking into EastEnders and taking a poo on Arthur’s bench

MORE: Georgia May Jagger ‘dating’ ex con turned rapper Norman Theuerkorn after splitting with boyfriend