The pregnant couple who lived in a bed on a Cardiff roundabout because they had nowhere else to go

Ladislav Boldezersky holds a statuette of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. He lies next to his partner Nada Venglarova, who is five months pregnant, on a couch next to a busy roundabout near the center of Cardiff.

The bed sits between the roundabout traffic whizzing past and a brick wall scrawled with graffiti. Above, there is more traffic noise on the A4234 Central Link flyover. Beside the couple, who are from the Czech Republic, is a bedside table where they keep a pot and bottles of milk and water. And next to that is the shocking sight of a pram ready for the arrival of their first child together, although they expect their living arrangements to be very different by then.

Ladislav, a 56-year-old with a deep voice so soft it’s almost a whisper, points to the Madonna statuette and says, “This is Mary.” It’s one of the few moments we see him smiling. When asked about his faith, he says, “The only thing I ask of God is food for Nada and myself.”

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He and Nada, 43, have been together for five years. They have been living near the roundabout, which connects Tyndall Street and East Tyndall Street, for a month and a half since leaving Cardiff Council’s Ty Ephraim hostel. Ladislav says they had to leave the hostel because Nada doesn’t have a passport. When we later speak to the council, we are told that Ladislav can access homelessness services but Nada is not eligible because she does not have the right to reside in the UK. We understand that Nada had been allowed to stay at the hostel for two years because the accommodation was available to everyone during the Covid pandemic, but about six weeks ago she was told to leave. While Ladislav was allowed to keep his place at Ty Ephraim, his partner was not, so they both left.

When we tell the council that Nada is pregnant, their spokesperson says they were unaware of it. Then, within two hours, the spokesperson tells us that the council will allow the couple to stay together in Ladislav’s room at Ty Ephraim and that, as we speak, the council’s outreach team are helping to move their belongings back. Due to WalesOnline’s intervention, this will be allowed as an “exceptional circumstance” while Nada receives support from a charity to apply for citizenship. She will be allowed to stay in the hostel “until the application is processed”.

The previous evening, when we met the couple, the language barrier made it difficult to have a detailed conversation, but Ladislav’s despondency was clear. He says he has lived in Cardiff for 20 years and was a chef at a Pakistani restaurant on City Road until 10 years ago, when the business was sold. He has not worked since. His alcohol use became a problem after he lost his job and his addiction was made worse by severe back pain. Ladislav, who struggles to walk, recently lost his wheelchair and has been relying on Nada to help him get around. He says he has been waiting two years for a back operation and has sometimes thought about suicide. But he adds that these thoughts do not last because he knows his partner and unborn child need him. “That’s why I’m still here.”

We tell Ladislav that we were at the roundabout a few days earlier when he and Nada were not there and we saw packets of medication labelled with his name flying across the pavement. Ladislav explains that he is taking a number of medications for his severe depression, although he sometimes finds it difficult to “understand which tablets to take”. He shows us a letter his GP wrote to Ty Ephraim Hostel on 1 July. It reads: “Mr Boldezersky has asked me to write a letter explaining that he has a history of significant depression and anxiety, for which he takes regular medication. He feels that his current living arrangements are having a profound effect on his mental health and feels that more stable accommodation would greatly benefit him. He is concerned that if the situation does not improve, his mental health will continue to deteriorate.”

On the sidewalk near the couple’s couch is a mattress, which Ladislav says another homeless person sleeps on. They are friends with this person, but there have been tensions with other members of the community. Ladislav says the couple fear for their safety due to an altercation with some of these people. The tensions have led to people showing up daily and “causing trouble” for the couple, he adds.

“We are going to try to get a passport for Nada,” says Ladislav. “We are worried about what will happen if we are still homeless when the child is born. We may have to leave Wales. There are no jobs, no money, no support. I am worried about my baby.”

Last month, we reported that 858 people had reported homelessness in Cardiff since January. Separately, 596 people said they were at risk of becoming homeless during the same period. Among the most common reasons for homelessness or potential homelessness were violent relationship breakdown or the loss of rented accommodation. Reacting to the figures, Robin White from Shelter Cymru said: “We need to take action in the short, medium and long term, including an end to no-fault evictions to provide security of tenure, lobbying the Westminster Government to ensure the welfare system is fit for purpose in preventing homelessness and that Local Housing Benefit is set at a level that truly reflects rents, and finally an increase in the supply of genuinely affordable social housing, without which there is no way to end the housing emergency we face in Wales today.”