Tired of the performative beggars and alcoholics this time of year

Don't worry, @Nowherehere1 Ive reported it. The OP clearly wants the attention, and doesn't care they get it. Zero empathy, how low down can you go.

A national campaign asking people not to give to beggars would be a good idea.

Begging is an offence and being approached on the street by people hassling you for money is intimidating and people should not have to tolerate it. If people stopped giving to beggars and supported charities instead then they would be helping to reduce the problem.

It is very grim, but I mostly blame 14 years of Tory government that has made homelessness the worst it has ever been in my life. To the point that even in my outer London suburb here I see multiple homeless people on the short walk between the tube station and my house. The fact is so many people are so poor and housing is so unstable and overcrowded for many that it's all too easy to end up on the street if you don't have many resources. And lack of support and resources for mental health and addicition doesn't help.

People don't think 'I'd like some free soup a couple of times a week, I'm going to sleep on a grate in the freezing cold with the constant fear of assault and having everything I own nicked'.

This is one of the worst threads I’ve ever read on mn. I’ve worked with people who are homeless and the kinds of backgrounds some of these people come from and in an even in some cases where people had normal upbringings there was often severe mental health issues. I feel nothing but empathy and sadness for people who are literally sleeping on the streets in all kinds of weather .

In amongst those "beggars and addicts" could be veterans from our Armed Forces.

do you really know how you sound, OP?

My husband volunteers as a business advisor for homeless charities. He was told that ,in countries like South Africa, homelessness is caused by poverty. In the UK its mental health problems that cause people to end up on the streets. Once they are there drugs and alcohol provide an escape from the hell of their lives. Once you are an addict with mental health problems you are hugely difficult to help.
I used to buy the Big Issue. I don't buy it from the Roma sellers.

Yes! Or we could put the unwell ones in hospitals for long term stays 😎

We met a couple who genuinely worked for a homeless charity and they said not to give to randoms on the street it’s not helpful.

This happened in one town I lived in a few years ago, a few "homeless" appeared a few weeks before Xmas. Pulled on everyone's heart string , one guys sister even went on social media and told people he wasn't homeless and not to give him anything. They got money , new clothes , gifts of All sorts and a few days before Christmas they vanished. Just like the sister had predicted.
Not every person on the street is genuine , professional begging gangs are a thing.

Yes, there will be some “professional” beggars, although I wonder how shit your life must be to consider this as a career.

However, where I live (obvious) there are homeless men and women who are “bedded down” for the night and are still in their shop doorway at dawn. The support services and charities are overwhelmed and can’t accommodate them all.

I regularly donate old bedding, or buy coffees and burgers or chocolate for rough sleepers I pass. I really don’t want them to be there at all, but until the government funds public services better, this problem will get worse.

Signs all over a big town locally requesting folk not give money to beggars, but give to homeless charities as an alternative, due to drug/violence/trafficking issues. They've done a lot of work on homelessness in the town so most of the supposedly homeless beggars are actually grifters. There are a few hard core homeless who will not accept help to get off the streets ( but will accept money.....)

Are there no prisons? And the union workhouses?

So sorry you are having to suffer this, OP.

Thoughts and prayers with you.

I think this has caused people to become completely unsympathetic and frustrated towards homeless people.

There is very obviously gang-driven begging nationwide in the UK now, these are not people who have fallen into homelessness because of X or Y - it’s a way of life and they’re doing it for the money (which I assume goes to their home country).

Given you can see them on most high streets in Britain now, I’m not really clear why the police aren’t doing anything about them.

Wow, I don't actually know what to say to that.

I don’t think you get it to be honest, those alcoholic’s and drug addicts are probably genuinely homeless.

What made you choose that name for yourself OP ?

Are you ever tempted to "choose" a life of drug abuse and homelessness OP? If not, why not?

It’s all of our problem, if you want it to change then we have to force the government to make it change. How “in your face” it gets is exactly how in your face it has to get before snobs tell the government they’ve had enough and the government make better provision for society’s needy, and that includes all the children born.

Try working for a homeless charity, it will open your eyes and show you the reality of homelessness and how people get into that situation. Yes there are services out there but they’re so stretched they cannot help everyone.

Scammers are in all walks of life, those on the streets are just more visible.

Two varieties of this I see now (central London):

First is the proper drug addicts. They look awful. Often living in a pile of rubbish as described. Whole situation desperate as there don’t seem to be any decent services for those in the grip of addiction. Sometimes to be found lying unconscious in the street or tube entrances. Sometimes with limited clothes on. Very distressing.

The second is the shipped-in Roma crowd. Absolutely prolific at all times of year. On my local bit of high street there’s a different pair every day pretty much - all have the same odd signs with hyphens between each word (so they are identifiable?). Often much older women etc.

The same brand of beggar I get near my office are like this but more extreme. A crutch is almost obligatory now - I’ve seen groups of them arrive on the train before, all on crutches… it’s not uncommon for them to have a terrible wound somewhere they’re showing off. They usually don’t have shoes on.

They are controlled by gangs (I know this was assaulted by one and the police told me this was the case). I’m not really clear why they aren’t arrested and made to leave the country.

I agree that some are scams, the common writing on notices by them asking for help is something I have noticed.

Donate to a charity who will use it wisely.

Like everything else if there’s money to be made the scammers move in.

I never give money to beggars or Big Issue sellers. Mostly Eastern European women in my town. Why leave your home in Europe to become ‘homeless’ in another country?