Is it all the Tories fault that there's so many homeless people?

[Rosepetalgeranium]

There's so many more homeless thesedays. Is it down to austerity?

No

As already stated many of those who are homeless, if each given their own home, would not be able to manage. Surely the first step is providing each person a private room in a secure hostel type place, with staff. Once they have any MH/drug problems identified and controlled then they go on to house-sharing etc, and so on. Surely that's where money should be spent. Society does not 'owe' each person a home of their own, but it does owe them shelter, food, and access to medical and social welfare.

I think drugs are rife because lots of people are in pain, psychological or emotional pain, and are self medicating

Society does not 'owe' each person a home of their own, but it does owe them shelter, food, and access to medical and social welfare.

This needs to be put on a billboard. In fact hundreds of them. Access to these things are either non existent or bloody hard to get to and that IS because of the Tories.

I think society does owe everyone at home, without home you cannot function you cannot be a part of society, I don't mean everyone should be given a three-bedroomed house I mean everyone should have access to secure and affordable accommodation
we are a rich modern liberal society we should be able to do this
the fact that we dont send a message that a certain sector of society are an underclass who don't deserve even the basic requirements for modern Life

I agree gingham...it’s frightening the amount of people that are rudderless in our society.
I really fear what is going to happen as more people struggle on UC

Much of the wealth in society is being hoovered up by people who predate on the masses, for example the tech giants Google is worth astronomical amounts but all the work training improving the AI is done by us
all the data that is sold to advertisers is created by and belongs to us
all the content for Facebook comes from the work provided for free by the people who use Facebook
We all work together to create society but the benefits go to the few at the top and now we have a large under class who can't even access the basic fundamentals of modern life

It is usually a mixture of mental health problems (long term and short term), some form of non-neurotypical mental disability (or whatever the current PC thing is to describe it, things like autism seem to factor high in the perpetual homeless I know),

I have long believed that undiagnosed spectrum conditions play a huge part in the homelessness epidemic and also are a major contributor to the numbers of people with substance abuse problems. I have children with autism and worked in an NHS department of adult psychiatry with a homelessness outreach team in London for a few years where psychiatrists of many years experience said the same. I was absolutely ripped to shreds repeatedly here on MN for suggesting this a couple of years ago so never said it again. Interesting to see it being raised again.

Yes. We didn’t have homeless people on the streets/rough sleepers in our town (generally- officially there was 1. Yes, 1). Since the introduction of Universal Credit in our area we now have a number of people on the street. I have no doubt they are genuine, most are not begging and they are out even when it is freezing, and our town is tiny and not that busy, so there is no money to be made begging. I spoke to a man the other day, his private tenancy had come to an end, he couldn’t get anywhere else due to being on benefits, was not a priority with the council for social housing, and so he ended up on the streets. Private developers keep building massive posh houses out our way, or “exclusively private” developments (ie no pesky social housing). There is a lack of housing for normal people, and the government are doing nothing to reciting this situation.

Why didn't the last Labour government build millions of homes for the poor, you know, "social housing"? Why didn't they ban "right to buy"? They hardly built any new social homes in 13 years of power

I'm not sure they caused the problems in the first place but I do believe they have made matters worse.

I moved to the city I live in three years ago, in that time the number of people sleeping on the streets has increased dramatically in the city centre. There are sleeping bags in the door way of every empty shop and tents in lots of car parks etc.

Could some of these problems been caused also by the closing of mental health asylums? Where do the people gp who would have previously been detained? I know it was a long time ago that they were closed ...

It seems there is very little social housing or sheltered accommodation available.

Also making people with disabilities and most importantly mental health problems use the same (UC) system as people who are out of work seems incredibly cruel. The system seems difficult to navigate at the best of times.

Surely we need more social housing without creating ghettos, which must be difficult. We need all pay more tax in, alongside taking appropriate levels of tax from the wealthiest businesses.

More hostels, more shared occupancy in a decent house. More availability to mental health/support services. But i do think we need more Policing to avoid exploitation, poverty/addiction linked crime. If people are provided decent secure shelter they should be able to abide by certain rules and rampant drug use, noise and all hours etc isn't acceptable.

There is a road not far from me where 60/70% of the houses and flats are owned by one landlord. They are all rented out to people with drug issues, mental health problems and ex con's. The landlord takes an absolute wad in housing benefit and is a millionaire. The flats and houses are disgraceful and in a poor state of repair. He is literally taking the piss out of the most desperate and vulnerable in society whilst creating a no go area.

I moved near to a very large town 7 years ago. 7 years ago it was rare to see someone homeless. Now I lose count of them when walking a relatively short distance.

I am not naive, I know that no society will ever eradicate homelessness completely as many are very complex cases.

But it is all so very wrong right now, so many little and big changes to policies here and there over the past 10 years, is fuelling this continual rise in homelessness.

in the last 7 years I've supported 2 families who were made homeless, not in your face on the streets type. But having to sit tight whilst a court order is got to have them evicted, because their private rent landlord wants to sell (nothing wrong with that) but now most rents are out of reach for many and even if you only claim a top up of housing benefit, letting agents will not give you the time of day. The council will only help if you are made homeless by court order and bailiffs. Then you are put in emergency accommodation (sleezy, dirty B&B) which could be miles away from DC school and your work. the guidelines are you shouldn't be there more then 6 weeks. Hahahaaa try 3 -6 months or more. Then if you are lucky you may get temporarily accommodation,(flat or house) again could be miles away from school and work, you then wait weeks but could be months years, before permanent accommodation can be found.

He is literally taking the piss out of the most desperate and vulnerable in society whilst creating a no go area
This landlord is having a destructive and degrading influence on society yet probably feels he has the moral high ground because he has created a property empire and is materially successful

he is not just a parasite he is a pox on society

Yes in part
But consecutive governments haven't built enough council and/or affordable housing so it's not a single party issue

private rent landlord wants to sell (nothing wrong with that)
except it is wrong surely that a landlord should be able to just take away someone's home on a whim

Our housing association is ghetto creating quite deliberately.

I don’t know how anyone could vote for a party that thinks Universal Credit is a good idea. It’s even costing more than the existing benefits.

It’s all a choice the Tories have made and social engineering at its worst - like the Bedroom Tax.

Posted too soon. Labour could, and should, have done more but New Labour were as neoliberal as the Tories and not as honest as to how much they were robbing us.

I am homeless. Not street homeless thank fuck but homeless. I was on benefits and a part of my job seekers agreement was that I attended college. The office I signed on at outsourced their jobsearch service whose staff had targets to meet to get people off the books. They lied about me, claiming I refused to apply for a job because the hours clashed with my lifestyle. The hours clashed with my study time which meant I would've broken my job seekers' agreement.

I got sanctioned and all my benefits were stopped. After my savings ran out I sold my tv, my PS2, my guitar and amp, and anything else I could to keep a roof over my head until there was nothing left. I went to see my landlady and discussed it with her and she agreed I could leave with no notice and therefore no debt. I had 6 weeks on the street and it was fucking terrifying. I now live in empty commercial properties. I work via agencies as I don't know where I'm going to be living any given month. Over the 7 years I've been homeless I've seen it get worse so yes, I blame this government.

To those who posted supporting austerity, here's a truth; austerity is fucking the local economy. It's why small shops are closing. Taking money from the pockets of those who spend most of their income is short sighted and increases consumer debt. Putting more money in the pockets of the rich adds nothing to the economy, especially the local economy.

May has said she wants policies that work for all: she is yet to implement even one policy that works for those other than those like her husband. Her party give not one single fuck about you unless you either have money or vote for them.

Thanks for the tag @HelenaDove. Here's hoping you are well.

I don’t know how anyone could vote for a party that thinks Universal Credit is a good idea. It’s even costing more than the existing benefits.

Considering it has cross party support and the only outcrys about it are due to implementation I'm not sure your political tub thumping is coming from a basis of facts

Shops are closing, the high street is dying to try and insinuate it's down to austerity instead of the multitude of compounding factors then it's clear you have no grasp of any facts

No. We have a culture problem. A long term one that’s arisen over several governments. Society don’t give a shit. Homeless don’t give a shit. Prison sentences are shorter for petty crimes due to lack of space in prisons keeping many previously ‘locked up’ homeless on the streets.
Tented communities exist in my area. These people don’t want to be in accommodation provided to them and tbh I don’t think they’d cope if they had to go into it because they’re all off their heads on one thing or another.

My dad who’s 87 sat on his favourite bench he’s sat on for last 50 years. My dad is from extreme poverty due to his age from a time before nhs and benefits existed etc and he thinks it’s disgusting how they act. A homeless guy asked him for some money. My dad said he hadn’t got any (he doesn’t he’s still in bloody poverty) the guy got so aggressive with my dad my dads scared to walk the same route.

We can blame it on the government, we can blame it on people not caring but I blame the mindset of people growing up today. That it’s acceptable to treat others like shit/take drugs when the going gets tough/abuse people and say it’s because of xyz. This goes for general public and homeless themselves. There is such a lack of compassion everywhere and also a lack of care for anyone other than oneself. Labour can’t fix this, they didn’t in their last run. They just gave too much money to the wrong sorts in a lot of cases and all that happened was they spent more on drugs until they came unstuck and went to prison.

If you don’t come from an area that homelessness is prevalent it’s easy to imagine these people would be happier and live happily ever after if only they were given more benefits. This simply is not true. Some of these people especially those taking things such as spice are just too far gone. We need to move forward and accept that a welfare system that funds entire lifestyles just isn’t sustainable.

I do think over the last five years or so there has been a steady increase in visible homeless people sleeping rough, especially in our cities. I agree with PPs that street homelesness is a complex issue, but I think one thing you can look at is cuts to mental health services. Equally many charities supporting these people and offering them help have seen funding cuts. Just because it is a hard issue to solve doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

Statistically there has been a rise in hidden homelessness, so those not sleeping on the streets but in spare rooms or temporary accommodation. This can't be separated from tory policies around the bedroom tax and universal credit. Universal credit especially is making private landlords reluctant to rent to people they would have done in the past as problems with payment quickly lead to rent arrears. This is absolutely linked to tory policies.

Long term, taking away the stake people have in society cannot be a good move. If people have homes and jobs they contribute. If they lose their home and maybe as a consequence their job then some will become more and more desperate. Some people may turn to drugs or crime and end up street homeless as well.

The UC policies don't help the rise in homeless. I was homeless (not Street homeless) and was living in mental health supported accommodation. When I got a flat I had to pay 4 weeks up front because of UC. How many homeless people have that?

It left me pretty short for the rest of the month.

Plus austerity has taken many support services away so more people are struggling.