To be appalled at the growing number of homeless on the streets.

[heartskey]

There never used to be this many. I think it's scandalous that we have so many with nowhere to sleep. The government don't seem to give a toss. I can't imagine how awful it must be to have to sleep in a cold damp shop doorway on these cold nights. So many young men and increasingly young women having to sleep rough. Our government should be ashamed to just ignore what's going on. That's it really, just needed to vent.

On the whole it isn't due to a lack of housing but a lack of adequate care for addiction issues, mental health issues and counselling for childhood trauma.

Most homeless people have drug addictions, alcohol addictions or mental health issues. Many have suffered abuse or trauma in childhood. Most will deny or try to hide their addictions but in my experience at least 90% will be drug users. People try to kid themselves that 'there are some who are drug users but most aren't' or 'well I'd be driven to drugs if I was on the steeet too', but in my experience there are very few long term homeless people who aren't addicted to drugs and in the vast majority of cases they became homeless because of their drug addiction, not the other way around.

I was street homeless for a while and the fact that I wasn't drinking or using drugs was a major talking point among the other homeless people I knew, because it was so unusual. I managed to get into accommodation and reintegrated into 'normal' life very quickly. If you genuinely have no issues except needing a roof over your head you can generally get off the streets quite quickly.

The problem is not lack of accommodation, there's plenty of accommodation. Most of the homeless people you meet will have been repeatedly housed and lost that accommodation each time due to antisocial behaviour, rent arrears etc. stemming from their addictions and chaotic lifestyles. Often these people have never lived a 'normal' life so even when they're given accommodation and financial help they struggle to sustain it. Accommodation and even rehab does nothing to address the underlying issues which drove them to become homeless and addicted in the first place.

What does help is long term residential rehab, where they don't just physically detox from drugs but where they receive counselling and a high level of support to help them learn the skills they need to live a functioning life. They relearn all the skills they may have forgotten or never had in the first place - how to cook, how to budget, how to sustain healthy relationships. They are encouraged into work or college so they have something to focus on and structure their life around, rather than having nothing to do with their time and fallong back into old habits . The support around them is slowly decreased as they become more independent.

That sort of rehab has a much higher success rate than just putting someone into a 30 day detox or giving them a bedsit. IMO that's where we should be focusing money, on addressing the underlying causes which caused them to become homeless in the first place.

However blaming the govt. (any govt, any party) isn't really the answer. They are trying to run the country on too little money and it is an impossible situation. Essential and necessary things have been cut because they can't be paid for.

The UK is the sixth largest economy in the world. The government could absolutely afford to do something about homelessness if it chose to. It has managed, after all, to pay for tax cuts to the highest earners. Deliberate policy choices such as benefits cuts and sanctions, cuts to mental health services and lack of social care have all contributed to increased levels of homelessness.

In my opinion, the worst thing is how successfully they have managed to create the impression that homelessness and food banks are necessary owing to our country's "poverty" while all the time painting vulnerable people as "lazy" or "feckless". Especially if they are foreign of course.

I work in an area that supports homelessness support and people in crisis. My wages are shit for what I do but it's mostly OK. One of the positives in my role is figuring out how to make services effective in the current environment. We need to preserve front line services somehow.

Livelovebehappy there's billions available for bombing Syria, for HS2 (let's shave 10 minutes off a train journey), for Trident etc. The national debt has accumulated faster under this 'austerity'govt than any other, housing costs (and therefore in work housing benefit costs) have rocketed. On failed free schools. On a badly referendum. Fixing preventable outcomes have increased costs.
We have wasted a fortune that could have been spent on making society more equal. It's gone. To shareholders here and abroad.
This government has increased inequality. There's no money in the pot if you're poor.

I'm angry so many people wanted benefits cuts and sanctions, and also choose to label all homeless people as alcoholic drug addicts.
Talk about blinkered.

YANBU

Vote for Tories, get homelessness.

I started a thread before the last GE asking of people who voted Tory should feel personally responsible when they see homeless people. The consensus was no, because they didn't realise the link, and they couldn't be held responsible if they didn't know.

Well, a general election later homelessness is still rising. Are the Tory voters here seeing the link yet? Feeling like changing your vote yet?

If you vote Tory you should hang your head in shame when you see homeless people IMO.

YANBU. it's heartbreaking. I'm from the UK but living in Vancouver at the moment and the effects of the lack of an adequate social safety net are very visible. So many obviously physically or mentally disabled homeless people everywhere. I think the UK is heading in the same direction as north America and its a tragedy.

I blame the bedroom tax. Evicting people who can't move because there is no property smaller and can't afford the bedroom tax.

The council do not have any legal obligation to rehouse these people as they have made themselves voluntarily homeless.

What's a person meant to do

There are people who actually believe there isn't enough money for the NHS etc.? How does one come to buy that shit?

Homelessness, failing schools, children disappearing from care homes, untrained police, jobcentre sanctions, poor services, overcrowded prisons and riots, big brother watching, etc. Could this be the new world order people are talking about?

Heartskey, yes the government did know that these actions would cause homelessness. But I think they view it as collateral damage to the greater plan

Last Christmas I was late night shopping with my ds who was 12, I was absolutely horrified at the amount of rough sleepers, really upset me and I felt so guilty that I was so naive to think this wasn't happening. Ds pointed out a young man crying in a doorway and we asked what he needed, he was starving, we bought him some hot food and a drink after asking what he liked, he was extremely grateful. I couldn't stop thinking about him for days.

He is somebody's son. My ds has AS and sometimes struggles with empathy but by god he totally got it that night, we both went home a little different.

What's lacking with some people is compassion, I don't get it.
Nobody is immune to being homeless.

well said firesquirel
long term psychiatric residential homes use to house many of these people. I'm not sure what types of housing will be needed in the future for this group I just don't see how it wouldn't be a large group residential set up.

Most people do not realise how easy it is to end up homeless. Especially if you are young, single and don't have supportive family.

There is virtually no accessible help for adults (over 18) for mental health problems. The person has to be able and willing to negotiate the system themselves. This is unlikely to happen for reasons that are self evident.

My lovely DS donated regularly for years to a charity for the homeless.
He suffered from mental health problems and he knew how easily he could have ended up on the street without family support. He lost his job through no fault of his own and it was a downward spiral from there.

He is now dead . At his funeral we asked for donations to his charity and raised over £2K.

It is so easy to donate as little as £5 a month by standing order. If you are a tax payer, fill in the forms and the charity will get 25% extra. Donate directly if you can. Sites like "just giving" take a slice of your donation as their fee - if you donate directly the charity gets more.

This government cares nothing for the sick and the vulnerable.
If you care, choose a charity that you have researched carefully and support it.

Volunteer if you can.

There were two or three rough sleepers in our town, including a lady in her 50s. She ended up homeless after her husband died and she was made redundant around the same time. She had a breakdown, and suffered a lot on the street. Verbal abuse, being pissed on whilst sleeping in doorways, and culminating in being set on fire. She got a hostel placement and help after eventually being released from hospital, but died a year or so later.

Now there's more rough sleepers, and even more beggars. There are others with similar stories - mental health issues, job loss or businesses failing, bereavement and relationship breakdown, as well as substance or alcohol abuse problems.

Regardless of the reason, they're all human beings that should be treated with compassion - I don't think anybody decided that they prefer sleeping in the street to getting a job, some just don't have the support network to fight their corner and help out when things go wrong.

We solved homelessness. The UK was a guiding light in how to get people off the streets. From the 1980s through the Rough Sleepers Initiative. It was cheap, effective and saved lives.

Then people decided to bring back cutthroat capitalism and the result was always going to be people sleeping in doorways.

And people sleeping on the streets is really expensive. Much more expensive than housing people. But it keeps the people in line. When there's no safety net we'll all work three jobs and blame each other.

I'm extremely bitter. Because I was one of those front line shelter workers who got all those people off the streets in the 1990s. I was really proud of what we accomplished.

We live in a fairly affluent area and still see plenty of rough sleepers. It's heart breaking.
Our towns soup kitchen was shut down a few years ago after complaints from residence. The soup kitchen had been there since I was young so I'm not sure why it was suddenly a problem.
The local churches operate a scheme through the winter allowing the homeless to sleep there during the coldest months.
It shouldn't be up to the churches and charities to fix this problem though.

I have had arguments with my in laws before about homelessness. Most of them truly seem to believe that they are all lazy good for nothings. (Supposedly Christian family.)
I try to tell myself it's a defensive mechanism, that they say these things to convince themselves it will never happen to them. However I can't help but think less of them as people.

MrsTerryPratchett Thank you for all that you did. Do you still work in that area?
Any advice as to how we could all help?

What a shame Micropenis got hit with the ban hammer. No time to reply properly, am off to work.

Im my Area we only have about 800 council house's left in the entire city which the council are trying to demolish as and when they become vacant. Council Tax and Rent are sky high and don't reflect the average earnings people earn here, Me and DP are facing a tough few months to pay the rent and council tax till Feb when money picks up again but it is frightening to be laid in bed at night worrying about money and asking yourself why you aren't entitled to help or why the money you work 48hrs a week for isn't enough to even break even each month living on the bare minimum with no frills at all this government has a lot to answer for.

What can we do on a practical level? When I see homeless people I'm never sure what to do/fear of embarrassing them etc etc Shall I just get them a hot drink/food?
Glad to see GF has gone.
Accutely aware we are all only a few mortgage payments away from homelessness when my dh lost his job 3 years ago.
Have BI sellers got themselves sorted? Are they on their way back to getting a home etc?
We're still pretty skint but would lie to do something to help. If our dd was a bit older think we'd do volunteering (with her) at Xmas.

Love not lie!

I would also like some advice on what to do, specifically, to help. I see there are several people who have worked extensively in this area. What is the best way to donate money? Can someone recommend a few charities who really get the most "bang for their buck" with money that is donated?