What can we do to help homeless starving people in the UK?

[Tweezerz]

Not an AIBU posting for traffic.

I live in London. Every single day I am approached by people who cannot afford to feed themselves or have nowhere to live who are forced to ask strangers for spare change for food. I know this has always happened but I'm noticing it more and more. Just now a young guy approached me saying he was autistic and was asking for money so he could eat today. He seemed so desperate. It's heartbreaking I gave him the few pounds I had in change but that is one meal. I don't know what to do to try and help on a larger scale. I donate to food banks etc but what's the solution to help these people who don't have anywhere to live or any money to live on? It is making me feel sick thinking about all of these people living hand to mouth.

After speaking to this guy briefly I rushed off as I'm late to meet a friend and I feel so guilty for not having a conversation with him and trying harder to help.

[patheticpanic]

The tories have announced that they are to support the building of more council houses, I find that incredibly hard to believe. Why would they? It hardly fits in with their view that everybody should provide for themselves and be self sufficient with money to buy what they can't generate for themselves.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

you mean the incentive to downsize for the house you really need and free the space for a bigger family who needs it?
That would be fair if there was alternative smaller accommodation available. Usually there isn't.

[sashh]

A man who has promised to end the wicked Bedroom Tax.

you mean the incentive to downsize for the house you really need and free the space for a bigger family who needs it?

And make landlords of one bedroom flats rich because they can charge more.

My home is HA two bed-roomed bungalow, it has been built to be accessible when I start to use a wheelchair more often, wold it be better for me to move to a one bedroom place that has to have £thousands spent to adapt it?

My parents were on a committee for disabled people in their local area, one thing they agreed with the local HA was not to build one bedroom places, purely because when people get older they may need a carer, if not all the time then part of the time.

Of course when Cameron's son died he wasn't faced with moving his other children out their home to a smaller place.

[Theweasleytwins]

When I'm in town I quite often see someone give the free coffee you get from waitrose to a homeless person

[Mumzypopz]

Sorry to say this, but there has very sadly always been homeless people in London, and there always will be. It doesn't matter what political party is running the country. There were plenty of homeless people when labour were in, and the same when the Tories were in. It really does make no difference at all. The most we can do is support food banks and organisations that can give them a bed for the night and support them back to work or whatever it might be that will help them.

[makeourfuture]

The most we can do is support food banks and organisations that can give them a bed for the night and support them back to work or whatever it might be that will help them.

Bullshit!

It's a perfect place for government to step in and work towards easing the problem. You don't just walk away from a problem because it is tough.

[strikhedonia]

Of course when Cameron's son died he wasn't faced with moving his other children out their home to a smaller place.

what a horrible horrible thing to say!

[PerkingFaintly]

Incentive to downsize to where, strikhedonia?

That's the problem with this emotional urge: it's idealistic and impractical.

Local authorities and now housing associations haven't built much in the way of one-bedroom units, for the extremely simple practical reason of flexibility over the decades of the building's life: a two-bed can be used for one person or for a family of three.

The upshot is there is usually nowhere for a single tenant of social housing to downsize to, within the social sector.

So they either
a) move into a one-room private unit which costs the council more in housing benefit than the two-room council flat
b) can't get anywhere at all because the private sector refuses tenants who receive housing benefit.

Generally the council tenant didn't chose the two-bedroom social housing place over a one-bedroom place; it's just what there was.

[Mumzypopz]

Make our future.....have you ever been to a city in another country that has no homelessness, I haven't found one yet. Unfortunately most cities have homelessness, for whatever reason. Yes, governments can step in, and most probably do, but my point was, there were plenty homelessness under labour too. There always will be. Under any government.

[PerkingFaintly]

And it's a horrible horrible thing that local councils do indeed say to people whose children have died.

If you don't like it, perhaps you should engage with the fact rather than shooting the messenger.

[FannyUmbongo]

My DD is at uni in Exeter. The amount of young homeless men and women is heartbreaking.

Am I doing the wrong thing by giving them my spare change?

[PerkingFaintly]

The article I linked above gives a very good description of the role government can play in reducing homelessness.

And the role current government policies have had in recently increasing it.

[strikhedonia]

The bedroom "tax" is not targeting 2 bedrooms specifically, you just get less benefit for every spare room you have. That sounds perfectly fair to me! It should also apply to private rental (even if not calculated in the same way)

[JeNeSuisPasVotreMiel]

Vote for a party that doesn't reward the rich whilst crushing the poor.

[specialsubject]

Use your vote.

Give your money to the expert charities working in this field - direct debit, not just giving etc. Support local charity shops with donations and purchases.

[strikhedonia]

PerkingFaintly

and it's a horrible horrible thing for people to lose their home when they stop paying the mortgage because they need to take lengthy time off when their child is dying!

and it's even more horrible for army families to have to leave their home when their dad won't come home because he served his country.

Relocating or encouraging a family from social housing to a space more adapted to them is not the same. How many council tenants believe their house is their forever home and they should be entitled to stay there for life? That's not right.

[ivykaty44]

Is it true that service men and ex prisoners are the largest % of people living rough/on the streets?

Do they end up drug taking to cope with this or is it visa versa or both?

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

Study demonstrating impact of bedroom tax
academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/38/2/197/1752995/A-qualitative-study-of-the-impact-of-the-UK

[strikhedonia]

participants to the study are hardly going to celebrate and give a positive testimony, are they...

[thesunpeeksthrough]

You are, yes, Fanny

[PerkingFaintly]

Yes, and IIRC the army a few years ago looked into families staying longer in army accommodation after a loss, because it was so disruptive. And has welfare officers whose job it is to help with resettlement - rightly so.

There's also a benefit called Support For Mortgage Interest for people with mortgages, again because of how hideous this problem is. Although if IIUC SMI has now been made more restrictive and is therefore less helpful.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

This was an independent study rather than newspaper propaganda. Read the cases and understand the impact on public health. £12 per week can mean the difference between eating and not or hearing and not. Even people who don't give a shit about anyone else can surely get that the cost/benefit isn't financially effective as pieces get picked up as yet another burden on the NHS, leading to costs far far more than £12 per week.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

'heating' not 'hearing'

[INeedAnAdult]

A friend of my father's goes out in the evenings giving out sandwiches. It isn't just homeless who know him and his sandwiches anymore, lots of local people with severe mental health problems who can't manage well and are clearly struggling also come to him for his sandwiches now.

It's either giving them food or donating to charities that help them. Tbh everybody says don't give them money because they'll buy drink or drugs. That's not doing anything, most will have addictions due to fucked up childhoods and/or mental health problems, nobody is going to fix their addiction without fixing those issues first and even if you don't give them money I guarantee they'll all still manage to get drugs or alcohol anyway, I've seen it a lot.

It's so horrible, but just giving them a home and money won't fix anything they need something else. Often, the support systems we have just aren't helping them. I don't know what the solution is, but they need to change tactics because whatever is happening for them now isn't stopping the cycle of addiction, mental health problems and homelessness.

[PerkingFaintly]

How many council tenants believe their house is their forever home and they should be entitled to stay there for life? That's not right.

Hope you're campaigning against "Right To Buy" then...