About homeless people?

[Catabogus]

Am I being unreasonable (or more likely, dim) not to understand why there are now so many more homeless people on the streets than there were 10 years ago?

I’m partly talking about London - I have started going semi-regularly in the early morning for work, and I am shocked to see very how many people there are now obviously sleeping on the streets. It’s far, far more than 10 years ago.

But I’m also talking about the much smaller city where I live. There are now people almost ‘camping’ in doorways: they’ve set up sleeping bags and boxes and cardboard and are obviously there night after night, in the cold and rain.

There have always been one or two well-known “tramps” in my city, and one younger man who was suspected of actually having a nice home to go to at night despite making money from begging in the day, but these are now young and old, men and women, far more than I’ve ever seen before, and they are clearly living year round, day and night, in all weathers, on the streets.

AIBU to be shocked? Are we going backwards as a society? Is it the benefits system that is failing and causing this? Or other things I’m missing? I feel really depressed about it.

@Madein1995 you're spot on here. People don't become alcoholics or drug addicts for fun - sure, maybe a few rich rock stars like Cerys Matthews or whoever, but like I said elsewhere, all the people Mum met in rehab had suffered some form of trauma. Some of them had been in prison, loads of then had been raped or abused as kids. Mum herself had a pretty difficult childhood and my last stepdad was abusive, which is one of the reasons why she became an alcoholic.

She was allowed TV in both rehab places, IIRC - the second one was private - but the first one was more like what you describe. And both had a lot of group sessions.

Ten years of austerity. There you go. Case closed.

I have been talking to staff at a homeless shelter, looking for voluntary work. Despite beds being available many are empty every night. People do not want to engage with them to resolve their problems. The problems are often mental health, sexual abuse and drugs or alcohol, not specifically lack of A roof.

Yet the night shelter here is full to overflowing, with homeless people but also people who aren't actually homeless who come for the social aspect and free food.

We've just returned to the UK after living abroad for several years, in a country that has practically no homelessness. Those that are are catered for extremely well - you never see anyone on the streets begging or seeking shelter.

Now, due to my partner's job, we've moved to a large seaside town we had never visited before and it's been quite an eyeopener. When i walk the 15 minutes from our house in to the city centre, I am stopped at least 5 times and asked for money. There's men and women sitting all over the streets and there's tent's everywhere, including all along the beach. The closest i've seen to it is when i lived in the States about ten years ago and tent cities had started to pop up everywhere. Whole communities living in the woods like it was the dark ages.

The first weekend we arrived here, we went for a walk. We noticed an ambulance, two paramedics and a woman standing in a shop doorway. The woman was crying and the paramedic's didn't look far from it either. On the ground was a very young girl in a sleeping bag and it looked like she had passed away in the night.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about her ever since. What kind of life must she have endured to lead to her, at around 18 years old, dying alone in a shop doorway. I wonder if anyone cared, other than the strangers who found her. It's awful. No one should die this way. I hope to God come December the Tories are given their marching orders and whoever gets in makes better provisions for Mental Health and addictions. Or i can see us ending up with serious issues like America has.

And I expect Patsy that the country you've moved from had higher taxes which were used to fund a decent welfare state. People can mither on about "complex causes" of homelessness, at the end of the day if we all pay higher taxes which are used to support people who, for whatever reason, have fewer chances in life or more difficulties, there will be less homelessness.
The reasons are complex, the solution is easy. We need to pay more for a decent welfare state that looks after all its citizens.

Incredibly high taxes, Bird. And far better wages. There's no minimum wage like here, but employee's tend to get around £15 and hour for what would be considered "menial" work. There's also a system in place that, should you lose your job, you'll be given a high percentage of your wage for a year, or until you find a new job. And people don't tend to milk it. They find employment as quickly as they can.

It's not, however, the welfare utopia it's made out to be in the media.It has many flaws as a country, including their "NHS". But that's for another thread, i won't derail this one.

Are high taxes the answer? I really don't know. This other country only has around 5 million people. We have 68 million, roughly. It's hard to compare the two.

I do know something needs to change and quickly. Far too many folk (not just the homeless) are suffering.

metro.co.uk/2018/11/30/nearly-20000-young-people-facing-homelessness-at-loneliest-time-of-year-8193270/

Weve been going to york Regularly for the last ten years.
Yes we’ve noticed a huge difference there in the amount of people living on the streets
Take coney st, a busy thoroughfare with plenty of footfall, shops, restaurants, bars and a cinema but so many of the shops in that area are standing empty. Since BHS pulled out there’s definitely been a decline in that area and with empty shops more people are sleeping in the doorways.
It’s very, very sad.
It also gives me the rage when councils deliberately make it difficult for people to stretch out and lie down on seating in the area. By putting features on them to make them uncomfortable.
I definitely would like to see more help being given to homeless people.

I was homeless when I was 19, but I was lucky as I was able to sofa surf so I could also keep my job. I was eventually housed by London Friend who paid my deposit and the first six months rent on a single room.

My community make up around 24% of homeless young people, support now is just as poor as it was when I was homeless.

Jenniferm

He came in one day with his hair cut and wearing a nice outfit and put £40 in our charity tin. I asked what was going on and he said his son tracked him down and he was living with his son and his wife and their 10 month old daughter. He was also in contact with his ex wife who had decided to give him the time of day since he was now sober. I think he came out the other side. He died 5 years a go (he was old) and the thing in the paper said loving husband, father, grandfather, nephew and friend or something along those lines with the names Margaret (I assume his wife), James (must be the son), Harriet (DIL I think), Bessie (probably grand daughter) and Albert (I assume an uncle he still had living).

Well that’s made me cry. Don’t you just want that for every homeless person.

Last January we stayed in york for a night in a city travelodge. There was a wetherspoons next door where we went for breakfast . Well away from the bar area and well away from most of the clientele was a group of men with cups of coffee. They looked like they were homeless/ sleeping rough . I was pleased the staff were letting them come in for a warm and a hot drink.

Also in a well to do town in Dorset a cafe owner allowed people to sleep there when he closed for the night as long as they were up and about at 6 am.
There are some good people doing what they can.
Never enough I know.

@VaggieMight No, but close...Denmark.