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.

Because as this thread shows, some people blame homeless people, they're racist, they're foreign, they're illegal immigrants, they're faking, they would defecate in their garden if they had one, they're arsonists, they chose to take drugs, they refuse help - it's all on here
This 👏

Of course it's political

So can we agree that increased drug use has impacted homelessness? Years ago a homeless person was most likely, well, homeless , either like a traditional tramp, through lifestyle choice, or because of unfortunately circumstances which could, with assistance, be changed. But drug use has made things so much harder for agencies. It's simply not a case of giving someone a wash and brush up, a place and a bit of help to get on their feet.

Would this also be considered a workhouse then? I think it's a fabulous charity but maybe I'm wrong and we shouldn't be looking to get people back into society.

emmaus.org.uk/cambridge/about-us/

One reason for the visible homeless on the street is that many hostels (most? I don't know) will not tolerate substance/alcohol abuse within their premises

Yes, and I think that’s a very understandable policy. But are you saying that this is a new policy? Or that there are more heavy drinkers than 10 years ago? Because I don’t understand how this explains the increase in people on the streets.

I saw something on Facebook the other day about a Somali couple (mother and adult son) who have been living on a bench outside Tooting library for years. They had apparently been offered accommodation several times, but always turn it down. It entirely clear why.

More generally, I used to work in London until earlier this year and there were always hopeless people 'living' at Waterloo station. They were usually kept reasonably well supplied with food and drink by passing commuters. Numbers increased as the weather worsened.

I once stopped and spoke to a young homeless guy on my way from Waterloo to work. He was British and in his late teens, just the age of my children at the time. He looked particularly sad and vulnerable, as if he had been crying, which is why I stopped (also, because from a distance I thought he was a young woman because he had very long hair and a slight build). We talked for a while and he said he had left home after an argument with his mother. He didn't want to go to a hostel as he didn't see them as safe, and was scared of being attacked. I tried to suggest that he should contact his mother, saying that she would be worried about him, gave him some money, and then suggested that he went to St Martin in the Fields, (about 10 mins walk away) to see what help they could provide. I thought about him for much of the day and I looked out for him on my way home, but he wasn't in the same place. I never saw him again and often wonder what happened to him.

Years ago a homeless person was most likely, well, homeless , either like a traditional tramp, through lifestyle choice, or because of unfortunately circumstances which could, with assistance, be changed.

Drugs and homelessness have always gone hand in hand

Why some eastern Europeans are driven to sleep rough

"Until the end of 2017, the Home Office was deporting homeless eastern Europeans. Barbara Dorodowicz (East European Resource Centre) explains why the precarious nature of the job market – made worse by the uncertainties about Brexit–has forced some eastern Europeans to sleep rough. Employers have exploited the uncertainty to cut pay and pit migrants against each other."

"Quietly, in November 2015, the government began to deport eastern Europeans who were sleeping rough in the UK.This practice was regarded as highly dubious from a legal and ethical point of view by migrant organisations and legal practitioners. It was finally stopped in December 2017 as a result of a legal challenge."

"There are a number of possible explanations for the prevalence of rough sleeping among eastern Europeans. Let’s start with work. Our intelligence–based on 3,000 Eastern European users we have worked with–indicates that 82% of households earn below £10,000 a year. Exploitation is a common problem, with some workers earning as little as £50 per week."

blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/01/25/why-some-eastern-europeans-are-driven-to-sleep-rough/

I saw very few street sleepers 10 years ago.

I’ve lived in London all my life and sadly there were lots of rough sleepers in central London 10 years ago too. I haven’t personally noticed any visible increase, but numbers have definitely risen, according to these stats:

www.trustforlondon.org.uk/data/rough-sleepers-london/

Perhaps the rough sleepers from the part of London I frequent have been moved on by the council to another area - just shifting the problem to make it someone else’s responsibility.

Direct result of Tory party policies, austerity, universal credit, sanctions. Note the huge rise in food banks. The cutting of essential services and support services.

It is no longer just a London problem. I live in a nice leafy part of North Hertfordshire. The level of homeless here is just shocking. Last winter, in pouring snow, I spotted a young man in an inadequte tent in the bushes on a lane behind my house. I had to call the street team out, who took him to warmth and shelter. We have couples living in tents in local parks, it won't be long before there are children too. I am fortunate to live within a lovely community who have rallied to help in so many ways.

This government will not be getting a vote from me and I was previously a lifelong Tory voter. Never again.

I agree, Enb76. That is a fabulous charity. So what are some people saying here? That you just give every homeless person a flat and adequate money? And that would eradicate homelessness?

OP I don’t mean to Sound arsey- because I’m really not- but could you put numbers on your huge rise?

No, sorry, not off the top of my head. I’d have to look it up. I’m talking about what I personally have seen on the streets of 3 very different cities - and lots of PPs have said similar.

Yes, what I find so upsetting about this issue is that so many seem to think homeless people must be some sort of unsavoury types who are there because of their own stupidity or poor morals. It’s surprisingly easy to fall into homelessness now for many people, even though we all like to think it would never happen to us. I’ve known 2 middled aged men who have ended up rough sleeping, people who you’d never think could. Alcoholism, drug addiction, mental health difficulties, marital break up and job loss affects a lot more people than we realise and it doesn’t take that much to tip over the edge.

Because it’s much harder to get a council house as a single person than as a family.
I have a friend who is in that case. PIPS at the highest level etc... but will not get social housing despite the fact she can’t work because there just isn’t anything available for a single person :( She is lucky that her parents can provide a home for her (long story - she is basically living in what was her parents home after they moved to another part if the country). But they need to seek that house and my friend is worried she will end up homeless....

You can add th issue of the working poor, zero hour contract (will you ever get a rental house with a zero hour contract??) too.

Ok - numbers. According to a PP’s link, the Shelter report from Nov 2018 says rough sleeping has gone up by 169 per cent since 2010.

Christ, MrsC. Well done for getting that man some help.

I live in a nice leafy part of North Hertfordshire. The level of homeless here is just shocking.... We have couples living in tents in local parks, it won't be long before there are children too.

This is horrendous. It will have a massive impact on how I vote next month.

Support to prevent people from being homeless in our area has massively reduced. My mum used to work in a day centre for the homeless and vulnerable, 8 years ago it was open for 10 am for people to shower and had a large team of support workers to support beiffit claims, help with budgeting and help people gain access to the right support, people could have a hot lunch and stay until 5 pm. They had washing done for them and would be sent on their way with enough food for dinner/breakfast Monday to Friday. Twice a month it would be open on a Saturday afternoon/evening for people to play games have a hot evening meal and shower. A church group would open up every Sunday for people to come in to wash and provide packed lunches. The support workers would be busy all day and trained a number of volunteers to help too.

It's all charity funded, no government help what so ever. The local council even seems to like to make it harder for them to run. The current problem at the moment is the council not having covered the increased electricity usage and related running costs when they used it last year as a night shelter which is still causing them immense difficulties. As funding pots have run out and people have less to give locally the opening hours have had to be cut and cut again. To begin with they cut the support workers hours by 2 hours a day and didn't open until noon. 80 hours of support worker hours lost plus however many vollenters would have been helping in that time. Closing time has also been steadily brought forward, it now closes at 2.30. Support workers have had to be made redudent, for once having 8 full time they now have 2 on reduced hours. Recently it has also had to close on a Friday and will soon have to close on a Monday and possibly Wednesday too until the latest cycle of funding kicks in. A very small team are currently roataed in to facilitate vollenters being able to take in washing. The majority of these people would struggle to access cab ect. Theyvalways have more than enough food donated but not nowhere near enough to cover basic staffing costs and incurance.

Lots of rough sleepers that have previously been able to sleep safely out of the way have been forced much more into the public eye. Waste land has been redeveloped: out of town shopping with 3 large units that have stood empty for almost 3 years, housing none of which is socail or reealsticly remotably affordable and a very large supermarket on the river side. There are repeatedly big plans made for our leasure centre, that never got through, other than the first step of clearing the community of rough sleepers that live on the river Bank. This has happened again recently displacing around 10 of them and taking away their ability to stay warm and dry in a cluster of abandoned boats they've maintained. Our high street is now bursting with people who have no where else to go!

“No, sorry, not off the top of my head. I’d have to look it up. I’m talking about what I personally have seen on the streets of 3 very different cities - and lots of PPs have said similar.”

You do keep demanding answers of other posters though, and you are basing your assumptions on what you’ve viewed Yourself, Which is obviously completely meaningless. Always good to have a firm start point so you know what you’re dealing with

Last winter there was a death in one of the nearby cities it - in came up in coverage that in England there were a shortage of homless hostel places.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/homeless-shelter-theresa-may-conservatives-beds-housing-statistics-rough-sleeping-a8303391.html

The number of beds in homeless shelters has plummeted since the Conservatives came to power, despite homelessness having soared in the same period, ...

Bed space for single homeless people in England has dropped by almost a fifth since 2010 amid government funding cuts and local council belt-tightening.

There are now significantly fewer places for single homeless people to go, despite the number needing somewhere to spend the night having rocketed

I image that's going to affecting rough sleeping on streets in England - though Wales has enough beds but rough sleeping still increased.

We can't lump ' homeless' into one homogenous group. there are clear issues with care leavers and people fleeing abusive relationships. Charity and social care should be there to support these people. We do need to invest properly in social housing. This has been abused by scumlords who make a packet by running HMO's for vulnerable people. that itself is a scandal.#

However, if people are being housed and supported I do think it is fair to stick to the rules and anti social/illegal behaviour should not be tolerated. It is reasonable to expect quiet at 11pm, bins to be emptied, needle free paths etc. People do get evicted again and again and seem entitled to constantly be housed! My own brother was like this and you would not want to be living near him and his fellow crackheads with their all night drug taking, thieving and violence. So where do we put these people?
Surely Mental health can not be blamed for everything! Many mentally ill people show respect for their community and don't rob from their neighbours

DS has a fluctuating disbility. He can look completely normal, he can be in a wheelchair. In 6 years he will be an adult.

Next year he will have his DLA reassessed. He will probably be called into a meeting and interviewed by someone who has a vested interest in downplaying his needs. He has no real ability to communicate all his needs and has trouble telling even me hes in pain. He will (probably) be able to walk up the stairs to the assessment centre.

If they suceed we as a household will suffer an instant 50% or more drop in income. I hopefully will be able to challenge that, and hopefully the benefit will eventually be backdated. But my bills will still have to be paid in the meantime. If i cant i will have to go back to work. Which is fine but i can leave him home alone, and i will be less able to advocate for him attend appointments etc.

If this happens to him as an adult, and noone is around to fight his case, he would be homeless.

And his is a testable physical condition. Not a more difficult mental condition, (which reduces someone ability to self advocate).

His therapy support at school is being wound down despite me fighting tooth and nail to maintain it. The legal aid budget has been reduced which means if we do end up in tribunal noone will be there to fight his case because legal aid doesnt pay enough for experts works for it. Hus chances in life are being cut at every opportunity

Weve suffered a £200 a month drop in benefits as the benefit that helps you pay the mortgage was completely withdrawn. It was replaced by a loan. That was set against the equity in your home. So get this, if you are unfortunate enough to need benefits for a prolonged period of time and take up mortgage eventually the govenment will own increasing shares in your home. And were the lucky ones who own our own home.

I have no doubt why we have a rise in homelessness. Because its bevome ok to take advantage of those in need

That is a ridiculous fluffy view of historical homelessness.
I agree.

My brother is homeless.
He has severe MH issues due to decades of drug abuse.
The MH team can't assess him until he is 6 weeks clean, his MH issues which include severe paranoia and psychosis mean that he refuses to stop using drugs as he incorrectly believes they are the only thing helping him think and see things clearly.
We can't put him in rehab as he refuses to engage believing everyone is 'out to get him'
Even though he has threatened to kill himself numerous times and regularly scares people by shouting at strangers in the street he believes are after him etc.. no one can section him until he attempts to kill himself or harms someone else.
There is literally nothing we can do to help him. There is no support until he decides he wants help which I don't think he ever will because his mind is so far gone there is no link between fantasy and reality.
Something bad will happen to him or worse to someone else, but until, that happens there is nothing anyone can do.
It's devastating.