AIBU to think its not acceptable for a homeless woman to have to give birth on the street.

[Thelnebriati]

Homeless woman gives birth to premature twins on a cold street outside Cambridge University college
www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/homeless-woman-birth-premature-twins-17471458

Sad this is what people want, otherwise they wouldn’t have voted for it

Such offensive, puerile bullshit.

I live in London and it is not bollocks at all.

My high street is full of rough sleepers now, not seen anything like it since the 80s.

If you are red hot keen on telling people the evidence of their own eyes is 'bollocks' then maybe look at some stats. There are issues with the collection of stats however, when the numbers say this and you can see with your eyes, then there's something going on.

'bollocks' I mean this is the level of argument we're used to in a post truth world I suppose.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45983897

Yes, let's not bring politics into whether someone can have a home, safety and healthcare. These are complicated personal matters - if you live in a world of delusional Tory bollocks, that is.

It is appalling, particularly in a rich city like Cambridge and in front of an immensely rich college (I live in Cambridge). Locally, there has been widespread horror that this could happen and a a fund has been set up the help the lady.

However, we do not know the background to this. Cambridge has an excellent maternity hospital and presumably there must have been something that prevented the lady contacting them for help, or calling an ambulance: perhaps mental health problems, concerns about immigration status or a language barrier. Either way, a pregnant woman should not have been living on the streets in December (nor should anyone, at any time of year).

Of course it isn't bollocks

Those poor babies.

1 in 10 women on MN think it's fine.

I wouldn’t assume that all those voters are women. We do have quite a few woman hating posters and lurkers on Mumsnet. They jump at the chance to make females look wrong, no matter the question.

‘Rough sleeping’ makes it sound as if they have a choice and it might be a bit uncomfortable. In reality it can mean trying to find a doorway or bridge to shelter from the wind, rain, snow and frost, when you are already soaked through to the skin. It means trying to find a little corner to hide in so that, particularly if you’re very young or a female, to protect yourself from violence or rape. Possibly freezing to death, as happens every single year, on the streets of the U.K. and NI. Going to sleep crying with hunger pains.

On top of that you have members of the public treat you as if you’re vermin and ‘obviously only homeless because you’ve done something bad’ such as drugs, alcohol abuse, jail or gambling. You might find a doorway to sleep in but waken up to someone stealing your belongings, throwing a drink around you (cause it’s funny, innit!), molesting or trying to rape you, pissing on you, oh yes that’s common.

They don’t see through all that to the adult who lost their job then home, were abused as a child and find adult life too difficult, ran away from a violent home or partner, has SNs that aren’t obvious so never received the help they need in adulthood, mental health problems and can’t benefit from the correct MH support, etc etc. There are a myriad of reasons people end up homeless and understandable that some of them end up suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction. If you lived being treated as if you were vermin in the gutter and could see no way out, don’t kid yourself that you wouldn’t be tempted to take something to help you it all you away’.

This poor woman has just had an horrific experience and I really hope she and her children are supported and can stay together.

There was a thread about this, this morning that got pulled because it linked to the crowdfunding page.

However, when I Googled the story, it says very little about the woman and her circumstances.

It says she's homeless but I couldn't find clarification on whether she was a street sleeper or not.

She might be in a hostel or sofa surfing. It's strange how there was so little about this story.

Yeah poor Tories how awful they keep getting the blame for the austerity measures that cause situations like this.

And you’re right OP this stuff shouldn’t be happening 2 decades into the 21st century. This poor woman isn’t the only one who’s pregnant and sleeping rough. There’s been plenty of reports of other women, many of them who have fled domestic violence, sleeping rough as there aren’t enough refuge places available. That’s just an example of how things like this can happen.

We dont know why this woman was homeless, my own Stepdaughter was homeless through her own actions, she couldnt live with her Mother as she had threatened her mum who was pregnant at the time , she had also threatened to harm the baby when it was born. She couldnt live with us ( i had he stay 5 times over 2 years) but she stole, lied and kept upsetting her dad who was recovering from a major illness, the final straw was when i caught her trying to sneak into my young sons room when she was naked. Two different councils housed her in hostels but threw her out for causing trouble. Some people are on the streets through their own actions. We dont know this lady but lets hope her babies survive

Because pregnant women are offered emergency accommodation as a right if they have nowhere to go. Homelessness is very complicated, I work with the homeless and there's as many different stories as there's homeless people, straightforward though it is not. I've been out on 5 shifts so far this winter offering emergency shelter places and persuading people to come us near on impossible, anyone with children or pregnant women are instead put up in a hotel overnight then the council finds emergency housing .

Hahaha at if someone had called an ambulance it would have come straight away - seriously? So many cuts to services. I see so many homeless people - there have always been homeless people but by god I'm seeing more and more people my age who don't seem to be in the grips of addiction. There's a lot in this country that's broken and I don't think Boris is going to fix any of it.

Bluebutterfly weird statement.

Do you think they have a genuine policy/action plan around rough sleeping, and it just needs tweaking or something?

I don't understand. You all know the underpinning tenets of right wing philosophy, surely? It's not secret, it's openly accessible info! Philosophy is people should help themselves, helping others is detrimental as it removes their drive to help themselves. Come on, everyone knows this stuff! It's politics 101, to use an Americanism.

This poor woman has just had an horrific experience and I really hope she and her children are supported and can stay together.

Absolutely this.

@Fraggling 15 years ago I used to volunteer with a homeless charity through my church and believe me there were a lot of rough sleepers then. We used to see upwards of 100 people a night, and it's not like we were in a major city, just a large town. It has got worse but the issue has always been there.

Sorry, I just said bollocks. I have lived in a very safe Tory seat in leafy middle England since 2010, and during that time I have gone from seeing no rough sleepers or beggars here to people living in tents and sleeping in doorways daily. Still, my experience is just puerile and offensive.

@Fraggling
No, personally I'm not a Tory. I'm just assuming those who voted Tory also dont want homeless people giving birth on the street and trying to appeal to the fact that maybe the government they voted in should do something about it?

lifeisgoodagain you are doing such valuable work.

Because pregnant women are offered emergency accommodation as a right if they have nowhere to go. Homelessness is very complicated, I work with the homeless

Doesn’t always happen that they get offered TA, have seen first hand when this hasn’t happened for many complicated reasons

'It has got worse but the issue has always been there.'

Erm of course it has.
And started getting worse with austerity and has exploded in last couple of years.

Anyone who walks around with their eyes open can see this, not sure why it's contentious.

I was addressing ivykatie when I said that what she wrote was offensive and puerlie. Nothing to do with you everything unless you have socks on the thread?

@PanGalaticGargleBlaster: homelessness has increased by between 120% and 200% since the Tories got in in 2010, depending on which set of stats you consider most accurate.

The biggest factor is believed to be the welfare reforms that led to a large real-terms cut in housing benefit, while rents continued to rise. This, coupled with a wider benefit freeze, has meant that people dependent on benefits can no longer afford to top up the shortfall in housing benefit/UC housing costs element, as it doesn't leave them enough to feed themselves and pay their bills.

Apologies for misspelling - I meant ivykaty44

Could everyone fuck off with their 'I voted Labour and had they got in no problems would exist in the UK' virtue signalling bullshit?!

So theoretically, if you're pregnant and rough sleeping, assuming no reasons to hide from authority (addiction, illegally in country for example)...if you rocked up at the council housing office and presented as homeless and pregnant, would they always offer you a roof? even if just a hostel or b&b...or are there any circumstances where they'd refuse to help you and effectively send you back out to sleep on the pavement?

Ah bluebutterfly whether prior who voted that way specifically want the govt to do something about rough sleeping or not, is beside the point. The government have their policies, spending plans etc and so will do what they do. I sincerely doubt that reducing rough sleeping (helping people at the bottom of the heap, at it were) is anywhere near the top of their list.