Are you seeing much poverty and despair where you are at the minute?

[whereisitgoing]

I'm not sure if I can face doing my volunteering shift this weekend at a street soup kitchen (still have time to cancel) as not sure I can be tough enough and keep my mask in place. It is the first Christmas since my mum died and I'm crumbling.

Usually I love my volunteer shift, it's really brutal though to see the dire straits people are in. So much despair. The numbers needing help have exploded since covid and this winter are considerably higher again. At the moment I just don't think I can do it, everything seems quite bleak.

Sometimes people are at the end of their tether when they get to us and they are understandably and justifiably stressed and irritated - normally I can handle this without any bother, but not sure I can do it this weekend.

The kitchen will have loads of volunteers so it won't matter if I'm not there anyway. But it has me wondering, are you seeing more people needing help where you are this winter? Is there more palpable despair and anger out there, or am I just projecting my own shit year?

I'm sorry OP for your bereavement, it's a very hard time for you. Do you think maybe it's time to take a break? It'd important to look after yourself before you look after others. X

I work with the poorest people in our society and the level of need is through the roof.

I'm not sure what you want from this thread? Of course people who live in affluent areas are not going to see the poverty that exists. They can turn a blind eye and pretend the homeless are all druggies or alcoholics or didn't work hard enough.

On the surface you may not notice it in our area but the food bank has put out a social media appeal, saying there has been a huge increase in need and those using the food bank are needing to do so for longer than usual. They’ve asked if people using it can go down to fortnightly parcels where possible and the usual list of requests has been replaced by, ‘tea and coffee, large nappies and dog food, but really anything is welcome as we are so low’. There seem to be more toy donation points and charities asking for children’s clothes which usually doesn’t happen as they’re the most donated items.

I wanted a bit of discussion I guess. Feel free to not read if you don't wish to.

Seriously?

Heard about a queue in Dublin for food vouchers yesterday morning, was nuts how long it was. We live in the midlands in Ireland in what would be seen as a poor region but it seems a world away from what I heard on the radio

No. Quite the opposite, in fact. Here, the retail parks & malls are rammed, the roads are full of shiny new Teslas, electric Audis & Range Rovers and I had to queue up with them to get into the car park of our local organic farm shop this afternoon. No evidence of a ‘cost of living crisis’ whatsoever.

I’m obviously well aware that many people are struggling, but there are also plenty of affluent areas. And I’m in the East Midlands, not the South East.

Same. I'm sure the col crisis exists but it's far from affecting everybody. What I'm seeing atm are rammed shops and Christmas markets and restaurants.

City in Hampshire. Homeless in loads of street doorways. Seen tents in local park. Loads of evidence of children going without in my work.( Not education but similar). Just awful.

The increase in poverty is visible to anyone who simply has their eyes open when they visit a major city. Surely plenty of MNers, with their "big jobs" and six figure salaries, must visit city centres occasionally?

@TarantinoIsAMisogynist

Strangely enough, I don't go hunting for poor people on the rare occasion that I go into the city centre, so no, I haven't noticed an increase in poverty. In fact, I don't often see homeless people there. I know that there are some, but they aren't normally sitting on the high street. We don't all live in London you know.

I used to be a teacher but I early retired several years ago now. I met up with an old colleague who now works in an inner city school in an impoverished area. We meet every year on the last day of the Autumn term. She told me she's awfully worried about 2 DC in her Year 8 tutor group who she knows don't have a school lunch and barely bring anything in to eat. She said she's noticed Monday and Tuesday they have a sandwich but towards the end of the week sometimes nothing and if she asks them they say they are not hungry or occasionally one will say there was nothing at home to bring or a younger sibling was given the food. She takes in extra Sandwiches and fruit. She's worried they'll go hungry this Xmas. She's told them where their local food bank is.

London is not the only city that has a homeless problem.I don't live in London and see homeless people most days.

North East.

Lots of homelessness around the city centre, but seems to have increased even over the last weeks.

There just seems to be so much more people. (I am aware that sounds really stupid because of course there is more people!)

But there seems to be tons of more people with money and loads of more with no money.
More homeless people and more rich people.

And so many many cars on the road, I noticed a huge increase in traffic this year and it’s just completely mad coming up Christmas, and how many cars on the road with one person in them.

What are we doing at all?

@3luckystars I think I understand what you mean and I agree. It's like there is loads of ostentatious wealth and hordes of people living their best lives on one hand, and then so so many people in truly awful financial situations on the other.

I wonder if this feeling is basically the effect of the gap widening between haves and have nots.

OP, please do what works for you. As others have said, there are plenty of helpers at Christmas time. You can return when it feels right.

To others saying there is no cost of living crisis in their area, don’t you realise that people sleeping rough is the tiniest tip of a very large iceberg.

I get what you mean, OP. I am currently depressed and I’m not watching the news or reading the papers, so I feel somewhat artificially inured to what’s happening to other people.

It’s almost like I think my depression gives me a free pass not to care about other people.

Is this normal?

You worded that so much better than me. Thank you.

There are far fewer street homeless people in my city centre than pre covid. We do have groups of drinkers/spice heads but that's nothing new and they disappear at night. Homelessness round here is far more hidden in hostals and bnbs and there's less of it than in more affluent parts of the country as housing here is still relatively cheap.

Middle of the road suburban London is still very affluent compared to most of the U.K.

Very little change here in our part of the HC SE, life continues apace, but I do know. that every single couple in, our couple donate a minimum of £35 to TTT, every month.We also check the larder for duplication and possible short dates. And donate,those as well.

I live in a Tory fuckers bubble of people with generous final salary pensions, red trousers also of people with no mortgages, and zero debt, the only box I don’t we don’t tick is in the bubble is that we hate the Tories, with. a passion..

Some of us worked bloody hard for what we have, I make no apologies for being comfortable, but I always acknowledge the less well of.

Problem with asking people if they have seen or experienced something is that the anecdotal answers have no real relationship to reality.

Take the pandemic, that was pretty evenly distributed, nearly every person on the planet was directly effected by it - however, dispite knowing hundreds of people, only a month ago did I meet for the first time someone with long covid.

This should mean that long covid is rare, alas it is not. The reason I only met someone with it a month ago is either A/ pure chance that I didn't meet people with it or B/ That I have unknowingly met several people with it, they just didn't share.

Same can be said of this topic, people may through environment or chance simply not be meeting those in hardship, or they have met them and simply not known.

Yes you're probably right.

My dd goes to a bog standard state secondary. Recently there was a school trip abroad. There were limited places...when it went live on the payment website, it was first come first served. The spaces were all gone in less than five minutes. I predicted that would happen and DH said it wouldn't due to the cost of living crisis.

I've seen a lot of people who in theory should be financially ok, not rich but fine. But they are desperate because either their ex's aren't paying enough maintenance or they can't get affordable housing, or they have a partner who spends all the money on their addiction, or they've been overpaid benefits and HMRC have stopped paying their tax credits until the end of the tax year, or they are too disabled to work but not disabled enough to get disability benefit.

There are so many of these people around and it shouldn't be like that.

In answer to your question op, no, I'm not feeling or seeing much poverty or despair here.

I live in a midlands suburb which isnt affluent by any means but when i go into my nearest towns, I dont see any homeless people, beggars or tents. People are still spending in Waitrose & M&s food halls and buying new cars. The nicer market towns are packed, the newer, 60s towns less so but thats because all the shops are empty.

At my local corner co-op shop, there is a woman who stands outside with a cup and asks for spare change occasionally but that's it.

I hardly ever go to my nearest city as its a nightmare, traffic-wise.