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?

The people carrying lots of shopping bags, sat in restaurants or salons are seen. Those struggling with financial hardship, mental health issues etc are the ones who most often are hidden away living in terrible conditions. Housing is terrible. Too many people being stuck in trap of paying high rents for properties in bad conditions, high fuel bills are living in an awful situation without adequate help. When people just say there’s no COL crisis people spending money on luxuries not essentials etc it masks the issues. I work as a revenues and benefits officer and see the issues daily. This government has a lot to answer for!!!

Those who are saying they don't see it - how often do you walk through a city centre (as opposed to a suburb etc.)? I can't believe anyone who regularly walks through a city centre area can have missed the obvious increase in destitution.

I live fairly rurally, but I work in a small city in NW England and haven't seen a noticeable increase in destitution tbh. I'm also a teacher. I have no doubt that some of our students have been really affected by the cost of living, but it's not something that's obvious unless we are made aware of a specific crisis situation.

The other thing you see a lot of is people visibly off their heads on spice or some other street drug in the middle of the day. Obviously not all drug users are poor, but addiction is a frequent by-product of poverty and despair. Addiction rates always rise in times of recession/hardship.

Again, this is isn't London Im referring to, but a large northern city. I live in a 'naice' village, and here you would never see visible destitution or drug taking, but in city centres it is obvious.

I agree with this. The shiny new luxury car gets noticed. The tired-looking people who are walking everywhere in worn out shoes that they can't afford to replace, less so - despite the fact that there are lots of them.

I don’t think it’s a case of not understanding. I understand perfectly well that many many people are really struggling at the moment. It is absolutely shameful what the government has done to this country. But the OP asked if there was evidence in our local area, and in my local area there isn’t any visible evidence really at all. I live in a small town and if I go into my nearest city there is much more obvious evidence of the cost of living crisis, but where I am there’s not. Maybe people are just hiding it, but I wouldn’t know either way.

I see it differently, but definitely still see it.

I live in a reasonably prosperous small commuter town in the Cotswolds - the sort of place you’d assume everyone was comfortable.

There are no street homeless but the levels of people struggling have increased hugely over the last 4 years.

Multiple families at school unable to afford the £4 for the Xmas disco, a huge uptake on the food larder, parents discussing food bank referrals at the school gate. One family turning down the larger council property which they desperately need because they won’t be able to heat it. So many working families beginning benefit claims because they can’t afford to live on salary. Swimming lessons about half as full as previously because people are cutting down on “luxuries “ to afford the basics.

It’s really really scary.

In Manchester there’s an awful lot of beggars that tend to be addicts at the moment definitely more than usual so probably coming from other areas making the most of the high footfall. The provisions for homeless in the city are pretty far reaching with soup kitchens every day etc but unfortunately quite a few have lived that life for a long time despite numerous attempts at getting clean or prison stays.

The worst type of poverty and deprivation for me comes in the form of seeing unkempt children being dragged around the shops or at the school pick ups by parents or family members who make absolutely no effort to better themselves, dressed in filthy clothes shouting and screaming at each other. When you see neglect and desperation like that it makes me shudder to wonder how those children must be feeling at this time of year.

YANBU suburban residential area here, and I'm seeing far more street homelessness locally as well as in the city centre ( sleeping rough not sofa surfing homelessness) far more people counting the cost of their very basic shopping and looking anxious at the tills and our food banks, school uniform banks and so on are all appealing for help to try and meet the demands on them. I'm also seeing far more middle class consumption (including the products of organised crime - recreational drug use, nail bars with trafficked staff etc), leasing of expensive cars and fancy holidays, so I suspect the divide between haves and have nots is growing, with the have not group also getting much larger.

In my immediate area no it’s been the opposite, I think it’s benefited from increased wfh

Also Central London is incredibly busy and places are packed but there are homeless on very busy streets, in bad states

There are always people in dispair though I'm not privy to who they are unless they are my close friends who share.
I fortunately do not know of anyone who is in dispair right now near where I live.
I live in an area that doesn't flaunt or crave for more valuable things. My community is generous - giving to food boxes at supermarkets and paying for people's petrol who can't find their money. It is not a swish neighbourhood.
Thank you for helping as much as you do, Op, and take comfort in reflecting on your mother and all she meant to you.

I've not noticed an increase poverty in our part of southeast London but I'm aware that we live in a bubble. I have noticed more homelessness when we go into central London and I'm aware that it's problem.

Well, the question in the OP was ‘Are you seeing much poverty and despair where you are at the minute?’. That’s what people are responding to.

If people see full restaurants and supermarkets, then that’s what they say. Doesn’t mean that they think poverty doesn’t exist, they’re just describing what they’re seeing, as asked by OP.

I live in a predominantly working class town, definitely not affluent. If I see busy pubs and booked up hairdressers I don’t assume that nobody is struggling, but I would think that enough people who aren’t affluent can afford those things, at least occasionally. That doesn’t mean that I think poverty doesn’t exist.

I agree. People everywhere. Some will require the services of a food bank, whilst some will be putting down a deposit on 73 plate EV.

If I was to say, yes I agree OP I see more poverty and homelessness where I am, what, realistically can be done about it in the short term? It's difficult to conjure up homes when you are competing with a population that's increasing by 2,000 per DAY.

I know that times are difficult for some, but I also think that the level of appeals being made sometimes exceeds the true level of need.

I work in an NHS hospital and every year, right up close to Christmas, we get certain local charities wanting to give toys for patients in paediatric wards. These children are not in need of toys - they have loving families and are swamped with toys, but the charities have been urging people to buy a gift for a Child In Need, Who May Only Get One Present This Year. And people like that idea so they buy toys, and children who have dozens of presents get an extra random gift that they hardly notice, and I always hope the person donating had money to spare, because the need they thought they were meeting didn't really exist.

Exactly this.

Not much evidence in our area, no, which surprises me as it's evident costs have gone up. A few rough sleepers in town who are somehow allowed to have mattresses in the bus stop despite the church advertising overnight spaces. There always have been some rough sleepers, there have not always been spaces in the shelter. Lots of ads through school newsletter for free meals for kids during holidays, but not sure how much that is taken up.

Me too and I live in the Midlands, ex mining place so certainly not posh.
Report on the radio said our local airport was dealing with 30% more travellers over Christmas than pre Covid.
I think people are spending more on food/experiences/travel and less on stuff.

I live in the inner city and there are clear signs of the knock on effects of poverty. More crime, more drugs, more altercations. People are stressed. I also think the gap between the have's and have not's is much bigger now. Where I live (council estate) our nearest high street is all sourdough bakeries, organic fruit and veg shops, IPA craft beer pubs. It's a strange mixture of down from Londoners finding their salaries stretching much further than before and people buying their kids breakfast in the local off licence where the owner gives them 'credit' to pay it back on pay day.

We didn't have this before. We had high streets with Greggs, bookies, Wetherspoons, charity shops, halal butchers, locksmiths. Shops that were useful and accessible for all. Now we have a high street where 1/2 of the residents are unable to use the majority of the shops due to cost. This breeds resentment.

I help with a local community group and we have a huge demographic of people who have arrived in Britain from North Africa or Somalia in the last five years. They are very good at living extremely frugally. They cook fresh. Their kids have hand me downs.

The white British and Caribbean families who live in my area seem to be doing worse in the current climate. There's a lot of people getting store cards for Very etc and selling the highly inflated stuff they buy on the selling sites for £20. This is money they can use for food or other essentials. It's terrible economics though £50 trainers, sell for £20, accrue interest so the original trainers end up costing £100!
There's also a real lack of shops selling reasonable fresh food. We have a local shop which sells one onion for a pound, £4 for a punnet of blueberries etc. We don't have a lidl nearby and most don't drive.
This leads to a bad diet consisting of stuff you can buy in a local off licence. Sausage rolls, pizza, rustlers, ham, instant noodles.

Honestly it's shit. Bring back the Sure Start centres. Stop clamping down on UC. Ask these people what would make their lives better. If you're in temporary accommodation, you can't sleep because there's constant people coming in and out of the drug dealers house next door, there's constant barking from protection dogs, your son is bouncing off the walls because he's been on the autism waiting list for three years, there's no support for his challenging behaviour and you can't buy any fresh food, you are in no position to find work. Make people's day to day life more comfortable and they are much more likely to find work or make a contribution to society.

I know that the local Salvation Army toy appeal has had 23 families referred to them by Surestart. I also know that in my town the warm spaces projects are having an increase in numbers as two of my friends run two of these projects, the increase is about 10%. The local baby bank is asking for clothes more often and the small homeless shelter that gives out food no questions asked and no referral needed has had more appeals online of late.

But there are no obvious outward signs, the shops are full, there was a queue out the door and down the road at the best butchers in town yesterday. So there is an increase in hardship but actually it has always been there forever and a day. I worked in an arena that involved research on poverty and also as a volunteer for various projects at the coal face. So I know a lot of people locally who run all these projects.

I seem to know several on minimum wage jobs who don't seem to be struggling. Holidays, spending etc. Possibly it might be on the never never but I do wonder how they can afford it. Live in a very deprived northern city.

@WithACatLikeTread I expect the black economy in this country is massive and on a scale the average MNetter would be blissfully unaware of.

Yeah I was just trying to make a point it isnt just the wealthy who seem to do okay at the moment.

Sorry for your loss of your DM

As the saying goes, you cannot give to others from an empty cup

Take some time off & do something nice for yourself

You can return to the volunteering when you feel ready

Donate to a charity that your DM supported instead ?

Take care

I live northern city centre, directly behind a homeless shelter. I would say it's definitely better, not worse. Before Covid our street had basically become like a scene from Taxi Driver, it was horrific and massively affected my mental health I stayed to be afraid to go outside.

It's vastly improved in the last couple of years, so my guess is that there are less people in total abject poverty, and probably a lot more who are just kept floating above that

No you're right, it's same round my way, pubs and restaurants all seem busy every time I walk past. Maybe as a previous poster pointed out people are spending more on experiences/trips rather than just "stuff"?