Tired of the performative beggars and alcoholics this time of year

[Onand]

Is anyone else sick and tired of the huge number of ‘homeless’ beggars, alcoholics and addicts that descended on the streets since the Christmas rush started this year?

Manchester is rife with them- this year there is a particularly ropey bunch of alcoholics/ addicts that are obnoxiously ‘sleeping’ or sitting with their bags pointing directly out into the street instead of being against a wall, they’re building ‘dens’ in shop doorways which stink of human faeces and piss, dealers go from spot to spot, dogs forced to sit in uncomfortable situations (often not even their dog as the same one gets passed from beggar to beggar).

It’s a self perpetuating problem because soup kitchens serving buffets set up and cater meals for them whilst they’re generally being a nuisance and making the streets look an absolute shitty mess. Why are they tolerated? People need to stop giving them money as it just encourages them to keep doing it when there are services in place to help them.

Bah humbug I know, but It’s beyond grim.

Are there no prisons? And the union workhouses?

Signs all over a big town locally requesting folk not give money to beggars, but give to homeless charities as an alternative, due to drug/violence/trafficking issues. They've done a lot of work on homelessness in the town so most of the supposedly homeless beggars are actually grifters. There are a few hard core homeless who will not accept help to get off the streets ( but will accept money.....)

Yes, there will be some “professional” beggars, although I wonder how shit your life must be to consider this as a career.

However, where I live (obvious) there are homeless men and women who are “bedded down” for the night and are still in their shop doorway at dawn. The support services and charities are overwhelmed and can’t accommodate them all.

I regularly donate old bedding, or buy coffees and burgers or chocolate for rough sleepers I pass. I really don’t want them to be there at all, but until the government funds public services better, this problem will get worse.

This happened in one town I lived in a few years ago, a few "homeless" appeared a few weeks before Xmas. Pulled on everyone's heart string , one guys sister even went on social media and told people he wasn't homeless and not to give him anything. They got money , new clothes , gifts of All sorts and a few days before Christmas they vanished. Just like the sister had predicted.
Not every person on the street is genuine , professional begging gangs are a thing.

We met a couple who genuinely worked for a homeless charity and they said not to give to randoms on the street it’s not helpful.

Yes! Or we could put the unwell ones in hospitals for long term stays 😎

My husband volunteers as a business advisor for homeless charities. He was told that ,in countries like South Africa, homelessness is caused by poverty. In the UK its mental health problems that cause people to end up on the streets. Once they are there drugs and alcohol provide an escape from the hell of their lives. Once you are an addict with mental health problems you are hugely difficult to help.
I used to buy the Big Issue. I don't buy it from the Roma sellers.

In amongst those "beggars and addicts" could be veterans from our Armed Forces.

do you really know how you sound, OP?

This is one of the worst threads I’ve ever read on mn. I’ve worked with people who are homeless and the kinds of backgrounds some of these people come from and in an even in some cases where people had normal upbringings there was often severe mental health issues. I feel nothing but empathy and sadness for people who are literally sleeping on the streets in all kinds of weather .

It is very grim, but I mostly blame 14 years of Tory government that has made homelessness the worst it has ever been in my life. To the point that even in my outer London suburb here I see multiple homeless people on the short walk between the tube station and my house. The fact is so many people are so poor and housing is so unstable and overcrowded for many that it's all too easy to end up on the street if you don't have many resources. And lack of support and resources for mental health and addicition doesn't help.

People don't think 'I'd like some free soup a couple of times a week, I'm going to sleep on a grate in the freezing cold with the constant fear of assault and having everything I own nicked'.

Begging is an offence and being approached on the street by people hassling you for money is intimidating and people should not have to tolerate it. If people stopped giving to beggars and supported charities instead then they would be helping to reduce the problem.

A national campaign asking people not to give to beggars would be a good idea.

Don't worry, @Nowherehere1 Ive reported it. The OP clearly wants the attention, and doesn't care they get it. Zero empathy, how low down can you go.

If only it were that simple.

They’re fucking addicts and mentally unwell. I assume you’ve never been unfortunate enough to know someone who was taken that way. Hold up your snobby nose and walk on by. You have no idea how lucky you are.

We seem to have a team who take turns to sit at ALDIs doorway. I wish they would move them along as it’s a constant thing.

Wow! You have a real super power there. The ability to determine those genuinely homeless from the chancers, while managing to sound like the most judgy person on the planet.

I saw the police moving on the performative beggar who sits outside our local Aldi sometimes, calling everyone "darling" and expecting cash. No idea who had complained or whether it was the store staff, but good on them. There is a group of similar beggars, they travel as a group out to our supposedly affluent suburb so on the day you see the guy outside Aldi there will be a woman outside M&S, another woman at the station, someone else outside Costa. Always the same people.

There must be people who give to these beggars though or they wouldn't bother. Despite all the warnings not to, and if you're worried about homelessness or poverty to donate to a food bank or hostel or similar.

Wow, spreading the 'love' at Christmas OP. Do you really think people 'choose' to become drug addicts or alcoholics? I hope this thread will be taken down soon.

Ahhh fucking hell. 😂

Our Christmas gift to you shall be the waves of outrage you are so desperately looking for, OP.

In my area they are not all genuinely homeless they actually do have a flat they just have a heavy addiction that benefits don't cover and this time of year is a party time for them

In one group there is one who is on pip and has a motability car this year it causes great resentment that him and his pissed up friends are driving around in a 24 plate when the people giving them money can barely afford the bus this all came to a head when they had this car blocking the road so they could take it in turns to pee in a scant bush causing chaos he has been forced to beg in another town now

In another group there is someone who will be found dead soon he does live on the streets but he does have a home he is in crisis and refusing help right now I live in a town with a very generous support system privately run charity plus the usual support he refuses it all nothing can be done about him unless he chooses it unfortunately

We also have a man who will never live in a box again happily has food given to him people sit and chat with him he sleeps somewhere out of town no addiction just mental health issues and won't be "caged"

Omg.
I didn't realise it was possible to have both one's empathy and compassion genes removed. NHS or private?

There’s a man on my local high street constantly begging. We see him at least once a week. I always tell him I have no cash-as I don’t because I pay on my card.
He then proceeds to insult you or tell you he hopes you’re never homeless because you’ve actually responded.
once I offered to get him a drink or food but no he just wants cash.

in the city centre of Birmingham- if you go by the coach station the aggressive begging is constant.

The people who are begging locally to me are not alcoholics or drug addicts, they are Roma who may or may not be part of organised gangs or whatever, which is an even better reason not to fund them.

I get why everyone’s having a go at the OP, but it’s true that there are people who are truly homeless for all sorts of reasons, there are gangs which are basically people trafficking as they force people to work begging, and there are gangs of individuals who are not being trafficked but just find it quite lucrative. You can acknowledge the last exist without taking away from the former.

Our town has a big shopping centre so they target people who do not live locally. If you live locally you’ve seen them being dropped off by car. There are several performative sets around the parking areas, sleeping bags, cardboard etc. They literally work shifts, the car turns up, the guy sitting down gets in the car and a new guy gets out to start his shift. Very different to the genuinely homeless and street sleeping population (which is sadly growing). I give to the reputable local charities who work hard to support homeless people and get them off the streets if they can.