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.

This is very true, hostels understandably have rule about behaviour and people will be thrown out if they breach those rules and then it is back on the streets. The same applies to supported accommodation, if you breach the tenancy rules then you will be evicted. There is a supported house on my street which has been the source of a lot of problems, fighting, drug dealing, drunk tenants harassing people in the streets. We had to keep an "anti-social behaviour diary" and report back to the organisation who ran the house. They did act and evicct several groups of tenants who i guess went back to the streets or the night shelter. It is a very complex issue, on the one hand I understand that people have deep seated problems which are more than likely rooted in trauma but on the other it is horrible living alongside of such behaviours. There is school on my street and children were exposed to drug dealing and fighting, not acceptable in my view

Really homeless people I feel awful for.

We have a group of alcoholics near where I live and they take it turns to beg outside a local Sainsbury's. I was in my car and when one of then thought no one was looking, got his flash mobile phone out and then quickly hid it when someone passed.

Another one I fell for, several years ago, said he needed money for a place to stay for the night. He was telling us how he was ex forces and now was homeless. Me and my friend gave him all of the change I had. It wasn't a small amount either. I felt so awful for him...

Until my partner saw him in one of the local shops one day, doing his weekly shopping along with instant coffee.... don't you need electricity and a kettle for that. I was pretty upset.

And the reason I am upset is that these fraudsters are literally stealing from homeless people. Taking money from them by acting shameful.

I only ever give food and drinks now. I can usually tell who are the genuine homeless now in our city and I feel soon much for them.

Giving to the charities and organisations not the individuals is the best way to help. We really do need to take the Portugal route where there is proper support but serious expectation that people will engage with that support. But we also need to lobby our MPs to prioritise funding for rehab it's far too patchy and inadequate.

I'm very much of the stick and carrot system however those saying San Francisco is purely because of the liberal dream are wrong - it is partly because of the total lack of affordable housing and the fact the area is full of tech startups up money ( Silicon Valley) meaning an average 2 bed flat can easily be £4K a month. You are then in a viscious circle, people can't get homes so end up in a bad way , can't pay for health, lose jobs and drinking and drugs used to numb the crappiness of life in that situation- same in LA - people in these situations then gravitate to such places because support services are often better as it's not a 'hidden' problem - same to a much lesser extent applies in London etc

Don't some of you realise there are different forms of homelessness? I was homeless, but in a B&B hostel when I was 15. It was shit and horrible and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. But I wasn't on the streets and, yes we had electricity and a kettle to make coffee with. But still technically homeless.

Have you not read any of my posts, you are so ignorant about addiction - I am a psychologist who has worked in addictions and homelessness for several years, why not educate yourself by reading my posts about the causes of addiction and how it isn’t a ‘choice’. Of course not though, you’ve no intent of shifting your perspective and just continue to spout judgemental nonsense. Your thinking is far too narrow minded and lacks nuance.

Check your knowledge. Whilst yes, some are genuinely homeless, many of them are part of organised crime gangs. There’s 3 in my town who’ve been filmed parking up on a street outside the centre and then walking in with their sleeping bag, covering their face in dirt and sitting outside McDonald’s! Nothing could be done about it as they’re not committing a crime! So it continues. By all accounts, there’s some serious money to be made especially in December.

@PlastictreesOf course it’s a choice! I grew up with my late Dad who would now be called a functioning alcoholic, my brother is a full blown ‘cannot work because of it’ alcoholic, his son/my nephew is the same. As was his now deceased mother, both her parents, her sister & her brother. I’ve seen it and lived it. They ALL made progress at various points then said “fuck it” and started again. Right in front of us. Quite literally in my dad’s case and my brother. I’ve been there on numerous occasions when each of them has made the decision to drink again and it was very much a decision not a compulsion. Yet my nephew’s other auntie and myself have both made better decisions and what’d ya know? Not alcoholics! Funny that 🤨

@VegTrug Your anecdotes aren’t evidence. I’ve explained at length, as have many other posters, why addiction isn’t a ‘simple’ choice and I won’t be repeating again.

I think you're probably right as there was a drive to get them off the streets and into hotels to safely socially distance.

I well remember a middle aged woman, employee in the supermarket where I was working at the time, saying to a fellow employee of about my age, ‘Be sure to put your name down for a house, love, in case you fall for a baby.’
This was in the early 70s. When I saw the girl in the town centre about a year later, she was pushing a pram.

I get very annoyed when people say 'check your privilege'- some of the people I have known in life who refused to sort themselves out or accept help 'but with conditions' actually came from very comfortable and loving family backgrounds- the idea it's only ever underprivileged people who get themselves into messes simply isn't true

I took it to mean you are being unkind to get angry about having to see homeless people when you are not homeless yourself rather than a class thing tbh (that said remember the middle classes are not immune to abuse/dysfunction so you can’t assume their childhoods were “comfortable and loving” just because they had money)