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.

Some people are professional beggars, and yes it's a problem. But the "genuinely homeless" aren't picturesque and include in their number many addicts, people with mental health conditions and personality disorders.

We get a lot of drug addicts, but also large numbers of Roma women begging. They usually have babies with them, who seem well wrapped up, but it can't be good. I do feel awful when they point at the baby and ask for money.
Like pp I decided to give to the Salvation Army, who do amazing work, but so many slip through the net.

Yes actually I heard Andy Burnham talking about how he deals with homeless in Manchester and it's excellent. The places for people to go to for food and shelter and showers and to receive medical treatment. Andy wants people to contribute to that fund not to people personally.

I’ve also used our streetlink service in Brum that allows you to report people sleeping rough and outreach workers will go out to them- offer food, advice and help finding accommodation. Sometimes you get an update and half the time the person has refused the help.

They are, in the main addicts. Most not homeless. I feel sorry for them and am pleasant but I don’t give them money.

This. No one whose life is going well would choose to live like that. There are obviously a myriad of reasons that people end up in these situations, including people with MH problems, addiction, homelessness, people who have been horribly abused, people who have been exploited etc.

Yanbu...I see all the virtue signallers are out.

We have a few outside our local supermarket.... asking for money. They are drug addicts....sorry but i struggle to feel sorry for grown men who've made a bad choice....and I also want to be able to go about my business in peace.

And yes I am also aware that there are lots of awful situations and things which are beyond their control

I have volunteered at a charity for many years that provides meals for whoever wants them. It's fascinating who uses the services.

I'd never give to someone in the street. I don't understand why people would. It encourages scammers and exploitation of vulnerable people. I also think it makes areas less safe.

I've worked with the homeless for 15 years and my advice is never give money to street beggars, in cities many are trafficked and have to give their money to their gang master.

Give to genuine local charities or if you know them to be genuine , eg the guy outside my Sainsbury's, i brought him dog food, homemade cake, and always had leaflets of where food and support is daily across the city, including the project I ran until 2020. Over the years I did get to know him and through a friend I know following good addiction support during the pandemic he now has a flat and a job working for M&S in their distribution centre, yes oddly the pandemic did help some of the long term homeless to get the help they needed!.

I think a lot of people give cash to beggars to assuade their own discomfort and guilt rather then because they think a few quid will help turn their life around! Surely most people aren't that naive anymore?

I agree with the general message of the op (if not the tone). Until recently one of my neighbours was one of these beggars (the house was sold). He lived in a multiple occupancy house probably not very nice but a decently kept house in a nice neighbourhood. He had a very beautiful distinctive dog so I was surprised to see him in the town center with a 'hungry and homeless' sign trying to raise £12 for a hostel room.

I have no doubt that his life isn't particularity nice and he could likely do with support but that doesn't mean that he isn't lying to passersby and people should be aware that their money might not be used for the claimed use.

There's a strange competition that happens in my town (posh educated area) where the beggers take on the latest fad to get more interest. Box fort, dog, badly spelt sign. This fads spreads around to all the beggars before the next one appears to try to differentiate themselves from the others (not saying this is a bad thing just that there's obviously this underlying competing for attention).

One guy is very successful and sits quietly on his sleeping bag, no sign or dog. Just sits there all day reading a series of dog-eared novels. He stands out. I've literally heard passing people express that 'he not like the others'. He gets a lot of people sitting and talking to him. No idea if he's genuine or just great at marketing. Either way I don't think that giving cash will help either way to I don't.

Addicts and alcoholic’s are clearly suffering. I don’t think there is a single person in the world, who when growing up, thinks, when I’m older I want to be a drug addict or alcoholic and live on the street.

For whatever reason, life has lead them down that dark, harrowing place. The way the op has written, is a worrying example of a lack of compassion and understanding that quite a few people have.

None of the “homeless” beggars in the town I work in are actually homeless. They all have flats, most of them have cars. It’s a job to them.

I don’t engage with them.

There are always beggars outside the bakery. There is also sometimes a pile of discarded pies on the next alleyway over, and pigeons congregate every day as though it were Trafalgar Square. Such a waste.

Don’t care if they are ex-services - if they served their time or were invalided out they have a pension, and they all walk past RBL to get to the best spots. I donate to local support charities but never give them money.

Much as I like AB, listening to one person's opinion and ideas about homelessness - however good those ideas are - does not show you the reality of current homeless services and what it's like to access those services as a vulnerable person.

Frankly I'm not interested in the opinions of someone like OP who has no clue about the subject, which is very complex, beyond the very surface level encounters she has whilst walking around our cities.

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).

They may not be street homeless, but people who are forced to do this are not in a good place.

I think @Onand might be on a wind up to start a thread like this at this time of year.

All of them?

Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?

Precisely.

I think you're being extremely unreasonable. Thank your lucky stars you've never been in their position of had to love someone who is. Addiction is a huge affliction and in case you hadn't noticed the country is in a mess. In fact I find your view/post disgusting

So those that disagree with the OP are all virtue signallers, really? How sad to think that way. I am glad not to be judging people, and deciding who I think has made a bad choice, when I know absolutely nothing about them, or their life. And it is not just men, who happen to be homeless!

Jesus wept, this thread! Quite possibly the most inhumane one I've ever seen started on MN. So sorry your precious sensibilities are so offended by these people who are at society's rock bottom and just trying to survive, OP. If you don't like it, don't look. Or maybe it's not too late to ask Santa to bring you some empathy this Christmas?

You know each and every one of them and where they live? Course you do. 🙄

I know right? They keep them out of the way and then the streets stay pretty. Bring them back I say.

(obviously sarcastic. This whole thread has made me very sad)

Oh, we’re still trotting out the ‘they’re rich, making hundreds everyday before heading g back to their mansions’ are we? I thought that died back in the 80s?
Are they still eating people’s pets and the Queens/Kings swans or is that just the immigrants???

I haven’t seen any of what you describe OP but we’re very rural. What I have seen on various FB pages is anonymous requests from people running out of food and I cant help but wonder if they’re real or not as it seems to be mostly weekends these posts appear.