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.

I will donate to local charities by way of unwanted good clothing, bed linen, towels, feminine hygiene products, stuff for fundraising events, curtains etc but I flatly refuse to give cash to anyone begging in the streets.
Just this week I had a lovely (anonymous) letter from a family who I had helped by providing duvets, covers and curtains for their children's bedrooms. They didn't know my identity but the letter was forwarded by their key worker.

. Have you ever considered opening up your home to a homeless person or offering them a hit meal and bed for the night especially when it's really cold outside.

Wow…Are you serious?

I highly doubt any homeless charity or any professional working with the homeless advises members of the public to do this - especially not women.

Needless to say, do NOT do this Op.

Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you.

Like with benefits, the few “scammers” spoil it for the majority, genuine people in need.

Most beggars are not genuinely homeless. They have places to go, councils and charities are good at providing them with shelter, food and accommodation.

There are few that are genuinely homeless and these people tend to have either mental health difficulties or addictions which mean they don't wish to live in the accomodation provided to them (eg they reject the accommodation offered).

Council websites enable you to report homeless people if you spot them so their teams can offer accomodation and support to them or monitor them if they reject offers of support.

They are not homeless though. It's an employment essentially with a heavy addition of trafficking in some cases.

This is an older article but I think it’s still relevant https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/06/dont-give-money-beggars-help-them

For 10 years Thames Reach and others have been trying to persuade us that handing loose change to sad, dishevelled, beseeching suitors on high streets does more harm than good. Campaigns to stop it are needed, argues Swain, "because of the incontrovertible evidence that the vast majority of people begging on the streets are doing so in order to purchase hard drugs…..
I took this argument on board years back but I have stopped giving to beggars for another reason too. It is, I'm afraid, because I'm sick of them. One of the regulars round my way, a bit clever, fag in hand, became so persistent, so intrusive, that I got quite hostile, dismissing him with the same curt tone I find myself using with cold callers who plague my phone.
I don't like being pestered, even pawed, when approaching the corner shop with my small daughter. I feel quite insulted by the bolder ones' never-changing ploys: the proffered handshake and old pals greeting ("Hello, my friend! I need just a little favour …"); the tall tales about the meter running out, the urgent need for a bus fare, or of wives having babies a taxi ride away. I don't like being picked out as a sucker. I learned long, long ago that junkies lie.
These feelings don't fill me with pride. That is because I know that beggars, from the outrageously brash to the pathetically passive, are almost always in a truly desperate plight. It's just not the one they claim it is. Beneath my narkiness I want to help. What is the best way?”

And important to note this is written by a man.

Crikey most definitely private! Wouldn’t want to end up encountering “those addicts” would we!!

We’ve got faux homeless where we are.

i will never give to a homeless person again, I give to charities who support them when they’re ready to accept help.

The Critic is a right wing rag. With an agenda. According to them England is the victim of colonialism 😅
If anyone has any genuine interest in the people living on the streets in the U.K. Shelter, Centrepoint, Crisis would be starting points rather than opinion pieces.

Because one persons homelessness experience speaks for all homeless people…
Thats what you call ignorance.
There are homeless people in every town in the UK. Some genuine, some not. Some hide away, some don’t. But where they choose to spend their time in the day, does not denote their genuineness.

Do you often judge a whole demographic based on one experience?

The fact is, you can’t judge who is genuine and who isn’t-you make a choice, you turn a blind eye, or you help who you can, without prejudice and without judgment.
The most well known homeless person in our town, who refused all attempts to help him, was also an alcoholic-and you can guarantee any out of towners that saw him would just think he was a drunk beggar, a nuisance to their day. This man sadly died in the winter of ‘21, he was found in plain view, not hidden away-in the door way where he’d made his home.

Completely ignorant and nasty OP. If I were street homeless (and no, there are absolutely not sufficient shelters), I'm damn sure I'd be doing drugs and drink to cope, despite the fact that I barely drink and never take illegal drugs.

My DS and his gf encountered a begger on a train recently. Quite apart from the fact he’d obviously not bought a ticket, he wandered up and down the train asking for money and was ignored. He got off at the same stop as my DS, and as they got off, he said to DS’ GF, “I hope you are violated in the most awful ways.”

The thing is, it’s not a case that the minority of these people are this vile. It’s by far the majority, and we need to stop tolerating it.

CyranoDeBergerQuack · Today 09:07
Omg.
I didn't realise it was possible to have both one's empathy and compassion genes removed. NHS or private?

Shessweetbutapsycho · Today 10:47
Crikey most definitely private! Wouldn’t want to end up encountering “those addicts” would we!!

She didn't have anaesthetic either - and still didn't feel a thing!

'The genuine homeless'?!

I’m sure if you ask children what they want to be when they are older no one will reply “an alcoholic beggar”. You talk about the genuinely homeless people. Why do you think lots of people end up homeless?

That sounds like an incredibly stupid idea. Letting a man you don't know with a drug addiction stay overnight in your home...what could possibly go wrong??

You’re tired of it! How do you think they feel they’re living that life.
Do you think they living like that.
If you were ask any child what they want to be when they were older.
I’d bet my own house that none of themwould say “I want to be alchy and doss on the streets and beg for money” Alcoholism is an illness it’s not a choice.
Be careful who you’re looking down on OP to quote a lyric from the song Ironic. “Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you when you think everything’s okay.” The wheel of fortune yours included is constantly. Homeless and alcoholism can happen to anyone.
I’ll get back in my box now

I wasn't say there isn't a homeless problem. I'm saying that poster who claims the ones in her town aren't homeless and they know where each and every one of them lives is talking crap.

Strange how normally women on here are keen to warn other women about the dangers of men...but suddenly once they're on the streets and shooting up, we should be bending over backwards for them

This time of year? I’ve been seeing this all year round in Manchester, I’ve genuinely not noticed it be any worse over winter / Christmas - but the dens and tents and lying in the street happens year round three. I suspect a lot are displaced by the Christmas markets and so you might be seeing them in new locations at the moment?

I think this phrase is overdone

Round where I live it is like that all year round, not as extreme as described by the OP and they tend not to get in your face but I always see beggars when I leave my home, I have even been approached by them while locking my front door which was rather disconcerting. We have a large Roma population here too, some of the women beg quite aggressively . The local charity that supports homeless people has a lot of supported housing round here, a disproportionate amount compared to more affluent areas of the city. They also have purpose built accommodation which was built without consulting with local people. When we did find out we objected but it made no difference. I have reached a stage where I dislike leaving my home but as I said it a year round thing and we all have to cope with it. It is not unusual to see people smoking crack round the back of the big supermarket and people blind drunk in the play park. Years of complaints to the police and council plus articles in the local paper have made no difference at all. We just put up with it.

People with robust mental health and strong support networks don't typically decide to go and lie on the city streets begging for money for drugs. The majority of the people you see will be very vulnerable due to mental health issues, cognitive disabilities, history of neglect ,abuse and trauma. They are the people who can't function in the mainstream. The services that would have kept them hidden from the view of the offended can't cope. It's not something that can be solved by them personally. They have to exist somehow (until their early death) and have no power or ability to improve their situations. If you want rid of them you need to support campaigns at a societal level to give people a better start and more support for the vulnerable to avoid them hitting rock bottom.

I think that we all know that there are those on the stret who are in terrible situations-either through addiction or life getting badly out of shape.
No-one is suggesting that these poor people don't exist and that they don't deserve sympathy and help.

On the other hand, it is not helpful to those people to come on here and take the piss out of anyone who points out that, as well as this group, there are organised begging gangs exist too.

There certainly are and, if you can tell the difference, then yes, people are absolutely correct to ignore them or inform the police. That is not a sympathy removal, that is common sense.

It is stupid to, in a whirl of virtue waving, to insist that there is no differentiation between the first group and the second. In fact, the second group harm the first group in many ways-by either threatening them if they don't move or by allowing people to think that no beggar is genuine.

So, it is not a sympathy removal nor is it calling for a return to the workhouse to point out that some beggars are not all that they seem and, in fact lead to removal of help and goodwill from those poor genuine souls who have reached the bottom of the pile.

Sometimes, on Mumsnet, people can get so wrapped up in trying be more virtuous than a sain that they leave their common sense at the door. You are not helping anyone and, of course words are cheap, those who shout loudest in this way, probably do the least to help.