Homeless to have tents banned

[dubsie]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/04/suella-braverman-says-rough-sleeping-is-lifestyle-choice

No one wants to see people sleeping in tents in cities but what are homeless people meant to do. Given the choice I think I'd choose a tent over a shop door way or a park bench...and I don't think many people choose being homeless ....not a lifestyle choice for most people.

I think this is more the fact that people like this minister can't stand the sight of homeless people, it reminds them that their decisions have consequences

Is Suella Braverman actually evil or is she pretending to be evil with these cruel policies because that's what she thinks Conservative Party voters want?

It's hard to tell isn't it? Yet it doesn't really matter because she's in a position to cause enormous, intended, harm to many. And says she would actively choose it. Dreams of it. It may be indicative of a deep cynicism and contempt for electors. If it truly gives her the pleasure she describes it indicates a rather concerning attitude for someone who claims to be a Buddhist. Whichever it may be she's as fit to hold office as her fellow Cabinet members. That is not a compliment.

Cruel and disgusting.

https://twitter.com/emily4MK/status/1721149388582531093

One council's genuine work to tackle rough sleeping.

She just sounds like the average GB News presenter or Murdoch/Mail/Telegraph columnist.

Braverman plan to ban rough sleeper tents will cause deaths, charities warn

Leaders of 15 homelessness charities call on UK home secretary to ‘urgently reverse’ proposals

https://www.ft.com/content/65ff8f6f-fa79-4e5c-9770-0dcb17ed595a

In the last 15 years I've seen repeated policy that have caused harm and suffering and I'm amazed that people have put up with it.

When Cameron and Osborne embarked on austerity I witnessed the reality on the ground. I had a contract with a housing association and because of the benefit cuts I witnessed disabled families being turfed out their homes and these so called charities simply adapted to changes in funding and benefits by looking for different tenants. I can remember two very disabled people who relied totally on carers being found dead....their lives were cut short because of cuts.

The same will happen here, they are going to kill homeless people with this policy. But that's the point they are snuffing out the most vulnerable people and getting away with it. It's a form of eugenics and they are getting away with murder literally

Your last paragraph is absolutely correct, it's policy and its disgusting.

So true. It is never a choice.

People comparing it to the state of the U.S. need to open their eyes and see that the homeless cities are a symptom of policy.

I despair too. They have shamelessly shaped policy that will cause so much homelessness and now advocate this heartless response. Disgusted at replies here. Who gives a shit If tents are outside shops?? You don't want to see it? Then take action to help others find affordable housing alternatives by sacking of Tories or any other party who tries to criminalise shelter.

California is a state with a mild climate and what might be described as a perfect climate in its southern portion. It absorbs hundreds of thousands of migrants annually from Mexico and Central America. These people often have family connections and are able to find work and shelter and integrate.

It obviously has a problem dealing with the homeless mentally ill and addicted people and those on very low incomes who lose their housing, often at very short notice. These are people with little or no safety net.

Between a third and a half of the entire homeless population of the US lives in California. I can't think of any state that would be successful in dealing with a problem of that magnitude, given the fact that everyone has constitutionally guaranteed rights.

A large proportion of California's homeless population has either a serious mental illness or a long-term addiction, or both. Recent initiatives to deal with the problem of homelessness include the CARE proposal, which would allow involuntary commitment of individuals to treatment programmes.

A recent study on homelessness in California revealed the financial precariousness of the previous lives of many who find themselves homeless. The market will not solve the issue of housing for those on very low incomes. Provising low income housing for those who could return to being housed is simply not going to yield enough profit to make it worthwhile. Most of those who lost their previous housing felt that an emergency allocation of funds from the state or the city they lived in would have enabled them to stave off the bailiffs.

If you're trying to suggest that it's too much socialism that has rendered California an alleged 'failed state', you couldn't be further wide of the mark. It's more socialism, not less, that will make the difference.

Great post.

But, also, all one has to do is Google tent cities to discover they exist all over the US, yes most especially in the West - but going West is as engrained in the American psyche as London's streets being paved with gold in ours. And it's no surprise California has most - it is after all the most populated state.

Nevada, Washington State and Washington DC, Colorado, Hawaii, Alaska, NY, Florida, Minnesota, Illinois, Georgia - all have extensive tent cities. Amongst others.

Some people don't want to be housed or have another reason for declining housing.

It's not a new phenomenon.

What is fairly new is town centres becoming inaccessible for a lot of people because of tent-users who make the town centre an intimidating, unpleasant and often dangerous place to be.

There is a correlation between Blue States and homelessness / Tent Cities in the USA and in particular Democrat run cities. The book "San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities" by the liberal journalist Michael Shellenburger is a great read on this.

Yes there are Red states right on the Southern border which have a far smaller problem in relative terms with tent cities than places like Portland, Oregon which doesn't have a temperate climate.

San Francisco's problem with homelessness is not new. It's existed since at least the 1930s.

Can you specify which town centres are being taken over by tents?

As you can see above, MK has a significant homelessness problem, which they are tackling . But I have never specifically seen a tent. If I did, I would be relieved that they were sleeping in one instead of under a box, must be honest.

Not sure why we are being side tracked to the US. I blame Suella.

@Piggywaspushed the problem in San Francisco now is completely off the scale compared to what came before.

I guess people are concerned about the situation in the US because so often what happens there happens here 5-10 years later.

This 'liberal' Shellenburger? The one who ran for California and failed twice? The one who says climate change is an opportunity andconcerns are over wrouhgt? That liberal?

Shellenberger "does exactly what he accuses his left-wing enemies of doing: ignoring facts, best practices and complicated and heterodox approaches in favor of dogma."Olga Khazan, writing in The Atlantic, said that "The problem—or opportunity—for Shellenberger is that virtually every homelessness expert disagrees with him. ('Like an internet troll that's written a book' is how Jennifer Friedenbach, the executive director of San Francisco's Coalition on Homelessness, described him to me.)". However, Khazan also noted that "some experts agree with some of Shellenberger's critiques of Housing First. Though they stop short of endorsing Shellenberger or his views"

He has long been left wing (and devoted many years to working with the homeless) but fairly recently renounced the Democrats largely due to their failed social policies in San Francisco.

He 100% accepts man made climate change but is against climate alarmism and instead wants to pursue technological advances and nuclear power to fight it. There are plenty of liberals who hold this view. Unless you embrace identity politics of course.

San Francisco, home of the original Skid Row. Still there. Tory policies have actively caused this huge rise in homelessness, that's inarguable. Cruella knows this can only be improved by significant government action which she can't, and doesn't wish to, effect. I'm surprised she hasn't yet criminalised the use of food banks. Perhaps she's saving it as a surprise Christmas tribute to Ebenezer Scrooge "Have they no refuge or resource?" cried Scrooge. "Are there no prisons?" said the Spirit , , ,"Are there no workhouses?" That woman needs to read some Great British Literature whilst she's staunchly upholding the 'values of the British people' and telling us what we "want'.

Just Google tent cities UK. Brighton, Leeds, Plymouth, Manchester, Cardiff, Bristol, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Sheffield parts of London all come up on the front page. Many directly in town centres including parks. I'm sure there's more.

Now, they may not officially constitute 'tent cities' but its clear tent-users/encampments ARE significantly visible in a number of UK town centres, parks and seafronts.

I guess this kind of 'tent cities' are acceptable?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12391067/Tents-Suella-Braverman-Channel-migrants-RAF-Essex-asylum-seekers.html

I live in one of those areas listed. There are no tent cities or encampments. Just a few tents here and there in the town centre. It bothers me because it is sad that people end up that way, not because the tent dwellers are a nuisance. They aren't.

Birmingham too, which has been the case for 20 years or so.