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Homelessness

windhoek

windhoek

The Phoolosopher
I've been watching Love and Drugs on the Street: Girls Sleeping Rough - a BBC documentary series filmed in a similar 'warts and all' vein to Sex, Drugs and Murder - and I find it truly remarkable that such homelessness is actually occurring in these modern-day times.

I'll admit, whenever I've seen people begging in town with tents and sleeping bags and what not in the recent past, my first thought was that they're simply pretending to be homeless just to make money - for what purpose, I can't be sure, but my money's on drink or drugs. But now I'm thinking some of them probably are genuinely homeless.

If Theresa May doesn't actually give a flying duck about JAMs, it makes me think she's abandoned all hope for JABMs: Just Alive But Moribund.

What say ye?
 
"Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members -- the last, the least, the littlest."
~Cardinal Roger Mahony,
 
windhoek said:
I'll admit, whenever I've seen people begging in town with tents and sleeping bags and what not in the recent past, my first thought was that they're simply pretending to be homeless just to make money - for what purpose, I can't be sure, but my money's on drink or drugs. But now I'm thinking some of them probably are genuinely homeless.
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Bear in mind that drink or drugs may be what made them homeless. And if not, they may be the only things that make it bearable. And yes, I have been homeless, and a junkie at the same time.
I just received my £100 heating allowance, which I don't need, so I gave it to a local homeless charity. And I plan to carry a pocketful of pound coins over Christmas for anyone I see on the streets. I would rather give money to someone who doesn't need it than miss someone who does.
 
I had that thought as I watched the programme myself that drink and/ or drugs may or may not be why someone is homeless, but it might well be the thing that makes it bearable, and understandably so.
 
Julf said:
"There, but for the grace of God, ..."
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I get the 'have some gratitude' aspect of that saying, but it does seem to suggest that God has the power to prevent everyone from being homeless but doesn't. That's disappointing, assuming the premiss of God existing in the first place to be correct, of course.
 
I wonder why so many ostensibly homeless in my city have large dogs with them. Not only do they need to feed themselves but their dogs too, which isn't cheap. Furthermore, how do they exercise these (always big) animals and where do they defecate? This is not a new phenomenon.
 
My guess is that some already had a dog when they became homeless and are trying to stay together, as it were. My skeptical, however, self says some use dogs as props in the hope of getting more money from dog-loving passers-by.
 
or for company or protection.

Last I hear she's sleeping out
Back on Derby beat
White Horse in her hip pocket
And a wolfhound at her feet

She was a rare thing
Fine as a beeswing
And I missher more than ever words could say
If I could just taste
All of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
Then I wouldn't want her any other way


.sjb
 
I've been 'homeless'. It wasn't all about sitting in a manky old sleeping bag outside a shop, looking pathetic. Whilst those people are often genuine, I'm talking about the more hidden homeless. Those who you might pass in the street and not even notice. Those who don't even make it into 'town', from the 'burbs'. Those who have kids 'holed up', in a single room in some Godforsaken bedsit.

I was kind of intentionally homeless, but homeless nonetheless. I'd had a row at home and wasn't prepared to back down. (Not like you Mull!!.. I hear you cry..) I was only an hour or so's hitch hike from home, but I had no job and no roof over my head. I couldn't find either, despite looking very hard. I spent hours wandering around shops figuring out how best to spend about 20p ( early 70s )on the best food 'hit', I could get. I finally ended up in some horrible DSS accomodation with a lot of very sad cases. Drunks, mentaly ill, elderly and displaced, you name it. That was the first( and mercifully the last) time I ever saw bedbugs.

The point I'm trying to make is that you don't have to sit in the street begging, to be genuinely homeless. It is a purely politically created situation in the UK, and a national disgrace.

Yesterday, I was in Matthew Street, Liverpool... where The Cavern is... People from all over the planet come to see this cultural icon, but they also see half a dozen sleeping bagged people on the floor...

'Great Britain'??

Hardly....
 
Mullardman said:
I finally ended up in some horrible DSS accomodation with a lot of very sad cases. Drunks, mentaly ill, elderly and displaced, you name it.
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Or people working through, or simply living with, some emotional trauma. I believe everyone on the streets has a reason and it's not about money alone.
 
darrenyeats said:
Or people working through, or simply living with, some emotional trauma. I believe everyone on the streets has a reason and it's not about money alone.
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It's usually because they don't have a house/home, there are not enough to go round, not enough being built and the ones available are too expensive for them to live in.
 
It's about lots of things:

Lack of affordable housing.
'Gentrification' of traditionally low rent areas.
Sale of 'Social Housing' and restrictions on new build.
Sale of 'Investment' property to absentee owners/landlords, pushing up prices.

Cuts to/lack of:

Suitable employment. (There was a time when work (and therefore dignity) could be found for the all but unemployable)
Loss of traditional employment in many locations.
Mental Health support.
Social Services.
Housing Services.

It all adds up to a 'perfect storm', which easily defeats those with least resource.
 
As others have said, it's not a "one size fits all". Many are mentally ill or otherwise unable to cope with life, substance abuse may be a problem, and so on. As for the dogs, of course they have them for company. I would. The cost of keeping a dog alive is minimal enough. Have a rake through a bin, you'll find an end of a pie or some takeaway debris. It's not the balanced diet recommended by the Kennel Club but it will keep them alive. They're dogs. They survive.

A lot of the education initiatives don't factor in the biggest hazard of being homeless, which is personal safety. The place I'm with at the moment has a link with a homeless charity, we give them any surplus food. The person who runs this link had a "homeless night out" in November. I raised an eyebrow, she's not the most worldly young woman. Turns out the "homeless shelter" was a marquee in a park somewhere and patrolled overnight. It's one thing to sleep on cardboard, but another to sleep on cardboard where people piss on you, sexually assault you and set your bed alight.
 
windhoek said:
I've been watching Love and Drugs on the Street: Girls Sleeping Rough - a BBC documentary series filmed in a similar 'warts and all' vein to Sex, Drugs and Murder - and I find it truly remarkable that such homelessness is actually occurring in these modern-day times.

I'll admit, whenever I've seen people begging in town with tents and sleeping bags and what not in the recent past, my first thought was that they're simply pretending to be homeless just to make money - for what purpose, I can't be sure, but my money's on drink or drugs. But now I'm thinking some of them probably are genuinely homeless.

If Theresa May doesn't actually give a flying duck about JAMs, it makes me think she's abandoned all hope for JABMs: Just Alive But Moribund.

What say ye?
Click to expand...
Over 60,000 homeless families living within the UK, your early thoughts on the subject are unfortunately not unusual regarding homelessness & why there isn't outrage towards the government on this subject.
People often get outraged about far less in this country, the mental attitude towards these unfortunate people needs to change, the government have little interest in this.

The homeless population has risen sharply since Cameron introduced sanctions on benefits, forcing ill individuals into work (not the reason behind it BTW) has a knock on effect. The effect being whole families living on the streets, children included.

Until the people of this country aim their angst in the right direction, it will continue to rise.
 
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