In my defense,
if homelessness is so widely known about - why is it on the increase? My
personal thoughts are that there's little cause for any cheer whilst so many
fellow human beings are forced to spend their lives out on our freezing cold
streets, alone, scared, and hungry. For me, and many others, the sight of
homeless people is utterly heartbreaking.
Homelessness
is surely modern society's biggest disgrace. Listening to political figures wax
lyrical about how they're managing 'the economy' seems utterly superfluous when
we're confronted by the sight of homeless individuals living rough on our
streets. It actually riles me when the discourse descends to ridiculous
rhetoric about how to define gender and other pointless WOKE stuff which boils
so much blood in this day and age. Surely, there are more pressing matters to
focus our energies on?
Dehumanising
Homelessness
goes beyond being dehumanising. It utterly belittles the words of those who
profess that we're living in a compassionate and civilised age. Our high
streets are becoming degraded, dystopian images of human misery and suffering.
Any hope of rejuvenating high street fortunes for future generations must,
surely, necessitate the eradication of homelessness. No high street visitor
wishes to witness homelessness on any scale, let alone what we've been
witnessing over recent years. It's clearly catastrophic for those who are out
there and demoralising for those of us who witness such abject misery befalling
our fellows.
Statistics
surrounding homelessness are utterly frightening. For example, the average age
of death for people experiencing homelessness is just 46 (for men) and 42 (for
women). People sleeping out on our streets are almost 17 times more likely to
have been victims of violence. More than one in three rough sleepers have been
deliberately hit, kicked or experienced some other form of violence whilst
being homeless. People who are homeless are ten times more likely to take their
own lives than the general population.
We're told
that homelessness is an excessively complex scenario. I can largely accept
that. In many instances, it probably is very complicated indeed. We know that
people become homeless for many different reasons. There are social causes such
as a lack of affordable housing, poverty and unemployment. Life events often
push people into homelessness such as leaving prison, leaving care or even
leaving the armed forces (in situations where individuals have no home to
return to). Many women experiencing homelessness have escaped violent and
abusive relationships. Other people simply can no longer afford to pay their
rents.
Life events
such as relationship breakdowns, mental or physical health problems, losing
jobs or substance misuse put people under massive pressure. Being homeless
compounds these core problems and often makes them even more difficult to
resolve. However, in nearly all cases homelessness is preventable and in every
case, the horrors of having nowhere to live can be brought to an end.
There are no
national figures to tell us just how many people are homeless across the UK.
Perhaps publishing such statistics would unnerve political organisations? The
narrative coldly states that homeless numbers are recorded 'differently' in
each of the home nations and that many homeless people are living off-grid so
wouldn't show up in any official figures.
However, the
'Crisis' organisation does carry out an annual assessment of the number of
homeless people. This study is done as a direct response to public concerns
that far too many people are experiencing homelessness and not being accurately
accounted for in any official statistics. The figures compiled by Crisis are
referred to as 'core homelessness'. These figures account for rough sleeping,
people living in sheds, garages and other unconventional buildings. It also
includes so-called 'sofa surfing,' living in hostels and other unsuitable
temporary accommodation such as B&B's.
Stark and bewildering
The figures
compiled by Crisis are both stark and bewildering. On any given night, tens of
thousands of families and individuals experience the very worst forms of
homelessness across the UK. This includes over 200,000 households in England
alone. For more than five consecutive years the figures for 'core homelessness'
have been rising significantly every year in England before they reached a peak
just before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Clearly,
living rough (rough sleeping) is the most visible and precarious form of
homelessness. The longer people experience rough sleeping, the more likely they
are to face challenges such as trauma, mental health issues and even become
prone to drug misuse. Local authorities do have a statutory duty to secure a
home for some groups of people. This is often referred to as the 'main
homelessness duty.' Every year, tens of thousands of people apply to their
local authority for homelessness assistance.
Alarmingly,
this is where bureaucracy trumps sensibility and compassion because people must
be legally defined as "homeless" before qualifying for any assistance.
The most beleaguered people in our society must demonstrate that they lack a
secure place at which they are entitled to live (or not reasonably be able to
stay).
But it isn't
that simple. In order to qualify for any assistance under the 'main homelessness
duty', there are even more strict criteria that have to be met. Local
authorities may initially provide temporary accommodation for those who meet
these criteria, mainly families with children. Those who fall outside the net
are not entitled to help with housing. These people don't bother to approach
their councils for any help because they believe that none will be forthcoming.
Consequently, these people won't be accounted for in any official statistics
which is why Crisis carries out its annual study regarding 'core homelessness.'
It's clear
that there are lots of people who are at risk of being pushed into
homelessness. They're often in low paid jobs and may already be living in
poverty within poor quality or insecure housing. Many stay in hostels, squats,
B&Bs, in overcrowded accommodation or in ‘concealed' housing such as the
floors or sofas of friends and family.
Silent tragedy
We hear so
many stories of people living in crisis, of the escalating costs of living and
all the hardships that such matters doubtlessly entail. All the while, there's
a silent tragedy unfolding in front of our noses on our local high streets,
where countless people wander around in freezing conditions every single day. I
find it very difficult not to worry about them as I lay my selfish head down in
a warm bed each night.
I just see a
fundamental anomaly when I see how Governments are prepared to spend billions
sending military aid to the very war zones which have singularly compounded
many of the hardships people face domestically. We live in a society that
clearly sees fit to vociferously campaign for the welfare of refugees who
arrive on our shores as a direct consequence of conflicts in which we (as a
country) are becoming increasingly complicit. All this, whilst tens of
thousands of our own are left to fend for themselves. There are no limitless
billions available to help sort our own people out? Surely, there's something
askew here?
Douglas Hughes is a UK-based writer producing general interest articles ranging from travel pieces to classic motoring.
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There was once a man who asked the same questions... More than a hundred years ago. Poverty and Progress, they went hand in hand, he observed, and couldn't understand why. In his quest to understand, he wrote inquiring essays for his local newspaper (in San Francisco), educated himself in the principles of economics, and finally, in a flash of inspired insight, he grasped the root cause... and spent the rest of his life travelling the world to bring that insight to social reformers. He became a best-selling author, unsurpassed (even today) for writing for 'normal people' in a field (economics) where those in charge deliberately complicate the game they have set up, in order to go on rigging the system. You've never heard of this man? Do you think that's an accident? In this day and age, scrubbing unwelcome truths from public discourse can be done with the click of a mouse, in his day it had to be done by spending: in universities, not to study his remedy, in books, not to publish, distribute, or review the works that inspired millions from Russia, to the UK and back again to New York and San Francisco... Even this man's untimely death (would it surprise you to know?) is under a cloud of suspicion... But his remedy still stands as the simple solution, once and for all, to the problem of Progress and Poverty, why they go together, how they can so easily be separated, so that Progress can --quickly, with no war or bloodshed-- wipe out Poverty once and for all. But those who profit hold power and have money to implement their agenda, meaning more concentration of their power. Henry George's Single Tax System (on those who OWN the Land) is the just remedy for the system that enslaves us all today.
By Sieben Janne from Lisbon on 11 Feb 2023, 06:21