There may well be odd cases where the person sleeping rough could have prevented it happening, but for the vast majority that is not true. The reasons why people find themselves on the streets, homeless and jobless, are many. Usually there is a connection between them: In the UK it is almost impossible to find a job if you are homeless. In the UK it is almost impossible to find a home if you are jobless. How do you resolve that?
Some homeless people are ex-service personnel who have left the armed forces and not been able to re-adjust to civilian life. Their marriage may have broken down, they may be disabled physically or suffering PTSD or other mental health issues as a result of their service.
Others are youngsters who have left home for whatever reason: perhaps a family conflict, perhaps abuse by a relative, perhaps just not being allowed to remain within the home they grew up in. Some of them are youngsters who grew up in foster families or children's homes who have nowhere else to go once they reach the age of majority.
Some are people who have lost their job or been laid off and can no longer afford to pay their mortgage or rent, and for whom the welfare benefits system has failed, or through sanctions or ineligibility.
Yet more may be those with mental health issues, who are so badly let down by the current system of non-care. Those who, for all sorts of reasons, may not be able to cope with living alone or with others, yet who still need to be housed and cared for.
There are times when there needs to be help provided, where the collective responsibility of a compassionate society needs to kick in and help those who have nowhere to live to find somewhere, or to find a job. How can we do this?
Well firstly it takes money - and under a government which runs an austerity budget that is not an easy thing to find! It also takes social and political will. Social, because we as a society need to understand why homelessness happens and how we can address it, and political because the politicians need to understand there is no quick fix for this, that it will cost money, but that by not taking action it will, in the long term, cost us even more, so non-action is a false economy!
Government could allocate funds to every area with a homeless population, sufficient to purchase a large enough property (or properties if more than one is needed) that can be converted into bedsits so that anyone who is homeless has a safe place of their own to live and sleep. It could even be done as a community project with those who will live in it helping to create the living spaces - thus learning new skills that could help them later on and giving them a sense of involvement and ownership of the project.
Once they are safely housed then they may need help with more skills training, with further education, or finding work suitable to their health and abilities. This could be done in collaboration either with local colleges, or with employers who would provide spaces for people in need of job experience. Once they have those extra skills or experience and an address it becomes so much easier to find permanent employment.
There are times when there needs to be help provided, where the collective responsibility of a compassionate society needs to kick in and help those who have nowhere to live to find somewhere, or to find a job. How can we do this?
Well firstly it takes money - and under a government which runs an austerity budget that is not an easy thing to find! It also takes social and political will. Social, because we as a society need to understand why homelessness happens and how we can address it, and political because the politicians need to understand there is no quick fix for this, that it will cost money, but that by not taking action it will, in the long term, cost us even more, so non-action is a false economy!
Government could allocate funds to every area with a homeless population, sufficient to purchase a large enough property (or properties if more than one is needed) that can be converted into bedsits so that anyone who is homeless has a safe place of their own to live and sleep. It could even be done as a community project with those who will live in it helping to create the living spaces - thus learning new skills that could help them later on and giving them a sense of involvement and ownership of the project.
Once they are safely housed then they may need help with more skills training, with further education, or finding work suitable to their health and abilities. This could be done in collaboration either with local colleges, or with employers who would provide spaces for people in need of job experience. Once they have those extra skills or experience and an address it becomes so much easier to find permanent employment.
But there are still other factors to take into account: how does one live without a paid job? This is where UBI comes in. I don't mean like at the work experience level of payment, I mean an amount that is sufficient to provide the necessities and a bit left over. It needs to be set at a level to pay for clothes, food etc, with the accommodation cost being covered by government until such time as they were earning enough to move into a separate place of their own. The key thing is to set levels realistically, not at some artificially low sum where the only way you can survive is by eating 9p bean-burgers every day!
Managing the UBI brings to mind the need for banking facilities for those whom the high street banks find unattractive, whilst avoiding the lure of the money lenders who prey on the vulnerable. Having a people's bank would allow those who do not have access to commercial banks to have an account into which their earnings or allowances would be paid. This removes another of the hurdles that face many people who are homeless and jobless.
By helping homeless and jobless people in this way you are encouraging them to become members of the wider community rather than living on the fringe or outside of it, you are also giving them dignity and independence, and enhancing their sense of personal self-worth, which in many cases has been destroyed by years of abuse or deprivation.
By helping homeless and jobless people in this way you are encouraging them to become members of the wider community rather than living on the fringe or outside of it, you are also giving them dignity and independence, and enhancing their sense of personal self-worth, which in many cases has been destroyed by years of abuse or deprivation.
Finally, there needs to be a shift in attitude towards homeless and jobless people: they are being blamed for being homeless and jobless and it is not their fault! The reason the media promotes the idea that they are to blame is that it suits the government's rhetoric of austerity and the principle of divide and rule. Until we all realise what game the government and media are playing and if we allow them to make us believe that being homeless and jobless are not political issues then we are being fooled. We need to stand up and protest, whether that be direct to our MP, via marches and demonstrations, at the ballot box each time there is a by-election for council seats or an MP, or most importantly, at the elections for councils and mayors on 4th May. #VoteLabour and help get this situation sorted.
