Even those with no fixed abode must be treated with humanity
Weaponised public spaces. Hostile architecture. Demonising the homeless. Those are just a few of the terms being used to describe a slew of measures to discourage rough sleepers in our town and cities. And with some reason.
Anti-homeless metal spikes have been installed on the low granite ledge outside Selfridges in Manchester. In Bournemouth, metal bars have been fixed to benches to deter people from bedding down on them for the night. And in Bristol, a tanning salon has installed night-time sprinklers to stop people sleeping against the building.
Dig deeper and the stories are more nuanced; Bournemouth council says it acted on complaints from local traders. The salon owner claims he used to tolerate a couple of rough sleepers, but the numbers had swelled threefold, leading to rowdiness, mess and discarded drug paraphernalia.
Yet together these actions smack of heartless callousness. Just because someone is of no fixed abode doesn’t mean he or she ceases to belong to the community, or forfeits their right to be treated with humanity. As in Windsor, where there is anxiety that conspicuous homeless people could detract from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s big day, these measures are the unpleasant symptom of a much greater malaise.
As the number of rough sleepers rises – an estimated 9,000 every night nationwide – the Government can no longer abdicate responsibility and rely on businesses taking matters into their own hands. What next? Vigilantism? Alcoholism, drug use and mental illness often blight the lives of the homeless, but does that mean we should abandon them? It does not.
The solution may not be as simple as urgently building more social housing, but I welcome this week’s launch of an £866 million fund to encourage work on building 200,000 homes.
In her speech to the Conservative Party conference last October, the Prime Minister said: “Let us never allow the Left to pretend they have a monopoly on compassion.” Mrs May, now is the moment to prove it.