Homeless shelter

What might cause any individual to sleep rough, involuntarily, in freezing conditions?

It is a question that should not have to be asked, given the volumes of research into the causes of homelessness.

I doubt whether the mass sleep-in in Princes Street Gardens, varnished by a small rock concert, has answered it (Scotsman, 11 December).

It is, of course, one thing to volunteer to participate in such a venture knowing that the next day you can return to a full-time job or voluntary activity carried out in conditions of relative comfort.

It is another to sleep in such conditions and not know when this plight will end.

The conventional explanation for the causes of homelessness are familiar: there are not enough houses, more domestic violence which ends in relationship breakdown, a growing problem with mental health, insufficient help for peoplecomingoutofprisonor the armed services.

Although there seems to be no shortage of agencies who aim to cope with these problems, it does not seem to prevent people ending up with nowhere to go and placing their own health at risk. Why?

Perhaps the organisers of the sleep-in might want to look at an unpalatable but crucial point. Their work might be impaired by a communication barrier which prevents those whose life is in a mess to seek help.

If shelter does exist, surely the agencies must ask why the dispossessed fail to find it.

If that question is not addressed then the general public cannot be blamed for simply seeing rough sleeping as a fact of life.