No progress on homelessness
I wrote a letter last year about homelessness and sleeping rough in London and in Hillingdon.
The reason for this second letter is that there is no progress.
Mostly men are sleeping rough. But now whole families are without a home or, at least, somewhere to live. Three thousand are sleeping rough on the streets of London crows the BBC headlines.
The Mayor of London is doubling his Outreach team. There is a 20% rise in homelessness since 2017.
We are all human beings. Homeless people don’t want to be living on the streets.
It is not a television reality show or Bear Grylls exercise in seeing how long people can survive extreme weather conditions or a hunger strike. It is real and brutal.
There are so many reasons why single people find themselves on the streets or why families end up homeless. These include: mental health, drug and alcohol problems, violence, lack of a job or affordable social housing and Universal credit payments that do not cover rents and hence lead to more evictions from properties.
The Guardian estimates 440 people have died on the streets in the UK this past year. In Hillingdon the charity Trinity has said rough sleeping has risen 134% since 2017.
Since 2015 there has been a 27% rise in the number of people returning to rough sleeping.
Hillingdon council operates a homeless shelter and under Housing Act regulations offers support and advice 24 hours a day seven days a week to those threatened with homelessness.
Hillingdon Trinity believes ‘homeless people are invisible.’ Homelessness is an ugly, depressing constant in our locality and nationwide. Please contact The Salvation Army, St.Mungo’s Crisis and Trinity who are determined to eradicate homelessness through raising money and awareness.
Theresa May has pledged £1.2 billion under the Homelessness Reduction Act to halve homelessness by 2022 and eliminate it by 2027. It is hoped that money and an understanding of why homelessness happens runs hand in hand.
Give generously for People on cardboard beds, unfed, under the radar, undernourished and ill, no warm duvet, today, no real chance to shine under the cloud.
Everyone deserves their fill of light and should be sunray bright and proud.
Sources: BBC, Bureau of InvestiPRESUMABLY gative Journalism, crisis.org.uk, Get West, Guardian, hillingdon.gov. uk,mungos.org.uk, salvationarmy. org.uk, wearetrinity.org.uk
Ian Herne Hillingdon