Knowing the full story about homelessness
Thousands of children living on the breadline, their families only just being able to cover the basics
As human beings, we are more likely to give to a charity, support a cause or lend a hand to a neighbour if we know the full story.
We need to understand why a situation has turned out the way it has to be able to identify with the reasons behind a person’s choices. We are naturally disposed to find comfort and understanding in a beginning, a middle and an end.
I was reminded of that this month, when reading the Scottish Government’s school attendance and absentee statistics, which found that 31 per cent of students were “persistently absent” from classes. The same month, the Scottish Government report on poverty and income inequality was published, finding that 24 per cent of children were living in relative poverty. In real terms, this is thousands of children living on the breadline, their families only just being able to cover the basics and no more. This may mean that they are living without adequate nutrition or a feeling of safety within their home, that is so important for children.
It has long been established that this kind of socioeconomic inequality has a negative effect on school attendance. In Sarah Johnsen and Janice Blenkinsopp’s Hard Edges report, which studied the lives of women who had experienced multiple disadvantage, disruptive behaviour at school and problematic use of alcohol was often evident by age 13. Examining these three reports side by side, it is easy to see the pattern – when so many children in Scotland are being born into poverty, we cannot be surprised that a similar number are not engaging in education.
In my role as the chief executive of a homelessness prevention charity, I meet service users who are at every stage of this journey. We work with families living in temporary accommodation without adequate facilities to make a meal, young people disengaging with school and adults building up their lives after a period of homelessness.
These interventions help support people into a life that they have agency over. We all have the ability to write our own story, but it requires support from our wider community, where we are coming from and where we want to go next.