Problem needs to be tackled

THEY can be seen every night on the streets of towns and cities across the UK — an army of disenfranchised souls with nowhere to call home (see pages 4&5).

Their lives may have been blighted by addiction to drink or drugs, or their involvement with crime, or money problems which left them with little more to their name than the clothes they have on.

But, whatever their route to the misery of sleeping rough, they are human beings who firstly need somewhere safe and warm to spend the night, and then the sort of help that will give them real hope they can take a different path.

It is, for example, tragic that some say they feel safer on the pavement than they do in hostels, where they feel vulnerable to the temptation of drugs and the threat of violence and petty crime.

With winter looming, workers at Dundee’s Night Ministry fear the number of people huddling in doorways and seeking what little shelter they can find is on an upward spiral.

The organisation does fantastic work, providing hot food, cosy clothes and blankets, without which many people would surely perish in the bitter months ahead.

Its focus is, quite rightly, on dealing with the here and now and doing what it can to give rough sleepers a modicum of comfort and even a little dignity.

But it cannot tackle the issues which have left people with little or no option but to sleep in the street.

That is a challenge facing the NHS, groups working to tackle addiction, the social services and the justice system.

Surely in 21st Century Scotland we can do better than just abandon people to their fate — no matter how or why they now find themselves on the street.