Governmenturgedtogeton board to end homeless crisis
A HOMELESS charity has accused the authorities be of taking their eye off the ball in efforts to tackle and prevent homelessness.
Shelter Scotland took to Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street yesterday to highlight the plight of homeless people, just yards from rough sleepers in the doorways of city stores.
It was part of its Homelessness: Far From Fixed campaign, encouraging members of the public and politicians to sign up to its list of demands of l ocal and national government.
While the charity staged a high-profile awareness event in Sauchiehall Street, some rough sleepers directly approached the group for help.
Debbie King, of Shelter Scotland, said: “Within Glasgow last year 4500 people were assessed as homeless, we’ve got 2000 households in temporary housing at the moment in and around 1400 hundred children are in temporary accommodation.
“There’s a distinct lack of housing for people. We’ve had lots of people approaching us today who have been living on the streets for a long time, in and out of temporary accommodation just not getting the support that they need.”
The charity created a giant snakes and l adders-style board game, Chance Not Choice, along with giant dice to illustrate how life events affect people’s ability to keep a roof over their head and that homelessness can happen to anyone.
People were urged to play the game and sign up to the campaign’s aims to tackle homelessness.
Alison Watson, deputy director of Shelter Scotland, said: “We brought our campaign to Glasgow to show people that it is frankly a disgrace that homelessness still exists in Scotland today.
“We are one of the richest nations in the world, yet nearly 30,000 households became homeless last year and more than 65,000 households approached their local authority for help with housing.”
Shelter is demanding that national and local government do more to tackle homelessness in Scotland.
It is calling for safe and secure home for everyone, a strong housing safety net to catch people when they do become homeless.