Homeless crisis is painful food for thought this Christmas time

The angry guy in my office one December day left me with this enduring festive message: “Poor people feel more pain at Christmas.”

He was a big man wrapped in multiple layers of clothing because he lived on the streets. He was upset about a story my newspaper had carried about another homeless man who had stolen money for drink and drugs.

“We aren’t all like that,” he said.

“Whatever money I get goes on food.”

The town centre Christmas cheer hadn’t worked any seasonal magic on him. “There are two Englands,” he said.

“One for those who can afford a life and one for those like me who can’t.

“All the Christmas lights, the glittery shops and people spending money just makes the suffering worse for the poor people who can’t.” Debt was the cause of his decline, he said.

He lost his job, his mortgage, his house, his family.

He took lodgings then sofasurfed until he was no longer welcome.

Then he slept in hostels or on the streets.

He had a place to hide his belongings and doss down without being hassled. “There are loads of people living like me,” he said, “and even more are close to the edge”.

This was more than 20 years ago.

My newspaper had boxes in shops where people could leave food for the homeless that Christmas.

It was pre-foodbanks and was a new, but necessary, project.

Now, tragically, such schemes have become commonplace.

The huge sadness of this Christmas message is that all these years later nothing has changed.

The other evening, several people were begging in the high street.

We must never forget how shocking that is.

There are still too many homeless people, too many people facing a daily struggle to keep a roof over their heads, too many unable to feed their children properly; too many forced to use foodbanks. That’s painful food for thought at this Christmas election time.

All main parties have promised more help for the homeless and poor, but I’ve heard that many times over the last 20 years - and the problems persist.

As he left the homeless man said: “There’s nothing happy about Christmas for the likes of me.”

■ What do you think? Email kentishgazette@thekmgroup. co.uk.

‘The other evening, several people were begging in the high street... we must never forget how shocking that is’