greyhound pal Posted December 29, 2007 Report Share Posted December 29, 2007 Sorry am coming back because I wittered on in last post and missed a few points... I think most people would consider it a "horrendous" lifestyle, not because it isn't like theirs but because it is darned uncomfortable in winter, you can freeze to death, and there is the constant risk of violence from all kinds of people. Would disagree because its a lifestyle choice to a certain degree. And its not one people understand who are from within the situation let alone outsiders. You touched on things like people being successful and things going wrong which has led to them ducking out of 'normality'. Yes - those stroeis always really touched me however they weren't all that common. I'll go on to a wee bit more about that. I can only speak of the homelessness situation in London, where I lived for many years. It's 20 years since I left but as far as I can make out it is certainly no better now and probably worse. It's nothing like what you describe in Edinburgh because of the sheer size of the place and the number of street people. The main grumble from Westminster seems to be litter caused by soup runs, and house prices being affected. As the soup runs are in business areas after offices have closed, it does seem to be an excuse. There is not enough accommodation in London to house even the proportion of people who are willing to come indoors, and you can bet Westminster Council aren't going to provide any. Even if they did, the people who are now objecting to the soup runs would shout even louder about house prices being affected. Personally I would welcome anything which brought property prices down in Westminster as they are obscene. Ah but this is where things are seriously fecked. The government has several times given dates for the 'eradication for the need for anyone to sleep rough'. At the moment its 2012 With that came the trend towards closing the large hostels and opening smaller ones which are more focussed. Mostly the smaller hostels have maximum stays - up to eight weeks or whatever, because of the recognition that those who lived in them tended to live in them and not move on. Certainly teh ones I've seen in Scotland (Glasgow, Perth and Edinburgh) before they closed had some men staying there for 20+ years. But the homeless scene has changed fairly drastically - there are less older people and the population is younger. I blame this fully on the explosion of heroin when it became easier to get as well as price drops in the early 2000's. Plus the introduction of services to deal with such issues. Of course the law now states LA's must give each and every person who presents as homeless a right to a reasonable period of time in temporary accommodation. The rough guide is 28 days temp accom however a few councils extend that in accordance with their area make up. In 2012, each and every person deemed as homeless will have a right to accommodation and to be housed by their local authority. There aren't enough houses (well there are but not in areas which people want to live in) so how thats going to work is way beyond me... As for housing. I work in an area with one of the least options for affordable housing in the UK. For those who are on the priority list (that is those over 60, under 18, with dependants, health issues etc and not deemed to have done anything which contributed to their homelessness) and to house all the people on this list given housing stock as well as turnover and new builds would take over 400 years! As I said Edinburgh does have housing options however they aren't what I call good options. We humans have a tendency to drift into things and get stuck, as the line of least resistance. Bad relationships, unsuitable jobs, lifestyles we don't want. What keeps us there? Mainly unawareness of the choices open to us. Would disagree since thats a large part of homeless strategy - advice and information. Huge funding has gone into housing support services for street homeless which includes streetworkers as well as all other frontline staff being able to give options on what else is available. Its not lack of being aware of options - its more likely to be other issues surrounding will, ability and mental health... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redditchlady Posted December 30, 2007 Report Share Posted December 30, 2007 Ken Livingston talking sense, the world really has gone mad now Whilst I think some "tramps" etc may indeed be happy that way I can't imagine that the majority would stay on the streets just because of a soup kitchen being available. Must be a horrendous lifestyle to lead by most peoples standards. Ken Livingstone is a plonker. But some of the homeless choose to be homeless. I offered my home over Xmas this year to the old boy I know from Redditch. "No name" Can't say it not allowed. He came here Xmas day 2006 with his Greyhound. Had a shower, meal. They had my spare room till the 27th. I couldn't/ wasn't allowed to post about it. They were invited this year, just the same, I got the reply. Quote,"we are used to the streets" But I will say something every time I go into town I see the dog and the man. Dog has lots of warm coats, vaccs done each year. Dog is wormed every 4 months on Panacur. I see to that. That dog is as well fed as mine. He was neutered last year. We made sure of that. Yes, some of them choose that life, so be it. But I have yet to see a dog on the streets uncared for. Food for thought maybe. I would not hesitate to give him the "right" dog on the future. Kazz xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trallwm farm Posted December 30, 2007 Report Share Posted December 30, 2007 Bugger, Bangs goes half of our weekly meals then. We will be back to Safeways spoil bins if we have Labour in for much longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyhound pal Posted December 30, 2007 Report Share Posted December 30, 2007 But I have yet to see a dog on the streets uncared for. You are so right. I worked to set up the first project in Scotland to accept homeless and pets. Without exception they were fabulous 'companions' and better cared for and socialised that a lot of house dogs. But something I did come across a lot was people judging that the dog couldn't be cared for because the owners lifestyle wasn't 'normal'. That wound me up that did... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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