Street Sleepers

I don't know if the problem of homelessness is worse in Manchester than other cities but walking through the city around 8 am and it seems every doorway has a rough sleeper. There was a tent city in St Peter's square for a while but the council came down heavily on that. 3 of the former Man Utd players bought a large building in the city centre, with a view to renovating it into a hotel. A group of homeless men and women broke in last winter. The 3 owners decided the building could be used by homeless people over the winter months with building work suspended.
Like others on this thread, our family have always donated clothing, furniture etc to the Salvation Army as well as donating cash, on the basis that organisation works with people on the edges of society.
We have a SA hostel in our town, something that was opposed by many on the basis it would attract homeless people.
There are many reasons for increasing homelessness, not least attacks on housing and other benefits.

This is what you do to report them if you know them, there are some who are professional beggars ,and force you to pay large amounts of money to them use this site www.streetlink.org.uk/tell-us-about-a-rough-sleeper

Michael I posted that link yesterday - it is about recording that someone is sleeping rough and needs help, not "reporting" them.

How can someone begging on the street force you to pay large amounts of money?

I was in Bournemouth staying in a Hotel near the front in November.
This women approached me for money, saying she needed money to pay the remainder of a deposit at a booking into a hotel.
She was later seen rough sleeping near the man shops in Westover Road, with another male.
I have also noticed Rough Sleepers outside Theatres in the west end nr Leicester square, and also New Theatre in Oxford off putting if you were visiting to see a show to see them outside , they tend to go for Tourists from Far East , begging so they can alcohol and drugs.

All beggars are not rough sleepers ( far from it) and you have to use your own judgement if giving money.Tourist hot spots attract beggars and always did even back to medieval times.

Giving money to the Salvation Army is the best idea. They do great work.

Food and shelter is a fundamental human right. No one person should have to rely on charity in our wealthy society. The tax we pay should be distributed back to us on a need basis surely. Where is it all going--not on services it seems. ( TV Look North documentary exposed the Salvation Army many years ago--it is a business and chooses whom to support ). The Mountain People by Colin Turnball is an anthropological study which shows what happens to a society when it loses its compassion. It is a canary for us and if we don't change......

All charities are businesses and choose whom to support.
The Salvation Army does brilliant work amongst the homeless and hungry neverthe less.
There has never been a time in history when there was more compassion shown by society to anybody in need of help.

In San Francisco there is a non profit making organisation called Lava Mae which has a van with showers and toilets that provides some dignity to those on the streets [www.lavamae.org]. Homeless people have lost so much that it would be good to have something like this in the UK but the attitude towards toilets let alone homeless people would need to be addressed. It's taken me FOUR years to bring home the fact that there is a legal requirement for toilets to be available for delivery drivers at premises where they collect or deliver! And that's just the beginning!!!

Giving money to the Salvation Army is the best idea.smile They do great work

No, it's really not the best idea, what they do is amazing but it's just a bandaid and our society is hemorrhaging more and more people onto the streets or onto spare sofas or sleeping in cars/tents or horrid council B&Bs.

Homelessness is no longer an issue for a misfortunate few whom we can help through things like salvation army, homelessness (and threat of homelessness) is eating away at the edges of "normal" society at an alarming rate.

I say this as a huge fan of the Salvation army, and I do and always have supported them. But the problem right now is too big, and needs to be dealt with at the core of the problem - central and local government, and society in general.

I spoke to someone who works in the homeless department at our local council yesterday about the plight of the homeless in our area during the cold weather. He informed me that many homeless people prefer to be on the streets, they very often turn down offered acccommodation if it is not in an area they want and when i spoke about how many there are on the streets in Cambridge he informed me that in places like Cambridge they actually commute from other areas to beg and some earn up to 700.00 per week which is all tax free!!!! He advised that dont give money to beggars but buy them a sandwich and cup of tea or coffee instead. The conversation was a bit of an eye opening for me.

travels afar, there have always been a small number of people who choose to live rough. They used to be called tramps. The person you spoke to was expressing a personal view, not one based on research. The conversation may have been an eye opener for you and I don't wish to be patronising but those of us who have worked with disadvantaged and homeless people over 40 years have what I hope is a more well informed and compassionate view than the one expressed to you.

Some families in homeless accommodation turn down the first property offered because (for example) it's on a street renowned for drug dealing and all that goes with that. Many single people live in two bed flats allocated to them 30 years ago yet now facing eviction because they can't afford the bedroom tax. Councils are offering people a bed sit, often in buildings where tenants deal/use drugs and with a high turnover. Are we surprised that someone who has lived happily in their tenancy for almost 30 years may turn down a bedsit in those circumstances. That's how some become 'intentionally homeless'. It's a bit grim for those of us with less advantages or coping strategies. Demonising of the homeless isn't something a decent society should do.

Notanan is right. Any one of us, however virtuous and responsible, could lose everything very quickly - and the ability to cope with it - given a sufficient amount of bad luck. I have seen over the years more than one friend go from riches to rags practically overnight through no fault of their own (fortunately all are OK now).
It is shameful in our society that homeless and roofless people are still suffering on our streets and dying of cold - and also that help is so patchy and underfunded around the UK.

Last year the leader of our council was early retired on a large sum having been found guilty of appropriating funds. His contract did not, apparently, allow him to be sent on his way without this public money being paid to him!!

Loopholes like this, as well as general rises in prices, mean we all end up paying more for services. But I myself would be happy to pay another £10 or £20 per year council tax if I knew for certain this would be ringfenced to provide emergency accommodation - and targeted specialist support- to people in our area most in need of it. If I and others were able to see the accounts for such new projects afterwards, too, we could feel that together, we were making beneficial changes to our own community.

This would make more of a difference than buying an individual a regular cup of coffee, important and humane as such a gesture is. What do the rest of you think?

travelsfar if the 'homeless' department of your local council is one of those which wants to fine and persecute rough sleepers then I suspect their opinion might be somewhat biased. I refuse to call these people 'homeless' because that term covers so many others these days. Those sleeping rough are just the tip of the iceberg, the numbers in B&B accommodation, sofa surfing or staying with family or just moving from place to place because they have nowhere permanent to live. If these figures are taken into account the numbers are appalling, and an indication of how little this society now cares.
And yes I would pay more council tax if it went to these people and more tax if there was a real programme to build social housing.

cassandra264 trisher I would pay more too but unfortunately I don't trust councils enough to use the money wisely. In the meantime a cup of coffee &/or a sandwich is something we can do perhaps

He informed me that many homeless people prefer to be on the streets, they very often turn down offered acccommodation if it is not in an area they want

Yes, people do often turn down offered accommodation.

E.g. A recovering addict being offered a bedsit in the same building as their dealer
A disabled mother with a young baby turning down a second floor flat with no lift
A young family turning down a building where the halls are covered in used needles
Homeless turning down shelters where they have previously been raped

These people DO NOT PREFER TO BE ON THE STREET. They have not been offered appropriate safe accommodation is all

And can we please stop using the terms "beggers" and "homeless" interchangeably!

Many beggers are not homeless

And many homeless people do hold down jobs. I know a guy who continued tutoring while he sofa surfed. People use friends addresses and ℅ addresses to hold down their jobs while they sleep in their cars

Homeless people are not some separate breed who don't do what we do, you may work at the next desk to someone who is sleeping in their car and showering at the leisure centre but doesn't want anyone to know, it's not "them and us" we're them/they're us!

Well said notanan.