Big Freeze

I agree. Why can't every council have a shelter for homeless people. They could have clean clothes and footwear donated by the pubic and a hot meal with food provided by supermarkets that was nearly out of date.

Reading prison has been empty, yet fully heated for years, might be time to open the doors and let people in. Or is that too obvious for the authorities to cope with? Because despite media coverage the doors remain locked, it’s just as well guarded as it was when it was a prison!

Most areas do have night shelters,and various charities, especially churches open doors to the homeless in the winter.
unfortunately it’s not as straightforward as just making a building available. Some of the guests will have drink and drug problems and or mental health issues which means that for other guests safety, the shelter has to be monitored and staff vetted etc. that is extra admin, and volunteers. then there are (ironically) fire safety checks, and the food donated has to be prepared and parcelled out etc! so while the shelters are obviously possible, and these obstacles can be over come it’s often a time consuming thing.
What is really needed is a decent stock of social housing which will allow everyone who needs and wants a home to have one

I can't see what's wrong with having shelters permanently available - not just in bad weather.

Joined up thinking is lacking - again!

Believe it or not, some of the homeless prefer to stay out in the street rather than go into hostels, even in this dreadful weather. www.bbc.com/news/uk-43230787

There is more to homelessness than just not having a roof over your head, We need to look at why someone is homeless. Many have complex mental health problems or had bad experiences in hostels with endemic violence from substance abusers and those with mental health problems, others have been through the system, been offered inappropriate accommodation without consideration for their needs and then excluded from help because of inappropriate behaviour when unable to cope.

Homelessness is another problem where there are no simple fixes for a complicated situation

There used to be night shelters available all year round, fully staffed and working on a ‘first come first served’ basis. You would see the queues forming from the afternoon. But then the housing stock was sold off still further (I’m thinking in my own area of a large block of flats, owned by the council and used for emergency single homeless accommodation - sold to a private company which promptly converted them into luxury flats for the private market - oh the irony).

Then access to the emergency night shelters had to be strictly controlled, no more queuing round the block, referral from other agencies only (usually social services emergency duty teams). Vulnerable homeless people are not likely to be able to either self refer or contact agencies, so that kept the referral rates low, but the most vulnerable remained on the streets, and so on.

Proper housing provision, including emergency shelters costs money. Successive governments have decided social housing is not a priority. It’s that simple I’m afraid.

It’s all down to funding! Local authorities are having their grant from central government cut and by 2020 the grant will have gone completely! At the same time the law bought in by a previous Tory Government legally caps the amount that authorities are allowed to raise their council tax by! This at a time when due to savage welfare benefit cuts and slashing of the NHS puts greater than ever strains on local authorities! The result is that the council budgets are squeezed from all sides and they have to prioritise those services that they are legally obliged to provide? A further factor is that again thanks to Thatcher there are now fewer than ever council houses so that priority in housing allocation has to go to families with children, the elderly and disabled leaving the rest of the homeless to fend for themselves and you may recall the Tories also passed laws stating that the councils were not allowed to use the money from selling the council houses to build more!
The cost of private rents have shot up too as a result, and therefore too the cost of HousingBenefit bills( again council budgets take a hit!) add to this the benefit cap which leads to shortages in benefit payments, rent arrears and evictions and it’s no wonder that there are so many rough sleepers?
It’s therefore difficult to see how we can expect councils to fund shelters when they are barely managing as it is! The burden then falls on hard pressed charities,who are struggling under the weight of the demands being laid upon them and with fewer and fewer resources to cope.
Unfortunately many people think that charities run on thin air! however all charities even small ones, need a certain amount of management time which has to be paid for. and there are building costs, and volunteer training costs, IT maintainance and replacement,costs of utilities and phone bills etc etc a well run charity has to be run like a business and while most don’t waste money is not free!

What nightowl and MOnica said. Though I’d add that the huge growth in homelessness is directly linked to the austerity policy. Cuts to Nhs, mental heal, drug services combine with the bedroom tax and Thatchers right to buy scheme to diminish housing stock. I know of one vulnerable almost fifty year old who has lived in his small two bed council flat for thirty years. He’s in arrears because his £75 a week job seekers has meant he can’t pay £15 a week for the “spare bedroom”. He was offered a bed sit in a house where the other tenants were drug users/dealers so was too scared to accept. He’s facing eviction. Another homeless person for no good reason.
Two mosques here have opened their doors to homeless people and another has for a couple of years done outreach work with homeless people.

It is not so easy to solve the problem of the homeless . Living in social housing , people do not want alcoholics and drug addicts living next door.

the numbers of homeless has risen because alcoholism and drug taking has risen.

Locally we have a Church which has been empty for 2 winters that I know of it has a big sign on "Can be used for Many Purposes" well right now it should be used for emergencies such as this,I know that their are many other things to consider but just getting people off the Street is so important.

I totally agree with everything said and Monica is totally right you cannot force people to go to a safe places We have a homeless shelter here which has opened its main room also an empty shop has offered a room with sleeping bags, coffee and pizzas from a local restaurant but there are still a few who won’t go to these places and then people blame the council or the government or the country
Some months ago a young man was sleeping in a shop doorway people bent over backwards taking him blankets sleeping bags food drink money the community were wonderful but what they didn’t realise was he had been offered three different flats, and turned them all down, for whatever reason I don’t know
Some people can’t be helped, short of sectioning them, and if they have a drug or drink problem they don’t necessarily have a mental health diagnosis
I think the vast majority of homeless people have been accounted for in this desperate conditions

Wot this is exactly what happens in our town I m sure it’s replicated in most towns

glammanana, church buildings have to be insured, it isn't so simple to just open the doors and allow people to move in,

The cities in South Wales have many homeless, many refuse to move to hostels not in the city centre because they can't make money in the day .

BlueBell is right

I do think it's a very complicated picture with a lot of different factors. Also think the police are so anti government and short staffed now that they are not so keen to get people off the streets.
And in some ways offering services to rough sleepers enables them to survive the lifestyle.
I think we need a carrot and stick approach.
Small units where they can lock them selves in and be safe and warm should be available with access to advice and help. And then they should be moved off the streets and into safe houses.
But if as a society we tolerate drug and alcohol extremes we will have to pay the price.
As I say, a complicated picture.

Annie Won't all building or places have to be insured anyway ? It makes me so sad to think of people out in this awful weather (well in any weather)
When I was in Liverpool on Wednesday there was a definate increase in Out Reach workers advising people of places available for them and handing out Medivac parcels to those who didn't want to go into a shelter.

There was an interview with a homeless man on local radio this morning, he won't go to a hostel and is camping in a tent. The reasons he gave are the hostels are noisy and dangerous, there are fights and although he would be allowed to take his dog, the dog is very protective of him and growls at everyone which causes more problems. I spoke to a homeless man last winter and asked him why he wouldn't go to a hostel and he said it was because the few possessions he had would be stolen. I'm afraid it isn't just a case of opening doors and letting people in - I wish it were that simple.

We are one of the richest countries in the world, so no this should not be happening. This problem is a big reflection on our society as a whole with the seriously disabled losing independence payment after lengthy investigations and medicals. A friends daughter is now virtually housebound after losing her mobility car. She has a long term disability that is only going to get worse. I think it we have to look at just who is getting richer and how the disadvantaged seem to be paying for it. Guess the next Labour government will have a go at sorting it out!!?? Those in power only have themselves to blame.

glammanana, there is a huge difference in costs of insurance for a hostel and a Church, a church would have to have change of use , they would have to make the building suitable and safe for living accomodation , it isn't as simple as leaving the doors open , and the church would be responsible for the safety of those who sleep there. This would mean employing wardens.

A few years ago a friend was worried about a relatively young homeless man wandering around her's, and several local villages and she did everything she could to reach out to him and help him, but he made it absolutely clear that he didnt want to be helped and preferred his solitary and hard existence. The reason was he had been involved with social services and mental services and found the experience so traumatic he wanted no more contact with them.

He is not alone in this. Although not homeless a relation of mine, after his first experience with going into a mental hospital came out swearing that he would kill himself rather than ever go through such an experience again.

The Church of England is worth literally billions. They make more money than McDonalds. They have billions of pounds in investments. They can afford to insure their buildings for any purpose. They can afford to employ any amount of staff and to pay any amount of bills for heat and food. They don't though. No idea about the RC Church apart from the Vatican Bank also has billions sitting in it. Good old Christin charity at its finest - again.

Christian not Christin

I was in a mental hospital in the seventies One of those large, grey buildings , corridors, wards some locked , when I drove away I said - never, ever again. Yes along time ago and that hospital was closed some years ago. Then we had care in the community, houses were provided for small groups of people, result was NIMBY. I worked with mental health charities from the late seventies untill I retired last year, more and more were suffering from alcohol and drug addiction as each decade past.

As usual MaluCatchul you are using the old - lets blame Christians and not society . Have you offered the sofa in your living room to a homeless person? Or are you taking the - it's the duty of Christians not me attitude.

Annie Bach I don't blame the Christian people at all as they have no control over the Church. My point was that the Church is very very rich indeed and so COULD open their doors to homeless people in need. They have the funds to be able to pay for insurance, food, heat, staff yet they do little. Where I live there are homeless people and they can go to a shelter where, funnily enough, I volunteer all year round, not just on snow days. Not that it matters but actually I am also a Christian.