How would you fix the Homeless crisis.?

[TeeDee]

In an attempt to generate some interaction and due to the weather we are experiencing currently my mind is turning to gratitude for having a roof over my head and inversely for those that don't this festive season.

So - can we have a conversation - and keep it as non-political as possible and as respectful to others as possible about ideas to how we as a country could assist the homeless?

How would any suggestions be funded ? , what could be done? Has anyone here been genuinely nonvoluntarily homeless and what would have been a well received option for yourselves at that time. ?

 

[Chris]

Prioritisation of budget for who we help. Our government is there to look after Britain and our people first and foremost. Internal problems should be prioritised above external ones when there is a finite supply, as there is with housing.

Increased funding for mental health services and rehabilitation services.

A stronger focus on rehabilitation of prisoners to genuinely get them back to contributing to society.

There are some homeless people who do genuinely choose to be homeless, though that's a very small minority.

I am thankful that I've never been homeless, but I've always been acutely aware that we are all only ever one bit of bad luck away from being in that position.

 

[TeeDee]

Prioritisation of budget for who we help. Our government is there to look after Britain and our people first and foremost. Internal problems should be prioritised above external ones when there is a finite supply, as there is with housing.

Increased funding for mental health services and rehabilitation services.

A stronger focus on rehabilitation of prisoners to genuinely get them back to contributing to society.

There are some homeless people who do genuinely choose to be homeless, though that's a very small minority.

I am thankful that I've never been homeless, but I've always been acutely aware that we are all only ever one bit of bad luck away from being in that position.

Agree to the comments on the prison system and actual rehabbing those that have strayed or made mistakes back into society to turn a new leaf. I'm not blind that for some this just won't work but when I look at the Scandinavian prison system ( before they have had more recent issues due to other reasons ) - as different as it is to our own and to the united states ( Horrendous figures and statistics ) - it results in less repeat offenders and more successful societal reintegration.

I'd like to think we with modern building technology we should be able to create and provide albeit basic , easy to access , single person sheltered accommodation where people can ( I maybe optimistically naive..) rebuild their lives , have their 'own' space until they don't need the support ( thats a difficult topic in itself however ) , and then move on with their lives.

Hard for me to visualise that without it taking a potential turn into some sort of forgotten vision of a modular ghetto.

 

[Jared]

The Housing First policy of Finland has been pretty successful, and managed to reduce homelessness, I believe it's the only country to have.

Basically ignore the persons other issues, and just get them a home and then provide support for whatever they need.

Beginning of the lockdown, there is a ex-footballer running a shelter in Birmingham.

Took a warehouse, and built load of glamping pod houses inside of it. I think there is something in giving a person their own personal space.

BBC Radio 5 Live - Stephen Nolan - The former footballer who set up a homeless shelter: 'I thought surely we can do better than this?'

Former footballer Lou Macari on setting up a homeless shelter and adapting to Covid-19.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Wildgoose]

Chris has pretty much hit the nail on the head.

I’ve worked a lot with the homeless over the years, mostly street level but a bit beyond too.

The vast majority of homeless I encountered had mental Heath issues or addiction. Sometimes both.

In London a lot of the hostels are dry, so drinkers can’t go there. Others are so full of drugs that users can’t go there through fear of getting into more debt.

The addiction needs fixing before any real gains can be made.

On a more optimistic note, most high streets have an empty Debenhams store, often multi floored with a canteen/cafe. Couldn’t be too hard to put in external walls and doors, showers etc?

 

[RonW]

Before you could begin to asnwer such a question, you'd have to differentiate between voluntary and involuntary homelessness and in the latter category for instance between those that can and will take care of themselves (bad luck, divorce, bankrupcy etc.) or can not or will not take care of themselves (addicts, mental problems etc. And in that latter group there are those willing to accept help and those refusing that.
Each group would require quite a different approach.
Group 1 will not accept help, because they chose to live that way
Group 2A might be helped with a simple temporary living space and some finances in order to get to their feet again.
Group 2B would require a lot of professional help and guidance, over a long period of time.

Most of this is already being done for group 2, but somehow it seems to not work. Question is why. (Ideological blindness, incompetence, bureaucracy?)
Group 2A is thrown to the wolves and left to fend for themselves, I'm afraid. Or entirely at the mercy of charity.

 

[gibson 175]

Chris has pretty much hit the nail on the head.

I’ve worked a lot with the homeless over the years, mostly street level but a bit beyond too.

The vast majority of homeless I encountered had mental Heath issues or addiction. Sometimes both.

In London a lot of the hostels are dry, so drinkers can’t go there. Others are so full of drugs that users can’t go there through fear of getting into more debt.

The addiction needs fixing before any real gains can be made.

On a more optimistic note, most high streets have an empty Debenhams store, often multi floored with a canteen/cafe. Couldn’t be too hard to put in external walls and doors, showers etc?

I agree. There are always other issues around homelessness-escaping abuse, mental health eg schizophrenia,autism,learning difficulties,trauma (eg domestic violence or PTSD) self medicating an indiagnosed mental health condition by taking drugs or alcohol.It is agreed amonst mental health professionals the the mental health time bomb that was ticking has now exploded. We have a lot of vulnerable people but services are cut cut to the bone.

 

[brambles]

Prioritisation of budget for who we help. Our government is there to look after Britain and our people first and foremost. Internal problems should be prioritised above external ones when there is a finite supply, as there is with housing.

Increased funding for mental health services and rehabilitation services.

A stronger focus on rehabilitation of prisoners to genuinely get them back to contributing to society.

There are some homeless people who do genuinely choose to be homeless, though that's a very small minority.

I am thankful that I've never been homeless, but I've always been acutely aware that we are all only ever one bit of bad luck away from being in that position.

This is not a topic that can be non political. It is really not about prioritisation, it's about actually spending some money in the first place, as with everything. For example, the NHS is not struggling because of immigrants, if it were not for the immigrants staffing it, there would be no NHS. It is struggling because it was deliberately under funded for many years by a government with the political aim of doing exactly that. We have plenty of homes for homeless people. there are around a million empty homes in England alone. If instead of giving billions upon billions of taxpayers money to their mates for non existent PPE, the Tories could have ended homelessness overnight. And if they had not given away that money the Labour government would not be trying to dig us out of the finacial black hole we are in. And that is before we take into consideration the more than £100 BILLION a year we lost due to Brexit.

 

[Broch]

This is not a topic that can be non political. It is really not about prioritisation, it's about actually spending some money in the first place, as with everything. For example, the NHS is not struggling because of immigrants, if it were not for the immigrants staffing it, there would be no NHS. It is struggling because it was deliberately under funded for many years by a government with the political aim of doing exactly that. We have plenty of homes for homeless people. there are around a million empty homes in England alone. If instead of giving billions upon billions of taxpayers money to their mates for non existent PPE, the Tories could have ended homelessness overnight. And if they had not given away that money the Labour government would not be trying to dig us out of the finacial black hole we are in. And that is before we take into consideration the more than £100 BILLION a year we lost due to Brexit.

If you can't stay non-political you shouldn't have commented

 

[August Landmesser]

In 1970 the average annual wage was £2,168, and the average house price was £4,480. (just over 2 x annual wage)
In 2024 average annual wage is £28,000 but average house price is £280,660 (just over 10 x the annual wage)

I believe that homelessness, mental health and substance abuse are mostly symptoms and the data above is mostly the cause.

 

[brambles]

If you can't stay non-political you shouldn't have commented

Are you directing that to Chris and his Britain First post? As I said , it's not possible to discuss the topic without going political as it is a problem that only those in politcal power can begin to solve, IF they want to.

 

[Chris]

Are you directing that to Chris and his Britain First post?

I beg your pardon?

I think you’d find yourself as wrong as it’s possible to get, but I fear you’ve chosen to read into it what you wish to rather than anything I said.

 

[demographic]

Seems to me that we don't have a shortage of land, we have a huge amount of land held by a very small number of people for generations.
Personally I'd be tempted to charge an inheritance tax on any "agricultural" land over mebbe 3 million in value (dunno about other areas but I dont see many genuine farmers with that amount of land up here, its more often investors who want to avoid inheritance tax like Clarkson who have that kind of area) and I'd hammer anyone claiming to be a Non Dom unless they're genuinely abroad and have their business interests abroad.

In my eyes that might help redistribute a fair bit of land and make it less attractive to hedge fund managers.
Lower price land means more people have access to it, more smallholdings and if that means some sociopaths leave the country its win win as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Souledman]

In 1970 the average annual wage was £2,168, and the average house price was £4,480. (just over 2 x annual wage)
In 2024 average annual wage is £28,000 but average house price is £280,660 (just over 10 x the annual wage)

I believe that homelessness, mental health and substance abuse are mostly symptoms and the data above is mostly the cause.

The data above is also a symptom. In 1970 the state, councils, were providing half of the new housing stock year to year. Following 1979 (coincidence, not political) councils stopped building and the private sector didn’t increase what they were delivering. There is a shortage of homes, contributing to homelessness. Yes there are policy answers, like homes first, or disincentivising second and empty homes, (or dispossessing the wealthy of these kinds of assets, if that’s your thing). We need to build more homes, and haven’t been building enough since the 70s when the market was left to go it alone. And funding that is a political choice, but ultimately council houses are a fixed asset which brings money in and which government (local or otherwise) so there can be a return on that investment.

 

[TeeDee]

These last few posts seem to be more about fixing the housing market and the homelessness issue in one fell swoop.

I can see how they are interrelated but I don't think we can expect radical change to fix what maybe easier , more expedient and more applicable at direct local level.

I'm not defending how the situation is at the very top tier of society , who has the money or how they got it and if thats right or wrong.

That is a different story / agenda and one thats unlikely to change.


I am more interested if there is anything local councils can do and what a homeless person may actually 'want' themselves.

As mentioned not all homeless people find the idea or adjustment back into conventional mainstream societal life ( whatever we are doing ) as desireable.

 

[haptalaon]

If you can't stay non-political you shouldn't have commented

I don't think there is a non-political way to approach the question.

Any response is going to be about how we shape the economy, deploy resources, enforce or change the law; whether change should be driven by government, local government, charity, business, co-operatives, unions, community groups; and it'll be drawn from the ideological background someone has for why things happen and what sorts of interventions do and do not work.

All the comments in this thread are necessarily political ones, it's a political question.

 

[Chris]

I don't think there is a non-political way to approach the question.

Any response is going to be about how we shape the economy, deploy resources, enforce or change the law; whether change should be driven by government, local government, charity, business, co-operatives, unions, community groups; and it'll be drawn from the ideological background someone has for why things happen and what sorts of interventions do and do not work.

All the comments in this thread are necessarily political ones, it's a political question.

It’s possible to answer the question without talking about specific parties, politicians or political beliefs.

The answers may require a political desire to implement them, but I’d argue that these things can be discussed without talking party policy.

In fact as brambles’ response to me has shown, it’s possible to give opinions without even giving a slight indication of political alignment.

 

[TeeDee]

Sorry Hap , I agree with Chris take on it and hoped people could follow suit and colour within the lines.

Obvs not.

I shall ask a Mod to close the thread down unless with can stay somewhat politically neutral in our comments. Some seem to do so far easier than others , although I suspect others merely seek to find a soap box subject to comment off and draw in their own 'take' on all things , reasons and causes.


There was a question on the recent Hill Bills thread about how interaction wasn't as much of a thing as it was in the past. I was hoping this thread maybe able to be discussed with interaction from many across whatever political views divide us.

Guess not.

 

[Tengu]

See? Gone political.

Firstly, every homeless is different.

But we can see some themes.

Addiction, of some kind or another, poor mental health, also maybe learning difficulties.

in many societies vulnerable people are looked after by their families.

But many folk here do not have a family.

Its more and more complex to rent, as I have found.

You say about homes but I think we need homes for single folk, rather than families.

The Addison Act after WW1 was designed to house families. Not single folk, not elderly couples, not the child free. (And I am not sure how a war widow with six kids would have fared applying for one).

And working folk who could pay rent. (Though its interesting in the agreement that rent can be payed on behalf of them.)

(I studied the Addison Act...very interesting).

These council houses were not going to go to the Undeserving Poor, oh no! Many of them had parlours...and big gardens, inside bathrooms, this was aspirational living. (and the sort of estate that if you didnt live in, you might not mind being next door to.)

After WW2 there was another housing problem and so many pre-fabs were built, (Again another interesting study). These were also classy; many are gone, but they almost all lasted beyond their proposed 15 - 20 year life span...some are still going even today.

See? Nothing to do with politics, or immigrants, or second homes, or who owns what.

(but quite to do with political will)

 

[Wandjina]

Tax the super wealthy, invest the money into projects to help the homeless. Not rocket science.