Every day I pass a church attended by some Scotland's richest people, in the next street is the local food bank, attended by some of Scotland's poorest people.
Lacking outdoor skills
- Thread starter Janne
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Every day I pass a church attended by some Scotland's richest people, in the next street is the local food bank, attended by some of Scotland's poorest people.
Most homeless have an addiction, or a mental problem, or both.
Even the superb welfare systems in the European countries are not able to help all.
The richer part of the working people make this possible. It is OK, we elected that system.
Please note, no politics intended!
But, most homeless I have seen seem to have superb outdoor skills. Urban outdoor.
Even the superb welfare systems in the European countries are not able to help all.
The richer part of the working people make this possible. It is OK, we elected that system.
Please note, no politics intended!
But, most homeless I have seen seem to have superb outdoor skills. Urban outdoor.
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Not all homeless I have met have drink drug or mental health problems . That is a falicy put about by biased newspapers and TV programmes. If they do its usualy the circumstances they are in that drive them to it. I can say this as I myself was once homeless as a teenager. Take the time to actually talk to them and you will usualy find that some sort of family problem has forced them out on to the street. Loosing a job, divorce and family breakups are the main cause of this problem. There are of course some that end up on the street through other problems such as you describe but it's not fair to tarr them all with the same brush and state that they all have these problems and that is the cause of their homelessness .
Kindness towards these people should be shown, I found a young lass sat on the pavement one day l this summer ooking very much the worse for wear dirty and sad. I walked past like everyone else and realised that everyone was ignoring her. I suddenly remembered how things had been for me, so I went into a shop and bought six packets of instant noodles and some wet wipes, walked back to her and sat down on the pavement next to her
We got talking and I gave her the things I'd got her. She was so pleased to be able to clean up a bit and be able to have some hot food. She opened up about her circumstances and I was able to point her in the direction of some relavant help.
I gave her my phone number and asked her to phone me with her progress.
About two or three weeks ago she phoned and now has a bedsit and a job.
How many who walked past with their noses in the air could have helped a vulnerable dirty scared hungry young girl but didn't? All those people who walked past ignoring her had ten times what she had yet not one gave her the time of day. I always talk to homeless people. It's not nice being invisible on the street, and having people ignore you because you have nothing. No wonder they have drink drug and mental health problems.
When I was homeless I drank and wanted to die, but thanks to a lovely woman who helped me I turned thing around. Homeless at 17.... a mortgage at 20. It could have gone so much the other way for me. Unless you have been there. .. do not judge is my motto. I try to help the homeless as much as I can. But I'll never be able to pay that woman back for her kindness as long as I live.
Kindness towards these people should be shown, I found a young lass sat on the pavement one day l this summer ooking very much the worse for wear dirty and sad. I walked past like everyone else and realised that everyone was ignoring her. I suddenly remembered how things had been for me, so I went into a shop and bought six packets of instant noodles and some wet wipes, walked back to her and sat down on the pavement next to her
We got talking and I gave her the things I'd got her. She was so pleased to be able to clean up a bit and be able to have some hot food. She opened up about her circumstances and I was able to point her in the direction of some relavant help.
I gave her my phone number and asked her to phone me with her progress.
About two or three weeks ago she phoned and now has a bedsit and a job.
How many who walked past with their noses in the air could have helped a vulnerable dirty scared hungry young girl but didn't? All those people who walked past ignoring her had ten times what she had yet not one gave her the time of day. I always talk to homeless people. It's not nice being invisible on the street, and having people ignore you because you have nothing. No wonder they have drink drug and mental health problems.
When I was homeless I drank and wanted to die, but thanks to a lovely woman who helped me I turned thing around. Homeless at 17.... a mortgage at 20. It could have gone so much the other way for me. Unless you have been there. .. do not judge is my motto. I try to help the homeless as much as I can. But I'll never be able to pay that woman back for her kindness as long as I live.
It’s not that cut and dried. Yes, many of them, if not most, have a bucket of other problems such as this you mention: divorce, loss of job, family problems, etc. But in turn those problems are usually traceable back to mental illness; or at least social behavioral issues (inability to age along with family, adapt to workplace norms, etc.) The very fact that they’re on the street instead of in a homeless shelter is often because of their inability to follow normal safety rules in the shelters.
Are there enough homeless shelters? Don't they fill up? Isn't that why there's tent villages in places?
Went for a walk a few years back with the family up castle hill in kendal via a route overlooking the ski centre. I was surprised to see a cheap tent pitched in the shrubbery. Out came a head and shoulders of a homeless man. Unusual in kendal. I'd seen tents from the train heading south into Lancaster. It overlooks a very quiet and secluded part of the park near the castle. Obviously homeless campers pitch out of sight for various reasons. Whether it's officials moving them on or taking away their kit when they're not there. Or drunken yobs from the dodgy part of town giving them stick if they spot them.
Mental health problems due to homelessness or it came out due to the stress involved I don't know. There's so many people with various problems that's undiagnosed. It's actually very difficult to get a diagnosis for various behavioural issues especially if you've made it to adulthood by coping or not recognising issues. Things like add, asd, bipolar can escape childhood diagnosis. If it does then I could see it leading to homelessness without support systems.
Basically I guess I am saying both woody girl and Santaman are at least partly right. But does that matter? They're human beings who need help. Doesn't matter how they got into needing the help initially. Get them help then you can start looking at causes I reckon.
Went for a walk a few years back with the family up castle hill in kendal via a route overlooking the ski centre. I was surprised to see a cheap tent pitched in the shrubbery. Out came a head and shoulders of a homeless man. Unusual in kendal. I'd seen tents from the train heading south into Lancaster. It overlooks a very quiet and secluded part of the park near the castle. Obviously homeless campers pitch out of sight for various reasons. Whether it's officials moving them on or taking away their kit when they're not there. Or drunken yobs from the dodgy part of town giving them stick if they spot them.
Mental health problems due to homelessness or it came out due to the stress involved I don't know. There's so many people with various problems that's undiagnosed. It's actually very difficult to get a diagnosis for various behavioural issues especially if you've made it to adulthood by coping or not recognising issues. Things like add, asd, bipolar can escape childhood diagnosis. If it does then I could see it leading to homelessness without support systems.
Basically I guess I am saying both woody girl and Santaman are at least partly right. But does that matter? They're human beings who need help. Doesn't matter how they got into needing the help initially. Get them help then you can start looking at causes I reckon.
The problem is in many cases that they do not want help.
An old friend has a son, that started using drugs from an early age.
Parents did everything they could.
Friends of the family did help too.
Despite all help, including a council home and various benefits, money wise and also medical, he chose to be ‘homeless’.
( technically, he had a flat, so he was not)
Superb artist he is too, looking at one of his paintings!
Are not many of the ‘tent inhabitants ‘ people from abroad, the ones that have begging as a job?
An old friend has a son, that started using drugs from an early age.
Parents did everything they could.
Friends of the family did help too.
Despite all help, including a council home and various benefits, money wise and also medical, he chose to be ‘homeless’.
( technically, he had a flat, so he was not)
Superb artist he is too, looking at one of his paintings!
Are not many of the ‘tent inhabitants ‘ people from abroad, the ones that have begging as a job?
No. More likely to get home grown beggars. Like the guy who commutes from Manchester to beg in London then comes home to a nice apartment in the city and good clothes. Seriously, a true case but so rare as to be an outlier. Having said that we used to get Scousers dropping into Blackburn for a day trip begging. Usual story, lost money for train home/ no money for train home.
However that's nothing to do with homeless. I've heard the story of a homeless man living on the streets bit having a nice flat and money. Isn't that rare cases or even urban myths?
There's a few foreign tent dwellers around. Not hard with this being a big area for polish immigration. Most homeless among the Polish are hidden as sofa surfers I think. Strong family and friends network from what I've seen.
However that's nothing to do with homeless. I've heard the story of a homeless man living on the streets bit having a nice flat and money. Isn't that rare cases or even urban myths?
There's a few foreign tent dwellers around. Not hard with this being a big area for polish immigration. Most homeless among the Polish are hidden as sofa surfers I think. Strong family and friends network from what I've seen.
I think the new benefits system has created a lot of homelessness . Waiting weeks for your money to come through and harsh sanctions have caused a lot of problems. Also private landlords won't take people on benefits any more, so unless you can get a council or housing association property which as a single person is nigh on impossible. . I know someone who has been waiting for 10 years, now disabled and still unable to get a home that way. Luckily he's ex services and has a buddy also in the army who owns a property here and rents it to him. If he ever wants it back my friend will have a lot of problems finding another place.
It’s not just a question of “are there ENOUGH homeless shelters.” Rather it’s also a question of whether those shelters are where they need to be to do the most good.
Wait until the homeless tent camp is covered with 6-12" heavy wet snow.
Winnipeg, Manitoba. The government there has declared a State of Emergency
to try to get the broken trees off and the broken poles replaced for power.
Winnipeg, Manitoba. The government there has declared a State of Emergency
to try to get the broken trees off and the broken poles replaced for power.
While I want to be sympathetic, I have become wary. I went to university in Bath, lots of beggars and Big Issue sellers. I was a pretty skint student, but I gave money when I could. One evening I was approached by someone in the town centre saying they needed some money to get into the shelter for the night. It was getting dark, so I gave them all the change I had, three or four times what they said they needed. 10 minutes later I rounded a corner a short way off and saw the same chap giving the same story to someone else.
Maybe he was going to a shelter, maybe not. Either way, he was getting what he could from who he could while he could. It left a sour taste for me, I felt I had been taken for a fool and from that day I have disbelieved everything I am told by people on the street asking for money. Subsequent experiences have tended to reinforce this.
The number of beggars has been going up, or at least I have seen them in places were there used not to be any. Walking down my local high street I stopped to talk to a young man sitting on the pavement. It was last winter, and snow was forecast. He said that he wanted to get to Milton Keynes, that there were more shelters there. I didn't have my car and wasn't planning to go anywhere near the station, but offered to walk with him and buy him a ticket. He looked suddenly uncomfortable and said he was waiting for someone who would be there any minute and who had said they would bring him a sleeping bag. I told him I had some errands and would be back in 20-30 minutes, if he still wanted to go. 25 minutes later, there was nothing to been seen of him except his old paper coffee cup. Guess he didn't really want to go to the shelter in MK as much as he said.
I don't know what order of events sees people wind up on the street. Bad choices seems like the biggest blanket reason, one hears that quite a lot of men end up there after divorce. I know there can be bad luck, but I used to live with an alcoholic with some temper issues and he seemed to have more than his share of bad luck, but nearly all could be traced to his own bad choices. Bad choices would be made, and then sit, waiting for a chance occurrence to burst forth and cause trouble. Sometimes it would take months, other choices kept costing for years, compounding on any future dodgy decisions.
Hard to stop digging when in a hole if you don't recognise that the whole is of your own making.
Maybe he was going to a shelter, maybe not. Either way, he was getting what he could from who he could while he could. It left a sour taste for me, I felt I had been taken for a fool and from that day I have disbelieved everything I am told by people on the street asking for money. Subsequent experiences have tended to reinforce this.
The number of beggars has been going up, or at least I have seen them in places were there used not to be any. Walking down my local high street I stopped to talk to a young man sitting on the pavement. It was last winter, and snow was forecast. He said that he wanted to get to Milton Keynes, that there were more shelters there. I didn't have my car and wasn't planning to go anywhere near the station, but offered to walk with him and buy him a ticket. He looked suddenly uncomfortable and said he was waiting for someone who would be there any minute and who had said they would bring him a sleeping bag. I told him I had some errands and would be back in 20-30 minutes, if he still wanted to go. 25 minutes later, there was nothing to been seen of him except his old paper coffee cup. Guess he didn't really want to go to the shelter in MK as much as he said.
I don't know what order of events sees people wind up on the street. Bad choices seems like the biggest blanket reason, one hears that quite a lot of men end up there after divorce. I know there can be bad luck, but I used to live with an alcoholic with some temper issues and he seemed to have more than his share of bad luck, but nearly all could be traced to his own bad choices. Bad choices would be made, and then sit, waiting for a chance occurrence to burst forth and cause trouble. Sometimes it would take months, other choices kept costing for years, compounding on any future dodgy decisions.
Hard to stop digging when in a hole if you don't recognise that the whole is of your own making.
Thought it interesting on light of the modern world but I saw a homeless man sat near a bus stop in Manchester that had a post that you could use to charge your phone up. Iirc there was 3 pin sockets and USB ports too. The homeless guy was begging while his phone was charging!
Now I get that mobile phone ownership isn't uncommon with homeless because they use them to contact officials or try and get out of living on the streets. It still feels like an indictment of modern times that a phone is so important. What could be afforded without having to spend on phones and phone credit?
Now I get that mobile phone ownership isn't uncommon with homeless because they use them to contact officials or try and get out of living on the streets. It still feels like an indictment of modern times that a phone is so important. What could be afforded without having to spend on phones and phone credit?
It may not be applicable for the 'homegrown begging/homelessness" but the Eastern European ones are bringing in huge money back home.
I think most people would be surprised how much money they get.
And where the money goes.
The mentally ill are different of course.
All E. countries used to have psychiatric institutions where these people lived, sheltered, fed, treated.
Today, in the name of "personal freedom' they are out in the streets.
Most have an excellent Urban Crafting skill level.
The Extinction people, setting up shelters on tarmacadammed surfaces - no un. Puddles do not soak away readily.
Some of the leadership can recuperate in the Caribbean though...
I think most people would be surprised how much money they get.
And where the money goes.
The mentally ill are different of course.
All E. countries used to have psychiatric institutions where these people lived, sheltered, fed, treated.
Today, in the name of "personal freedom' they are out in the streets.
Most have an excellent Urban Crafting skill level.
The Extinction people, setting up shelters on tarmacadammed surfaces - no un. Puddles do not soak away readily.
Some of the leadership can recuperate in the Caribbean though...
Not many years ago, there was a documentary film made which followed 6 different homeless people in the Canadian city of Calgary, AB.
Called "Down In The Gutter And Other Good Places." Economic times were very good then.
I watched it several times, it was so well made and revealing.
They all had plenty of outdoor living skills to cope with Canadian winters, too.
One was a retired geology professor who refused any and all help = he liked what he was living.
Another got all dressed up in a suit and cleaned up after post-production then stepped in front of a fast train.
He died with $200,000 in the bank.
Maybe some common thread might be an issue to be addressed but I really doubt that it exists.
Called "Down In The Gutter And Other Good Places." Economic times were very good then.
I watched it several times, it was so well made and revealing.
They all had plenty of outdoor living skills to cope with Canadian winters, too.
One was a retired geology professor who refused any and all help = he liked what he was living.
Another got all dressed up in a suit and cleaned up after post-production then stepped in front of a fast train.
He died with $200,000 in the bank.
Maybe some common thread might be an issue to be addressed but I really doubt that it exists.
Some people just do not want to be locked into the life most of us find normal and desirable.
In the past, many of these people chose to go to sea, or just wander around, doing tasks for shelter and a bite of food.
In the countryside, people with mental problems got helped by the family or village.
People helped each other then. Urbanization created human alienation and egocentricity.
In the past, many of these people chose to go to sea, or just wander around, doing tasks for shelter and a bite of food.
In the countryside, people with mental problems got helped by the family or village.
People helped each other then. Urbanization created human alienation and egocentricity.
Years ago I can't remember seeing any homeless people round Sunny Carlisle, now theres several.
Its the 21st century and we have more homeless now. To me thats a damming indictment.
The benifits system has got kind of nasty in the last few years also.
Meh.
Its the 21st century and we have more homeless now. To me thats a damming indictment.
The benifits system has got kind of nasty in the last few years also.
Meh.
Im still very riled up about this;
It was my cousin.
He was in a good job and married with a couple of little girls, he took a tumble and smacked his head. Quite innoculous.
But his family had a history of epilepsy; and he now had fits, due to brain damage.
He couldnt work, got depressed, he was arrested for being drunk (fits in street) and was really angry about that.
He had never been in trouble with the police before.
His wife decided he was no further use as a breadwinner and complained to the authorities about how he (I will quote his words) `frightened the children`
(I cannot comment on this; nor on his change of personality. When I met him in that state he was in a very black mood due to the way he was treated and was quite the little bundle of negativity...I dont think this helped people help him. I never met his wife; by all reports she was high strung.)
Anyway, the police advised that he leave his house (which he had paid for)
He couldnt work, and the local authorities were not interested in helping a `single` man, (even though he had brain damage and was classed as a vunerable adult)
So, he ended up on the streets. (When friends and relatives hadnt taken in him, and due to his severe negativity he wasnt a popular couch surfer)
This story, well, it ends predictably.
I just hope his widow enjoys her nice house and widows pension.
How many of you can relate a story like this? I expect most of you can.
It was my cousin.
He was in a good job and married with a couple of little girls, he took a tumble and smacked his head. Quite innoculous.
But his family had a history of epilepsy; and he now had fits, due to brain damage.
He couldnt work, got depressed, he was arrested for being drunk (fits in street) and was really angry about that.
He had never been in trouble with the police before.
His wife decided he was no further use as a breadwinner and complained to the authorities about how he (I will quote his words) `frightened the children`
(I cannot comment on this; nor on his change of personality. When I met him in that state he was in a very black mood due to the way he was treated and was quite the little bundle of negativity...I dont think this helped people help him. I never met his wife; by all reports she was high strung.)
Anyway, the police advised that he leave his house (which he had paid for)
He couldnt work, and the local authorities were not interested in helping a `single` man, (even though he had brain damage and was classed as a vunerable adult)
So, he ended up on the streets. (When friends and relatives hadnt taken in him, and due to his severe negativity he wasnt a popular couch surfer)
This story, well, it ends predictably.
I just hope his widow enjoys her nice house and widows pension.
How many of you can relate a story like this? I expect most of you can.
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