Off Topic The Politics Thread
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Braverman says that homelessness is a 'lifestyle choice' and wants to ban charities giving tents to homeless people.
Who'd have thought that the Tories could come up with somebody even more despicable that Priti Patel?
Who'd have thought that the Tories could come up with somebody even more despicable that Priti Patel?
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I’m fairly convinced this won’t happen and it’s just a headline to distract from other things but all feels incredibly pointless. I’m not sure it even curries favour with the Tory base to put effort into ****ting on homeless people even more.
Always a few tents on the beach here if I walk early enough. Never seen them cause any trouble or leave mess.
Braverman has a knack of overstating the case, probably to provide red meat to the Tory Right. There's no doubt, there are some who choose to live in a tent, along, say, Park Lane, as a lifestyle choice, drinking and taking drugs etc in their own tented community. But there are also genuine homeless people who are desperate to get on the ladder back to a previous comfortable life, and who use a charity tent in the meantime. It should not be beyond the wit of the authorities to sort the wheat from the chaff on an individual to individual basis.
One thing is for certain. The fears Braverman has that London might go the way of ultra-liberal-run Los Angeles or San Francisco is real. The centre of those once-great cities is now a sewer of crime, drug-taking and misery.
There were virtually no homeless people on the streets when Labour were last in power.
2009
This article is more than 14 years old
Number of homeless in London leaps 15%
This article is more than 14 years old
One in seven of those without shelter are East Europeans, official figures show
Owen Bowcott
@owenbowcott
Tue 7 Jul 2009 16.49 BST
The number of rough sleepers in London is rising sharply and councils are failing to help single people off the streets, homeless charities have warned.
After several years of small increases, homelessness jumped by 15% in the last year, according to official figures. Eastern Europeans, who have lost jobs and have fewer means of social support, now constitute nearly one in seven of those living without permanent shelter.
The annual returns, compiled by the charity Broadway on behalf of the government, show that 4,672 rough sleepers were counted in the capital, up from 4,077 last year. Only around 60% were UK nationals.
The rise, it is assumed, is primarily due to the recession. Unemployment can trigger relationship breakdowns, forcing mortgage or rent defaults and driving inviduals on to the street.
The presence of many Polish people in the homeless total reflects the large influx in the boom years of the UK economy. Those who have fallen on hard times may find it difficult – emotionally and financially – to return home.
"We are doing a lot more work with Eastern Europeans," said Michelle Southby, of the charity St Mungo's. As most are not eligible for welfare benefits in the UK, there are charitable schemes to help repatriate them as well.
Charles Fraser, St Mungo's chief executive, said: "The numbers of new rough sleepers on London's streets is worrying. We must not let this upward trend continue.
"Many are living on the streets with serious diagnosed mental health problems, receiving little or no treatment, and under increasing pressures that could make existing conditions worse."
The charity claimed that the government's target of ending rough sleeping in the capital by 2012 is unlikely to be achieved unless more is done to break the link between mental health problems and homelessness.
Its survey of 200 homeless people found that 85% had a diagnosed mental health problem or concerns about their mental health; 65% agreed with the statement that they either drank or took drugs "because it is easier than coping with my life".
Another homeless charity, Crisis, sent single people with experience of sleeping on the streets to seek help from local councils. Most were discouraged from filling in formal applications to register as homeless, it claimed. Many were even deterred from seeing a housing officer.
"The government has emphasised that work to prevent homelessness should not be targeted exclusively towards households judged likely to meet the 'priority need' test," the charity said. "But [there] is a widespread practice [of] councils using the test as an excuse not to give single homeless people the minimum levels of advice and assistance to which they are entitled."
The chief executive of Crisis, Leslie Morphy, said: "When we embarked on this research, we never imagined we would uncover such consistently poor responses and such disregard for homeless people's situation."
The Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson, Sarah Teather, said: "A drastic shortage in social homes has created a severe rationing system where the people who lose out are the single homeless who are forced to sleep rough and move from hostel to hostel with little chance of being rehoused.
"Unfortunately, thanks to the dangerously flawed street count process, the government is likely to be totally unaware of the scale of the problem."
A spokesperson for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "We have made great progress in tackling rough sleeping though we know there is more to do, particularly in London, which remains the biggest challenge.
"We will continue to work with local authority partners and homelessness charities towards our ambition to end rough sleeping by 2012, backed by £200m investment."
higher now though
The latest homelessness figures, released in a report commissioned and funded by the Greater London Authority (GLA), found that 10,053 people were seen sleeping on the streets between April 2022 and March this year.
This figure was up by almost 21% from 8,329 in the same period a year before.
The latest homelessness figures, released in a report commissioned and funded by the Greater London Authority (GLA), found that 10,053 people were seen sleeping on the streets between April 2022 and March this year.
This figure was up by almost 21% from 8,329 in the same period a year before.
Good effort Jason...
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They weren't there in LA or San Fran either. Blair must have solved those too.
I’ve no issue at all with it going ahead. Just feel it’s inevitable there will be groups on both ‘sides’ looking to kick off and these Palestine marches are getting generally more aggy every week. If it was a group of football fans and not middle-class luvvies on a day out there’d have been far more arrests thus far but police are overstretched.
This is where I am. As the meat in the sandwich, the police will hopefully earn their money on Saturday
Sceptical of the Met as I am the local police did a pretty good job in Brighton on Sunday. A few arrests I saw but they can’t be expected to see everything and it’s not realistic for them to wade in heavily even if they wanted to.
Between Braverman clearly gunning for some aggro, the Tommy Robinson acolytes and the increasing hostility from the Gaza mob in London it’s going to go off I’m sure. Just hope no one goes too far. I see a Jewish guy in California died of a head injury yesterday.
I know the police have been criticised but think they’ve done a reasonable job here overall. Mostly just let people get on with it.
Is the pro Palestinian march on Armistice day, which is Saturday.
The football lads are out in force on Remberence Sunday.
Shall we QPR politics club go out on Tuesday say at 5.35 am. And take the lot on ourselves
The football lads are out in force on Remberence Sunday.
Shall we QPR politics club go out on Tuesday say at 5.35 am. And take the lot on ourselves
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I agree the police have pitched things about right so far. Most people on the marches have behaved themselves, and you'll always get the idiotic few that push things too far. So, at present, it's been better to let supporters of Palestine express themselves in marches, rather than bottle up resentment with a ban.
I suspect the main march will go off ok next Saturday, but later in the day, there will be a rump looking for trouble and will head for the Cenotaph. That's when the police will be needed in numbers.