Contentious Issues #4 : Homelessness

Now, first of all, I have to say that I wasn't going to put this blog post under my Contentious Issues banner - but on researching the issue further, I feel that this is the appropriate place for it. Which makes me very sad.

So, homelessness.

A problem? Certainly for those who are without homes.

A problem too for those in authority, according to actions being carried out in various First World Nations.

However, the problem seems to be viewed differently by these people than the majority of the rest of us.

I would like to think that most people agree that everyone should be entitled to the following basic living conditions:

A safe place to live;
Food;
Clothes.

And yet, and yet . . . those in power appear to view the problem of homelessness from the perception that those who are homeless are being difficult and that, if their few meagre possessions are removed from them and life on the street is made harder than it already is for them, they will disappear as if by magic.

Exactly where these people are meant to go away to is never revealed. They are just meant to go somewhere else, where they cannot be seen as the sight of them makes others feel uncomfortable.

The fact that people are made to feel like this when they see people less fortunate than them should really make them want to help, perhaps by organising hostels where those without a home can rest and recover from their ordeal and then begin, with support, to get their lives back on track.

Yet from everything I am reading and hearing that is not the case.

In many cities and towns in the UK and in many of the US states the homeless appear to be treated like vermin - something to be disposed of as quickly as possible.

That this is the case in countries that consider themselves to be civilised and 'First World' is obscene. No-one in these countries should be in the position of not having, at the very least, a safe place to shelter at night.

Obviously the subject is a tricky matter from the point of view that there are many reasons that can lead a person to become homeless in the first place, ranging from losing a job to depression and to drug or alcohol dependancy. 

What concerns me is how these people come to fall through the cracks of society in the first place and how they could be helped to climb back up.

Many people are only one wageslip away from poverty - it is frightening how quickly people can end up with nothing.

I don't have the answers to what needs to be done, however I do know that we must not treat those without a home as pariahs. I am wondering how on earth removing sleeping bags and food from homeless people is going to crackdown on homelessness? Or how putting large spikes on paved areas under cover that people might use for shelter in the night is going to improve the situation? I mean, do they think that these people are pretending to be homeless and will return to their habitations when their sleeping bag has been forcibly removed?