BEDROCK Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Classy move, I live in a block of flats and have had homeless people in our doorways before now and it is a fright early in the morning and seeing some folk hunched on the floor. The spikes are supposed to be rolling out nationwide to combat this issue but it only kicks the problem down the road without solving the root causes in the first place, governments need to solve this issue once and for all, in our rather well off nation we still have this problem in 2014 ??? A complete disgrace !!! Mind you, I would have smaller gaps between spikes as the spikes in the article can easily be avoided with mats, cardboard or laying on one's side. My spikes would resemble The Pit in Mortal Kombat, extremely effective and lethal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megalithic Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 I hear there's a campaign in the offing to get old mattresses dumped on this particular site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEDROCK Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 I wonder if Pinhead from Hellraiser will be round to collect his belongings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna B Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 I go to London regularly and you see a lot of these people in door ways and things, most of them are just drunks or druggies not many are genuine homeless people struggling to find a place to live,most are there to beg and thieve and are a nuisance with all the mess they make, no one should be sleeping on the streets these days there are plenty of help for people out there, they choose that life style because that's how they make their living..I had to help a security man the other day in London to move a guy who had set up camp in the doorway of a loading bay where I had to deliver some goods, he was fast asleep with all his mess around him..those spikes are not only there to prevent rough sleepers they are also there to stop people urinating and taking a dump in dark out of the way corners like that.. Just drunks or druggies? If I had to live on the street I think I might want something to blur reality a bit. Maybe they didn't start out that way. 'Plenty of help'? Maybe once upon a time but I think you'll find it much diminished; eaten away by cuts and greater demand. I don't think anyone ever thought of 'homeless beggar' as a popular career choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefface Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 It's well known that people who are one calamity from ending up in the gutter often beat up on those who are on the gutter. Poverty politics. Driven by insecurity. "beat up on", if you're American, fine. If you're not, please stop it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
999tigger Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Just drunks or druggies? If I had to live on the street I think I might want something to blur reality a bit. Maybe they didn't start out that way. 'Plenty of help'? Maybe once upon a time but I think you'll find it much diminished; eaten away by cuts and greater demand. I don't think anyone ever thought of 'homeless beggar' as a popular career choice. Ooh look I completely agree with Anna on this point. Structural causes of homelessness Structural causes of homelessness are social and economic in nature, and are often outside the control of the individual or family concerned. These may include: unemployment poverty a lack of affordable housing housing policies the structure and administration of housing benefit wider policy developments, such as the closure of long-stay psychiatric hospitals. A study commissioned by Shelter [2] found the reasons most frequently given factors for being on the streets were: relationship breakdown: 41 per cent being asked to leave the family home: 28 per cent drug and alcohol problems: 31 per cent and 28 per cent respectively leaving prison: 25 per cent mental health problems: 19 per cent other: for example, eviction, problems with benefits payments Another one is leaving the armed forces. Financial breakdown bankruptcy, losing job. Escaping absuive relationships. Things happen to people, its not always their fault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchresearch Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 An interesting, balanced article from someone who worked with homeless people: http://imsorrythatimlikethis.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/the-spikes/ Firstly, these spikes and many other such deterrents have been used across London for years. I know this because I worked for a homeless outreach team and battled to engage rough sleepers who were so entrenched that they refused to accept help. This is what being homeless does to people, it destroys a person’s sense of worth to the point that either they don’t feel they deserve help or they cannot trust the people trying to give it because they no longer trust anyone. I met with business owners who wanted to know how they could get the person indoors and stop them from frightening or even sometimes harassing their customers. As horrific as it must sound, sometimes you have to remove a person’s sleep site in order to engage that person. Rough sleeping is incredibly harmful, it affects a person’s physical and mental health and most importantly their personal safety. Each night you sleep rough you are risking getting a kicking because people do that to homeless people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms Macbeth Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 I would be happy if there was no homeless people having to sleep rough any where. Over 93,000 people are trying to get a place of their own in Sheffield for instance many of them homeless. Be thank full if you have a roof over your head. Actually there aren't. I'm on that housing register, along with many others just like me. Sheffield is one of the few places where almost anyone over 16 can put their name on the housing register (used to be called the Waiting List). I've got a home, but one day I may need or want another so a few years ago I did what lots of people did and filled in an application form. I'd quite like a nice retirement bungalow thank you. Sadly, they are few and far between in Sheffield, so I guess its unlikely. I've just looked at the property shop website, there are eleven 3 bedroomed and fourteen two bedroomed properties there for the taking for families. They are on the website in a category 'First Come First Served' - no waiting time required! So theoretically, there should be no homeless families with children in Sheffield, as these properties are immediately available. Of course they are maisonettes and flats, not as desirable as houses. However, there is a shortage of one bedroomed flats now, probably due to the changes to benefits, known as the 'Bedroom Tax'. Actual homelessness is often not cured just by giving someone a place to live. Some homeless people have had many opportunities for change, even with support, but return again and again to their preferred lifestyle. Others only need one chance to turn their lives around for the better. I'd like to think everyone was given that chance. I have to agree with the sentiments expressed in the article quoted by alchresearch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuttsie Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Actually there aren't. I'm on that housing register, along with many others just like me. Sheffield is one of the few places where almost anyone over 16 can put their name on the housing register (used to be called the Waiting List). I've got a home, but one day I may need or want another so a few years ago I did what lots of people did and filled in an application form. I'd quite like a nice retirement bungalow thank you. Sadly, they are few and far between in Sheffield, so I guess its unlikely. I've just looked at the property shop website, there are eleven 3 bedroomed and fourteen two bedroomed properties there for the taking for families. They are on the website in a category 'First Come First Served' - no waiting time required! So theoretically, there should be no homeless families with children in Sheffield, as these properties are immediately available. Of course they are maisonettes and flats, not as desirable as houses. However, there is a shortage of one bedroomed flats now, probably due to the changes to benefits, known as the 'Bedroom Tax'. Actual homelessness is often not cured just by giving someone a place to live. Some homeless people have had many opportunities for change, even with support, but return again and again to their preferred lifestyle. Others only need one chance to turn their lives around for the better. I'd like to think everyone was given that chance. I have to agree with the sentiments expressed in the article quoted by alchresearch. A Sheffield housing officer told me only one week ago that there are over 93,000 people in Sheffield that are looking for a home of their own. You say that this is not the case so some one is telling porky's for some reason reason and its not me ,O.K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willman Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 A Sheffield housing officer told me only one week ago that there are over 93,000 people in Sheffield that are looking for a home of their own. You say that this is not the case so some one is telling porky's for some reason reason and its not me ,O.K. There are 93,000 registered as looking for a home,it doesn't mean they don't already have a home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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