Homeless people sat outside shops in crookes

[Anna B]

Its Christmas time AB. They always increase at Christmas time. Best time to do it with the most profitable footfall.

 

GENUINE HOMELESS is what I care about. Organisations like the Salvation Army is what I care about.

 

The "thousands" of faux beggars on the streets praying on the season of good will I certainly do not. The thousands of gang led immigrant beggars praying on the unaware tourists I certainly do not. The thousands of street homeless who actually have taxpayer funded accommodation but choose not to live in it, I do not.

 

Figures can and are very easily manipulated to give a good headline. Break them down, have some exposure to these "homeless people", do many years dealing with housing law and homeless services like I did, and you will see that very little of these "homeless" are actually homeless at all.

 

try a walk through town at 3.0 clock in the morning. The people you find trying to sleep in doorways are not begging, nor are they pretending to be homeless. No one sleeps out of doors in winter for the fun of it.

 

The Salvation Army do a wonderful job. Which is why I give as generously as I can all year round. Ask them if there are any people sleeping rough on the streets.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Anna B

[MLAR]

Time for a plug for the excellent Roundabout. A Sheffield Youth Homeless Charity. I prefer them to the Salvation Army, for many reasons. (Mostly, the "Salvation" bit and the "Army" bit)

Edited December 27, 2015 by MLAR

[taxman]

Time for a plug for the excellent Roundabout. A Sheffield Youth Homeless Charity. I prefer them to the Salvation Army, for many reasons. (Mostly, the "Salvation" bit and the "Army" bit)

 

Quite right, my Mum used to volunteer at Christmas for homeless people and would find people in desperate need but the god bothering Sally Army were too busy singing and praising their non existent god to actually do something.

[Anna B]

Time for a plug for the excellent Roundabout. A Sheffield Youth Homeless Charity. I prefer them to the Salvation Army, for many reasons. (Mostly, the "Salvation" bit and the "Army" bit)

 

Yes, Roundabout are excellent too. Reason I prefer Salvation Army is because they help such a wide variety of people in need, from lonely old people to young mothers and children, as well as homeless. Archer project also do wonderful work, and there are many more. A sincere Thankyou to all of them.

[ECCOnoob]

try a walk through town at 3.0 clock in the morning. The people you find trying to sleep in doorways are not begging, nor are they pretending to be homeless. No one sleeps out of doors in winter for the fun of it.

 

The Salvation Army do a wonderful job. Which is why I give as generously as I can all year round. Ask them if there are any people sleeping rough on the streets.

 

I agree. Which I why I put these words at the start of my post:

 

"...GENUINE HOMELESS is what I care about. Organisations like the Salvation Army is what I care about..."

 

Does not change my opinion.

 

There are lots and lots of fake homeless out there. Fake beggars who pray of gullible public during the holiday seasons, gangs of beggars targeting tourists and like I said before, thousands of so called "homeless" people out there who choose to be on the streets begging despite being provided with their taxpayer funded hostel/ b&b accommodation. Some are even provided with a home to live in, but still prefer to congregate with other fake homeless loitering and begging around the city centre.

 

Those who are given help but choose not to take it.. I don't care about.

 

Not everything is black and white and after my experiences working with "homeless" people I don't take things at face value.

[GLASGOWOODS]

I agree. Which I why I put these words at the start of my post:

 

"...GENUINE HOMELESS is what I care about. Organisations like the Salvation Army is what I care about..."

 

Does not change my opinion.

 

There are lots and lots of fake homeless out there. Fake beggars who pray of gullible public during the holiday seasons, gangs of beggars targeting tourists and like I said before, thousands of so called "homeless" people out there who choose to be on the streets begging despite being provided with their taxpayer funded hostel/ b&b accommodation. Some are even provided with a home to live in, but still prefer to congregate with other fake homeless loitering and begging around the city centre.

 

Those who are given help but choose not to take it.. I don't care about.

 

Not everything is black and white and after my experiences working with "homeless" people I don't take things at face value.

 

Agree.

 

I see two Romany beggars in Ayr every week. One male/female sharing begging days with each other. At the end of their shift they catch the X77 coach back up to Glasgow 35 miles away.

[woodmally]

I think we can stop the fake beggars very easily. Donate to charities that help the homeless and only offer food and drink to those that beg.

 

If they are genuine they will welcome a meal and a drink. If they are not they will spurt some expletive in your direction and walk off.

 

If everyone did this the non genuine would lose their income and dare I say it have to do something unusual like get a job.

 

The genuine would then get what they need.

[Anna B]

I think we can stop the fake beggars very easily. Donate to charities that help the homeless and only offer food and drink to those that beg.

 

If they are genuine they will welcome a meal and a drink. If they are not they will spurt some expletive in your direction and walk off.

 

If everyone did this the non genuine would lose their income and dare I say it have to do something unusual like get a job.

 

The genuine would then get what they need.

 

I would have agreed entirely with this not so long ago, but I'm afraid I no longer trust a lot of charities either.

Some are genuine and do a good job as mentioned above, but when they can afford to pay the executives upwards of £100,000, I don't see why I should contribute to their salaries.

Also, some are so top heavy with administration etc, only a fraction of any contributions actually reach the intended recipients. And some charities are just out and out scams.

 

Charities are big business these days and not necessarily there for the interests of those they purport to help.

[I1L2T3]

A plug for a couple of our local charities that help the homeless in Sheffield (and you can trust):

 

http://www.stwilfridscentre.org/about-us/

 

http://www.archerproject.org.uk/

 

Both do invaluable work. Please support them as much as you can.

[Anna B]

A plug for a couple of our local charities that help the homeless in Sheffield (and you can trust):

 

http://www.stwilfridscentre.org/about-us/

 

http://www.archerproject.org.uk/

 

Both do invaluable work. Please support them as much as you can.

 

Yes, these are the sort of charities I support. Small, dedicated and local. They work incredibly hard and make every penny count.