A new campaign is calling on mayoral candidates to lead a new drive to end rough sleeping
A new survey has revealed that nearly three-quarters of Londoners (72 per cent) think the city’s next mayor should do more to tackle homelessness, with seven-in-ten Londoners saying that they are ‘appalled’ by the scale of homelessness in the capital.
Just 13 per cent say they feel enough is being done to combat homelessness and rough sleeping, and 61 per cent agree that the number of homeless people in London is increasing.
The polling for YouGov was commissioned by Lead London Home, a campaign launched today by 21 London homelessness charities including Crisis, St.Mungo’s, Centrepoint and Homeless Link.
The campaign is calling for pledges from all mayoral candidates to lead the way on tackling homelessness.
Last year more than 7,500 people were seen sleeping rough in London by outreach teams – including 880 under-25s. This constitutes a substantial rise on recent years; research by Crisis shows that rough sleeping in 2014/15 has almost doubled since six years ago.
Meanwhile, the loss of a private tenancy is now the number one cause of homelessness in the capital, accounting for 39 per cent of those accepted as homeless in London in 2014/15.
Lead London Home points out that the mayor has significant powers to tackle homelessness, including a £34 million budget and the ability to bring boroughs and services together. The campaign says that:
“While Boris Johnson has made significant strides – including the launch of innovative and successful services like No Second Night Out – the next mayor must show even greater ambition to tackle this growing problem.”
Lead London Home is urging all mayoral candidates to support a six-step homelessness manifesto, and calls on the next mayor of London to:
1. Lead a new drive to end rough sleeping, including providing at least 2,000 homes and a Housing First programme for former rough sleepers.
2. Prioritise homelessness prevention and support calls for a new law so that no one can be turned away by councils to sleep on the streets.
3. Increase access to private rented sector housing and tenancy support for people on the lowest incomes.
4. End destitution by working across the European Union to find solutions to EU nationals sleeping on the streets.
5. Embed the needs of homeless people at the heart of London’s public services.
6. Fight for a better deal for London to mitigate the negative impact of welfare reform on people who are homeless and at risk of homelessness.
Crisis chief executive Jon Sparkes said:
“Londoners care deeply about homelessness, with 10,000 alone volunteering at Crisis at Christmas centres last month. It is time for the candidates to show that they take this issue as seriously as those who will be voting in May.
“London is one of the wealthiest cities in the world – the fact it is facing such a rise in homelessness is nothing short of a scandal. By pledging to Lead London Home the next mayor will be pledging to arrest this rise and to help the thousands of people who find themselves homeless each year.”
St Mungo’s chief executive Howard Sinclair said:
“This is about building on the success of No Second Night Out and other services to support people off the street quickly, and not letting complex problems around poor mental health and substance use force people to stay stuck sleeping rough.
“It is also about investing in Housing First and other accommodation options so former rough sleepers can move on with their lives.
“In addition, we want the next mayor to work with the London boroughs to ensure people at risk of homelessness get the help they need before the worst happens.”
The campaign has launched a petition to help put pressure on the mayoral candidates, which can be signed here.
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward
15 Responses to “London’s next mayor must use their powers better to tackle homelessness”
Sid
Will the British homelss get priority over refugees ?
RoughSleeper
We can reduce the ‘Homeless’ by 99.02% instantly, simply by “calling a spade a spade”.
“London’s next mayor must use their powers better to tackle ‘homelessness’” – These are the people that sleep in houses.
Wouldn’t it be better to:
“London’s next mayor must use their powers better to tackle ‘RoughSleeping’” – These are the people that sleep outside.
All 6 steps are aimed at helping the former, and not to help the latter.
We are needed in situ to scam more money on our backs.
Charities that milk us, try to confuse the public with ‘Roughsleepers’ and ‘homeless’, as if they are the same thing.
They are not.
Both can be broken down into multiple sub groups.
Neither is an exclusive subset of the other major group.
Not all ‘Roughsleepers’ are ‘homeless’, and vice versa.
A ‘Homeless’ ‘charity’ collects money for the ‘Homeless’.
99.02% of ‘Homeless’ sleep in a house already.
‘Homeless’ is a very ‘padded out’ number to aid the ‘Homeless’ ‘charities’.
A ‘RoughSleeping’ ‘charity’ collects money for the ‘RoughSleepers’.
100% of ‘RoughSleepers’ sleep outdoors.
Very few, ie. 00.08%, of ‘Homeless’ sleep outdoors, and are therefore both ‘RoughSleepers’ and ‘Homeless’.
For every 1 ‘RoughSleeper’, there are now 1200 symbiotic F&F ‘Homeless’ ‘in a house’ that they claim that they are not happy with for whatever reason that they can make up.
To put this number, or %age, into context, if you were to meet one brand new ‘Homeless’ person every week of your life, which is highly unlikely, it would take 24 years to meet one of these that was a genuine ‘RoughSleeper’!
The same statistic would apply, after the ‘Homeless’ ‘charity’ ‘cut’, of any money that you gave. Nothing would get through to any genuine ‘RoughSleepers’.
If you are F&F of some of these ‘Homeless’ ‘charities’, you will know, that to claim ‘Homeless’, you only have to claim that you slept on your wife’s/girlfriend’s/parents/friends/accomplice’s settee for one night, and are now eligible for all kinds of freebies, including having a ‘getout’ of worksearch obligations, council tax, and can get free food from the F&F ‘Homeless’ ‘charities’.
Not all ‘Homeless’ are genuine, many are on this bandwagon.
F&F businesses!
There is a world of difference, in meaning, and hardship, of ‘Homeless’ & ‘RoughSleeping’.
Most ‘Homeless’, get benefits, foodbank food, clothes, and ‘Homeless’ ‘charity’ food. Many F&F chose this life for symbiotic advantage from the swarm of ‘Homeless’ ‘charities’ to support them.
The word ‘Homeless’ has been abused so much, by these 2 players, to make money, for both sides, and has now lost all respect.
Most ‘RoughSleepers’, get no benefits at all, are not allowed foodbank food, clothes, or ‘Homeless’ ‘charity’ food, have no money to spend, and don’t get any of the ‘Homeless’ ‘’charity’’ Freebies, etc, there is very little support for this group.
‘RoughSleepers’, are the ones that would benefit more than the ‘Homeless’ from the food, clothes, help, especially the ones that can’t claim benefits & food. These are the ones dying, so that others can be rich.
Many ‘Homeless’ ‘charities’ describe, in their Xmas NewsAdverts, the hardship, and early death, of ‘RoughSleeping’, to get emotional response, and money, from the public, and then slip-in the numbers, and statistic juggling, of ‘Homeless’, and hope that you didn’t notice their quick switch, and slight of hand.
This is numbers padding. This is fraud.
We will never get a solution to help ‘RoughSleepers’ off the streets, while-ever it is an advantage to ‘Homeless’ ‘charities’ to bulk up the numbers, and keep us, the small number of ‘RoughSleepers’, here.
We get left on the streets to make more emotion & money from the public, and our deaths there, are an added bonus, for more of both.
False excuses are used against us to justify them not doing anything for us, such as, they are: “entrenched, druggies, mentally ill, drunks, shop lifters, beggars, thieves, benefit scammers, substance users, etc”
We are being abused, for others gain. The only solution, that I can see, is the termination, and making illegal, all such charities that are making a nice living on our backs, and the appointment of a gov org, whose purpose, and interests, is to reduce our numbers, not inflate our numbers, for more grants, awards, donations, bequeathments, at the cost of our lives.
The trickle down to the poor theory, from ‘Homeless’ ‘charities’ that make lots of Xmas NewsAds, and salary money, on our backs, does not work.
When you see the word ‘Homeless’, suspect a rat.
‘RoughSleepers’ want more in life than to be: “‘Signposted’ to somewhere else” (moved on).
‘RoughSleepers’ want more in life than to pay, daily, for a ‘Homeless’ ‘charity’ run, overnight, ‘kip’ in a ‘dosshouse’, with the inherent: bug ridden,
damp, mould, filth, fleas, disease, unhygiene, cold, no maintenance of room, or shared toilets & showers, abuse, theft, fraud, drugs, drink, addiction, criminality, mental illness, robberies, violent management and tenants, etc.
‘RoughSleepers’ want more in life than to be kicked out, into the weather, in the morning.
‘RoughSleepers’ want more in life than to be kept in this status quo to ensure an income for a ‘Homeless’ ‘charity’.
‘RoughSleepers’ want their lives back.
‘RoughSleepers’ want their homes back.
Get rid of the money bait in our field, and you get rid of the fraud on our backs. Next year both scammers will be more honest, or gone to another fraud, because you have hit their pockets.
To the public, I would advise:
Before, giving money to any ‘Homeless’ ‘charity’ that claims to do something for us, and asks for your money, walk up to any ‘RoughSleeper’, in your own town, and ask a very simple question:
“Has this ‘Homeless’ ‘charity’ ‘ever’ helped you, or any other RoughSleeper that you know, or given you, or them, anything to eat, that was given to them to give to you, any day, any week, any year, any decade”.
From this answer, make an informed decision of whether to give to this ‘Homeless’ ‘charity’, or to give food direct to the needy.
No money!
This sorts out both sides that sponge on backs.
At this time of year, or any time, the truth matters more than PC, for peoples lives.
We can reduce the ‘Homeless’ by 99.02% instantly, simply by “calling a spade a spade”.
Thankyou on behalf of all genuine ‘RoughSleepers’.
(9.1800 x 10K hours expertise, Boots on the ground, 3825 Days, @ 1.4693 pence/day) @ http://tinyurl.com/o7du4sk
PS.
Thanks public that read my earlier posts, and so brought me the Xmas breakfast, and dinner.
Can you please collect your crockery ASAP, they are heavy to carry around, and difficult to protect from breakages.
Kathryn
Have you ever done anything for either?
JarrowPete
Well said Kathryn. The point being, is that we have the financial and political clout to help BOTH, not choose one over the other.
damon
When I was homeless for a bit while travelling around the West Country, all the places that helped out homeless people – like the Salvation Army – just told me to ”go home”. The most they would do was buy me a one way bus ticket back to London.
They only reneged on that on some nights when it was below freezing and allowed temporary sleep spots on mats on the floor inside their building (in Plymouth).
It was a pretty tough policy to have to face. You could eat there but not sleep inside. Everywhere in Britain seems to follow this policy now I think. Except London maybe.