Comments on: As a social worker, I know that welfare sanctions trap homeless people in a circle of poverty https://leftfootforward.org/2017/07/as-a-social-worker-i-know-that-welfare-sanctions-trap-homeless-people-in-a-circle-of-poverty/ Left Foot Forward is the home for UK progressives. We provide evidence-based analysis on British politics, news and policy. Sun, 09 Jul 2017 21:32:05 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.5 By: Chester Draws https://leftfootforward.org/2017/07/as-a-social-worker-i-know-that-welfare-sanctions-trap-homeless-people-in-a-circle-of-poverty/#comment-903661 Sun, 09 Jul 2017 02:27:15 +0000 https://leftfootforward.org/?p=121788#comment-903661 The only explanation as to why this clearly failing system is allowed to continue can only be ideological.

Or cost. You never mention that these things have to be paid for.

That’s why every country, of every ideology, struggles to avoid the homeless and the destitute. It’s not like the Socialist and Communist attempts worked any better at alleviating poverty — they just kept them destitute in “jobs” that weren’t needed (and weren’t valued).

]]> By: Mike Stallard https://leftfootforward.org/2017/07/as-a-social-worker-i-know-that-welfare-sanctions-trap-homeless-people-in-a-circle-of-poverty/#comment-903586 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 18:27:04 +0000 https://leftfootforward.org/?p=121788#comment-903586 Our Church is right into this. The strange thing is that we are very good indeed at sorting out the people who have just been punched, by life, in the face, and those who have just given up and want to see what they can scrounge out of other people.
I could give a lot of examples, over more than ten years about this. I won’t though.
Just having a set of comfy chairs where people who have slept rough can have a kip in front of the tele. Just making sure that everyone who needs it is offered a cuppa or a sandwich. And a bed in the nearby Christian hostel.
All they need to give in return is their Christian name. And usually we can talk to them in their own language too.
The State? Yup, we get money there too. And from other sources. But the key thing is that we run it.
I have been on the dole for ten years myself and I know that you can so easily swindle it. You can so easily sink into total dependence too. With a very few notable exceptions, it does not care. You are just an NI number. In our Church you are your Christian name.

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