Homeless for one night

My brother in-law Derek is a super guy. He is funny, hard working, obsessed with fast cars and with Russian Caravan tea.

He also has an unusual habit.

When he travels into town he takes several pound coins with him, and makes a point of giving one or two to every person he sees begging on the street – as he says, “You never know, one of them could be Jesus!”

I told a former colleague about this and his views took me by surprise. “I never give anything to beggars – it just encourages them, most are not really homeless and they will just spend money on drugs and alcohol!”

Wow – I wonder how he knew? Had he spoken to professionals that work in this area, had he read studies, had he done his own research? No – it turns out it was just “what he believed”.

In April 2016, I wrote a blog about working with charities who deal directly with homeless people and they certainly opened my eyes (“What I learned from an Internet café for the homeless”).

Many people become homeless ‘by accident’ – a relationship breakdown, losing a job, unable to pay rent or find employment and, before they know it, they find they are in a deep hole. And the steps back out can be difficult. In the UK, if you cannot prove that you are available for, and actively seeking work, you might lose your state benefits. With no money you cannot afford to pay for accommodation. With no fixed address (and perhaps no bank account) – it is much more difficult to find a job.

Mental health and substance addiction are often a consequence of homelessness rather than a cause. A disproportionate number of homeless people spent their childhood and adolescence in care.

The road out of homelessness is long and complicated – but it is possible. There are many organisations doing great work to help people on the journey but in Scotland we still have over 10,000 people who are homeless – mostly sleeping in hostels and emergency accommodation with a small proportion that sleep on the streets.

It takes resources and concerted effort to create the stairway that allows people to climb from the hole of homelessness. Employment, accommodation, medical and psychological support, counselling, guidance, friendship, kindness.

One organisation that is making a real difference in Scotland is Social Bite, started by Josh Littlejohn as a movement to provide routes back into normal society for homeless people. Josh is humble, sincere, well informed and hugely ambitious. He recently announced plans to host 9,000 people on a mass overnight fundraising sleep out in Edinburgh on 9 December this year.

Take a look at the Sleep in the Park website. The money and support raised could go a long way to dealing with many of the real issues around homelessness in Scotland by bringing all of the pieces of the support jigsaw together.

See you there.