Street beggars
I had a couple of days off so i decided to pop into Glasgow for the afternoon and have a wander around. Whilst there, it has become obvious that there is more and more street beggars in the City Centre area, i've never seen so many, they are everywhere, it seemed they were almost on every corner. It made me wonder what has made things get to this state, is the authorities not helping these people? It seems out of control and something should be done.
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austerity
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Easy money, i bet 1 out of 10 is actually homeless.
Same here in Houston...which is a massive city...there isn't one at ever intersection there is one on every corner at an intersection...there are thousands of intersections....yet officially only 3000 or so homeless people.
Not a new thing, I remember 25yrs ago back in Manchester there was a guy everyday begging in Piccadilly gardens and in the evening he would get in his car and drive home.
I always refuse but he continues to ask me and even started to follow me once, chatting to me. I just wanted him to go away, he's as thick as pig **** :))
There is one guy who I know has been genuinely Homeless for at least 25 years, I bump into him about half a dozen times a year and I always give him a tenner, plus I will buy him a coffee and a sandwich as well, or some thermal socks a hat & scarf in winter and some hot food.
However, don't believe the lies that the government tell you about how people who beg, usually have a house and a car and a good life, or that they only own a dog because they get money for dog food on top of their benefits, they are lies. Also they can't get benefits if they have no fixed address, there will be more and more people begging now that this P.I.P. benefit has taken over, as they have to refuse 80% of ALL of the claims, whether they should qualify or not.
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Grey key there are lots of stories like this sadly
In Brighton I like to talk to them and offer to get them something from the supermarket. They normally want a milkshake or a sandwich. I’ll never give the, money or get booze for them though. Nice bunch and sad to hear some of their stories
Sadly i felt bad because come captain cook weekend and we were busy, met the mayors etc he got moved out of the way so the generators could fit in the corner where he was.
The monday after i noticed a mucky duvet / sleeping bag in the big bin, not seen him since so hes either been moved on or arrested :(
or both
Is that so? I would not be surprised.
Well...I'm not hard hearted. I usually give something to anybody that asks. I will confess to avoiding junkies as they can be annoying and just trouble. Plus I am fed up hearing about their meds. Yes..it used to be the case that homeless people were alchoholics and junkies..but thats totally changed. As said by grey mouse..changes to benefits system has caused and is causing a great catastrophy. Good honest people are finding themselves on Skid Row. Its a tragedy of Dickensian proportions. Most homeless are men, but with changes to child care benefits..women might be behind them soon. Lets face it..the boom in single mothers and discarded fathers came about because the state became the father. That had to change...but not with this kind of social engineering thats resulting in massive covered up suicide rates a la forced quick social engineering.As for begging..any time on the street will scar you mentally and..well, inhibition, self respect etc goes out the window when you have a hole in your belly. Your thoughts turn to stealing..off anybody. You suspect you'd be better off in jail..and there is the source of another crimewave...its very difficult increasingly to get put in the cells if the cops know you are homeless. Cant stay here..move here...cant stay here. Its very very horrible.
Anyhoo..I always give and often if the person is not a junkie ..I'll often have a small chat.
Some discover that begging is more lucrative than working for a living. Plus there is not tax to pay, and you can still claim benefits, that is if they do have a house and commute to beg.
I knew a guy who had a good house, car and income and had worked hard for it for many years, he got married to a young girl who he had met only months earlier, after a year they got divorced, she got half of everything, he got depressed and through that lost his job. Within another year he had gone broke because he had to use his money to pay commitments, the cash soon ran out, he was broke and homeless, he was actually a broken man and had to live on the street. He had it all and lost it.
The local councils are now moving the homeless by arresting them and leaving all of their possessions on the pavement, they take them to the other side of town, warn them to stay away from where they were arrested, then they let them go. However, they tell them that the next time they are arrested they will be taken in and FINED, I think the first fine is 75 quid, even if they could get the money to pay, the next time they are caught it is 1,000 quid, if they can't pay any fine, they ARE put in prison, presumably, just to clear the streets. It may be different elsewhere, but that's how it is here. They seem to think that removing the problem will solve the situation for good, but there are more and more everyday becoming homeless. They need an infrastructure ( unused blocks of flats etc ) as well and support staff to provide help and support.
Once if you fell off of the bottom rung of the ladder, with a little help, you could get back on the ladder, it is getting to the stage that once you fall now, you are done for. How long will it be before the powers that be realise that a homeless person could provide a good few cans of pet food for free, they can claim that they have been moved on and gone missing, come to think about it, there are an awful lot of MISSING homeless people nowadays.
Well a guy on there had recently been made homeless, and luckily was still able to couch surf his friends, and a few relatives houses, but since he was officially of no fixed abode he had to go and sign on every day at the job centre. If he missed a day he got nothing, if he got nothing he had no chance of sorting out his situation, and he said every day he went in there, they grilled him about what he'd been doing to look for work, as if it was the end of his 2 weeks.
He said one day he got P*ssed off at the person behind the desk, and said something like look I was here yesterday, and the day before, and you know I'm on a back to work scheme right now which finishes at 4PM. I have no house so all the jobs I'm applying for there I'm not likely to get. He said the desk clerk said something along the lines of Well that's no attitude to have, just keep trying something will turn up.
This guy was a computer wiz as well, but it seemed nobody wanted anything to do with him because he'd not been to college for it. I told him don't worry mate I did go to college for IT, and it was a total waste of time. I worked in an office for about 6 months afterwards decided it was shite, and never went back...
Been watching that series on BBC iplayer about a lot of homeless people in Brighton. Its pretty good, one of the girls i'm stunned shes not at her mums as shes just homeless non stop.
Again its a difficult one as i do like to help out but i've just heard too many stories of people abusing peoples generosity or seconds later blowing it on some drugs etc.
That should have been an easy situation to sort out. Get a relative to let you use their house as a mailing address. That's the biggest hurdle over with, the rest is just self confidence, and that will at least get the ball rolling. As it was the late 90s and he was a computer wizz the labor government would have paid for him to go to college on an Access to IT course. If he could have stuck that for 9 months, then he could get his uni tuition paid for, and possibly student grants to take the edge off of living expenses. Sure a degree is only paper, but it will get you though the door to interview. Once your a student shared accommodation is cheap and student work at weekends and evenings abundant (employment agency work, pub work, etc). Failing that, if work is sporadic, scrape by on beans and toast and the opportunity for loads of parties and bored sex kinds of makes up for the lack of money.
In my life I've been unemployed for 4 days. When my first job came to a mutually agreed end (1994), I wondered what I'd do. On day four, I registered with an employment agency and was working in a dairy that night and being paid £3.50 an hour week days, £4.50 week nights, and £6.50 at weekends. It was **** money and **** work, but I could work on my own terms and choose when I wanted to work.
It used to be very hard to find overnight hostels with spaces for even one night, it is still hard but now they charge 27 quid a night to sleep there, that is a lot of begging for one nights peaceful sleep.
The tramps weren't allowed to drink inside, but there was a bench round the corner on a little piece of waste ground, which was lovingly named Cider Alley for obvious reasons. The discerning hobo could have collected the millions of empty Pulse, and White Storm bottles, and probably got a few quid from recycling them. I've never seen so many green plastic bottles in one place.