The shame of Austerity Britain

Since 2010 the numbers of homeless people in temporary accommodation has grown by 61%.

At least 78 homeless people died on the streets and in temporary accommodation this winter, bringing the number of recorded homeless deaths to more than 300 since 2013, research has shown.

Among them was 41-year-old Robert Wallis, who was found dead next to his mother at a homeless drop-in centre in Canterbury in March as heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures gripped the UK.

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/23/at-least-78-homeless-people-died-in-uk-over-winter-figures-reveal?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Of course there are lots of reasons why people become homeless. The new “homelessness reduction act 2018” puts the responsibility on local councils to eradicate homelessness by 2027. It’s an ambitious target. Can it be achieved?

www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp

This isn't it, but a bit more informative

I'm not sure.

I do know that prices rose quite dramatically in Australia and seem to have overtaken the UK; Australian visitors have been surprised at the relatively cheap prices of our fruit and vegetables.

I did find some more reliable statistics a while ago but I can't remember which site they were on.

Thanks Jal having looked at it I’m still not sure that because we’ve fallen out of the top 20 it means that prices have fallen here as opposed to having risen elsewhere iyswim - am I misinterpreting?

Oh sorry, yes!
www.movehub.com/blog/living-costs-world-map/
and it says this:

MoveHub has created a map to show the difference in living costs around the world in 2017 using figures from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) – the world’s largest database of user contributed data about cities and countries worldwide.

I will not be moving to Bermuda.

Jal can you give a link please?

Food prices are cheaper in relation to income than they were over decades and food prices in the UK are relatively cheaper than in many other countries. This, of course, is no consolation to those in low incomes.

February 2018:

In just two years, Bermuda has climbed its way to the top spot becoming the most expensive country to live in, pushing Switzerland out of first place. This could be due in part to Bermuda’s tax haven reputation, which has attracted the richest and most powerful in recent years.

It may come as a surprise to many considering high food costs and rising inflation, but the UK has fallen out of the 20 most expensive countries for the first time since 2009, topped by the likes of Ireland and the USA.
On the other side of the spectrum, Egypt is now the country with the lowest cost of living, moving up six places in two years.

Yes, it does live on Iam64 and many of those people who are doing OK prefer to tell themselves that those who are having a hard time have in some way brought it upon themselves for not working hard enough, not looking after their health, not being careful with their money, etc. etc. etc.

In that way, they can go on supporting a government that is, in my view, responsible for the increasing levels of social deprivation which blight the lives of many people.

I think that this might show that, far from being cheaper than ever food prices are rising.

tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/food-inflation

Maizie Could I suggest a sense of humour failure? My post was entirely flippant.

I don't think I was the only person who failed to spot that, MOnica but I'm glad it was...

I’m not convinced that food is cheaper than ever. Also, housing , heating and transport costs are higher than in the past.
Life may be ok for many of us but it’s tough for many. Remember that famous comment “there’s no such thing as society”. Her legacy lives on.

Possibly irrelevant in the context, or possibly not, our local Food Bank is under severe strain at the moment because of serious flooding on some of the estates during last weekend’s thunderstorms and flash floods.
People still need help and those for whom the margin is narrow are the least likely to have emergency supplies to hand.

Maizie Could I suggest a sense of humour failure? My post was entirely flippant.

David (this is serious). However cheap food is, if your benefits haven't arrived because of some mix up, then short of being given food for free you cannot afford to buy it.

Yes thanks grannyactivist you show a side of modern life that most people don’t see.
What would you like to see done about homelessness? I know there are no quick easy solutions, but what do you think needs doing?

grannyactivist Fri 01-Jun-18 01:11:18

Your post was very enlightening as well as moving, ga, thank you. It's very worrying that we sometimes seem to have less compassion and fewer support networks in place for the most vulnerable in our society than previous generations did. Things should improve over time, not go backwards.

Raising VAT would penalise the poorest disproportionately. It would also reduce people’s spending power which is likely to reduce growth.
To boost growth, the government should kickstart the economy by investing money -building more houses, restoring Bursaries for nurses’ training, funding social care better, boosting Sure Start schemes, lifting wages caps, building hospitals and schools, improving roads and rail etc. All this would create jobs, which in turn creates more jobs.

I don’t think the cost of food as such is the problem david, it’s the low wages, zero hours contracts, high rent, benefit cutbacks, benefit delays, utility costs, high debt, etc that are cutting income that makes people need foodbanks.

Actually the books don’t have to balanced and anyone with a Reception Year understanding of fiscal policy knows that VAT is a regressive tax as are all taxes on spending.

Monica Perhaps these new and very unpleasant right wingers on Gransnet are driving you rightwards but they're certainly not having that effect on me.

If you are including myself as right wing forget it, I'm Centre Left, the cost of food is not the problem, its never been cheaper, fact!.
I argue against Austerity and for Taxation increase, unlike many on these pages who think taxing the rich is the solution, it isn't because it will only produce a small amount over many years and the revenue know that, Capital taxes are popular but don't raise much. VAT would produce a lot quickly, higher income tax raises a lot, do we really want to put the burden on to working families
Many disadvantaged people are having benefits and support reduced and I am sympathetic, however I don't see any change, even if Corbyn ( it could happen) is elected the books still have to be balanced.

It is so good to hear of people giving of themselves so generously - your time and effort is the most precious thing really but unfortunately people do not realise that.

Fortunately none of the caseworkers get paid so we we have no costs other than what is actually spent on our clients; we simply claim back what we spend (with receipts) and have a really good management committee to oversee the finances. Getting donations so far has not been a problem at all and means that we can pay for specialist help for our clients or buy equipment as needed. I am regularly asked to talk about our work and had a phone call recently from a man who made a personal donation of £1000 after hearing me. I live in a town that has a wonderfully caring community and people fundraise for us unasked; churches, choirs, music groups, the Lions, the scouts, the WI and individuals have all given us donations - some of them quite sizeable to a small charity like ours. Unfortunately what we need is not money, but access to services and housing for our clients - and at the moment we are looking for additional caseworkers, but finding people with the right skills and professional attitude who will work for free is not an easy task.

That is all just so sad - these people must be so pleased to have your band of people to help them. Do you manage to get enough funds to do all you want.?

Welshwife, of the people I work with very few have any sort of family support so these people really are just on their own usually and even the statutory services can't cope. Many of the people I work with don't have a phone and most have never had a computer yet there are very few face-to-face services they can access and all applications for benefits are now online or require the applicant to have the £8 bus fare to get to the nearest job centre.
The government has now put a duty on local councils to reduce homelessness - but with no extra money and a shortage of social housing it's like asking them to spin gold out of straw.
Yesterday was a low point for me. I co-founded my charity after a homeless person died on the streets just a few minutes walk from my house and I didn't ever want that to happen again. Sadly, just as the charity was getting going a second man also died, before he'd had a chance to access our services, and it almost broke me. Their deaths were from medical causes; living on the streets vastly reduces life expectancy. But now I'm seeing more and more people who are so broken they are on the point of giving up on life and even though I am a professional there are days when I come close to despairing on their behalf and yesterday was one such.
I'll make the suggestion again. For those people who want to gain a more informed understanding please, please, watch the film 'I, Daniel Blake'. It can probably be rented from your local library - if you still have a library that is.

Just as grannya did in the wee small hours, so many of you have reassured me when I'm feeling more vulnerable than usual.
Thank you for that.
It makes hard reading, doesn't it, when such hideous opinions are expressed and the writers expect to have them condoned. Even worse that a small minority did support them.

Hear, hear Lazigirl, Eloethan, Iam64 and others.