No Anniebach. It wouldn't have troubled me any less. What a strange thing to write.
The point I was making is that local newspapers are often short of news at Christmas and this was a gift. It highlights two issues:
a) The vast inequality in Cambridge and the unaffordability of accommodation for many people who live there;
b) The parallel with the Christmas story.
In the past, I've worked directly with the homeless in Cambridge (I was one of them for six weeks, although thankfully not living on the streets), so I'm well aware that it's a problem every day of the year and throughout the city. I also know that it goes much further than just being a housing issue.
This post has shown the prejudices some people have about the homeless and I really don't understand why shortcomings in the NHS were dragged up. At the same time, I am a little uncomfortable about this lady being used as a political football, because nobody knows the back story or exact circumstances.
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Rough sleeper gives birth to twins outside wealthiest Cambridge college
(445 Posts)Rough sleeper gives birth to twins outside wealthiest Cambridge college. Woman delivered premature babies in front of Trinity College on Monday
A homeless woman gave birth to premature twins while sleeping rough outside Cambridge University’s wealthiest college.
The woman, believed to be about 30, gave birth outside Trinity College. She was helped by members of the public, who called an ambulance, according to reports.
A witness told Cambridge News she had seen the new mother and her two children wrapped up in blankets inside ambulances when she cycled past at about 7.15am on Monday.
“They were all in the ambulances by the time I cycled past,” she said. “My workmate was first on the scene, and luckily Sainsbury’s was open early that morning and she ran in there for help.
“I’m hoping she gets given somewhere to live and the babies are ok. With what people are doing right now with Corbyn’s Christmas Challenge [a social media fundraising effort in response to Labour’s election defeat] what happened is very relevant to many people.”
Is rough sleeping getting worse?
The government claims rough sleeping in England fell for the first time in eight years in 2018, from 4,751 in 2017 to 4,677. But the body that oversees the quality of official statistics in the UK has said the number should not be trusted after 10% of councils changed their counting methods. Rough sleeping in London has hit a record high, with an 18% rise in 2018-19.
The numbers of people sleeping rough across Scotland have also risen, with 2,682 people reported as having slept rough on at least one occasion.
Shelter, whose figures include rough sleepers and people in temporary accommodation, estimate that overall around 320,000 people are homeless in Britain.
What’s being done about rough sleeping?
The government’s Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which places new duties on state institutions to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness has been in force for more than a year, but two thirds of councils have warned they cannot afford to comply with it. In 2018, James Brokenshire, the housing secretary, announced a one-off £30m funding pot for immediate support for councils to tackle rough sleeping.
How does the law treat rough sleepers?
Rough sleeping and begging are illegal in England and Wales under the Vagrancy Act 1824, which makes ‘wandering abroad and lodging in any barn or outhouse, or in any deserted or unoccupied building, or in the open air, or under a tent, or in any cart or wagon, and not giving a good account of himself or herself’ liable to a £1,000 fine. Leading homelessness charities, police and politicians have called on the government to scrap the law.
Since 2014, councils have increasingly used public space protection orders to issue £100 fines. The number of homeless camps forcibly removed by councils across the UK has more than trebled in five years, figures show, prompting campaigners to warn that the rough sleeping crisis is out of control and has become an entrenched part of life in the country.
Is austerity a factor in homelessness?
A Labour party analysis has claimed that local government funding cuts are disproportionately hitting areas that have the highest numbers of deaths among homeless people. Nine of the 10 councils with the highest numbers of homeless deaths in England and Wales between 2013 and 2017 have had cuts of more than three times the national average of £254 for every household.
What are the health impacts of rough sleeping?
A study of more than 900 homeless patients at a specialist healthcare centre in the West Midlands found that they were 60 times more likely to visit A&E in a year than the general population in England.
Homeless people were more likely to have a range of medical conditions than the general population. While only 0.9% of the general population are on the register for severe mental health problems, the proportion was more than seven times higher for homeless people, at 6.5%.
Just over 13% of homeless men have a substance dependence, compared with 4.3% of men in the general population. For women the figures were 16.5% and 1.9% respectively. In addition, more than a fifth of homeless people have an alcohol dependence, compared with 1.4% of the general population. Hepatitis C was also more prevalent among homeless people.
Sarah Marsh, Rajeev Syal and Patrick Greenfield
East of England ambulance service told Cambridge News that paramedics went to the scene just before 7am on Monday. The woman and her children were taken to Rosie hospital, a specialist maternity hospital on the outskirts of Cambridge.
Research by the Guardian last year identified Trinity as the wealthiest of all the colleges in both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, with published assets at the time of £1.3bn.
A crowdfunding campaign set up to raise money for the woman decried Cambridge as a place of “extraordinary inequality”. Jess Agar, who started the fundraiser, wrote: “Imagine giving birth alone on the pavement, in the shadow of the richest college in Cambridge.
“Whether we are religious or not, many of us will be familiar with the Christmas story of a mother who gave birth to her child in poverty, seeking refuge in a stable. This is the reality for many people living on the streets.”
Contributors have so far donated more than £9,000.
uk.yahoo.com/news/rough-sleeper-gives-birth-twins-144402965.html
Cold Thank you for your post about your brother. It illustrates just how much nonsense is spoken/written about homeless people. There is usually a very sad story as to why a person became homeless but your story shows that it can happen to anyone, through no fault of their own.
Anniebach Isn't one of the Christmas messages "Peace on earth and goodwill to all men" Plus it's cold outside. That's two reasons why it was particularly shocking that she gave birth in the street.
There is too much "whatifery" on this thread. All that any of us know is that she went into premature labour outside a Cambridge college and had twins. I bet that before too long some of the comments made about the woman will find their way onto other media as the truth.
I'm disliking the way this story is being used as political fodder.
I wonder what you mean by that oldgimmer. One meaning of political is "relating to public affairs of a country". I would say that if people have thought it important enough to report in a newspaper then it is political in the wider sense. Also, on a politics and news thread it's likely to be discussed. I don't understand what you are objecting to. Do some of the views disagree with yours? Is that the issue?
Would it have troubled you less if she had given birth outside
public loos, or a supermarket growstuff ?
And it happening at Christmas is no different to it happening any other day of the year.
oldgimmer As far as I can tell, it originated from a local newspaper. I guess it was always going to be a news story:
a) Cambridge is a city of great inequality. There's something horribly ironic about giving birth in the cold on the pavement outside the richest college in the country.
b) It's especially poignant that somebody should give birth at Christmas when there would appear to have been "no room at the inn".
I agree with you about it being used as political fodder - by both sides. Homeless is increasing all year round and there all sorts of reasons for it.
According to "Crisis" the major cause is the ending of Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreements, often accompanied by unemployment, relationship breakdown and mental health issues. Ex-service personnel and care leavers are over-represented.
There isn't a simple solution.
I'm disliking the way this story is being used as political fodder.
There is likely to be a backstory which we'll never know fully.
Fingers crossed for both mother and babies. Premature birth is unexpected by nature, so not surprising if this woman was caught unawares.
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Just caught up with this thread, I hope this woman and her babies are going to get help and support over the coming weeks.
Having premature twins is traumatic on lots of levels for the mother, and these little babies will need the best our NHS can give to help them thrive.
Cambridge City has an active outreach service, which is supposed to know about all the rough sleepers. They're possibly having meetings right now to discuss what went wrong. If this lady had been homeless for a long time, they really should have known about her and offered her support and advice. It appears that the babies were premature, but maternity services should have been available.
The details are not being revealed (and there's no reason why they should be, just to satisfy curiosity), so nobody can make assumptions. There could have been all sorts of reasons she gave birth on the street.
One thought Callistemon. Maybe if a relationship breaks down and there are children involved, the woman is more likely to keep the children and be classed as a higher priority than a single male.
Any humane response would have included concern for the plight of any woman forced to give birth on the street and concern for her and babies health.
When I say ‘forced’ this is likely to have come upon her very quickly and unexpectedly.
What is unacceptable is casting any blame onto the poor wretch.
Sorry! Forgot the link for statistics about rough sleepers.
www.homeless.org.uk/sites/default/files/site-attachments/Homeless%20Link%20-%20analysis%20of%20rough%20sleeping%20statistics%20for%20England%202017.pdf
It doesn't give any reasons.
lemongrove Fri 27-Dec-19 10:06:28
Anyone who is pregnant will have been seen and offered help
And you know this always to be true because?
Mental health issue and drug taking may have a lot to do with this case, or hiding the pregnancy, we don’t know so should not judge the case in advance.
Why should we be judging this woman at all?
What do we do as a society for some people who cannot easily be helped? Men fall through the net more than women in these cases. Do we compel them to accept help?
No, but we do make it available and ask what is needed. Although these problems are intractable using systems that are seen to be failing is not really an answer, is it?
Building council flats to house people is the answer for some, But what do we do for those who really can’t cope with normal life?
If someone cannot "cope with" any sort of normal life as you suggest then they lack capacity and can be helped, to some extent whether they want to be or not. Very few people are in this position but for those who are very few places are available. The whole point is that peoples issues are wide and varied.
That’s why a cross party think tank/ investigation into homelessness is needed urgently.
It may well be but a) I doubt you will see it and b) the people who know what the challenges are and how they arise are those who are going through it and those who have been through it. What it sounds as if we may see is cross-government cooperation rather than issues being siloed as they have been increasingly since the post-war period into smaller and smaller defined areas. We are no longer running a huge factory. Our economy is more complex and rapidly changing.
Rough sleepers are only the tip of the iceberg. Councils have a statutory duty to house families with young children - even if it's only in bedsits. Single people are a lower priority. Males are sometimes less likely to seek help for mental health problems and to have networks, which could offer help. Maybe Google would reveal something.
You're right BTW about the proportions of male/female rough sleepers.
It was reported on our local news that a homeless man (and others, but they just featured him in the report) refused food, warmth and accommodation in a shelter because he said he just could not give up drugs and the shelter has a strict non-drug policy for the sake of others seeking help there.
I did not hear further reports of what other help was offered him.
It is multi-faceted, no one answer fits all.
This young woman will surely now receive the help she needs.
Someone queried why get pregnant? We don't know how this happened, women on the streets are very vulnerable.
Was in both Manchester city centre and Chester city centre just befor Christmas and I was staggered by the sheer number of people sleeping in doorways, alleyways and on benches. The vast majority of those that I saw were young white males. I'm quite sure that there were plenty of others, of both sexes, a range of ages and different ethnicities, but the ones that I saw were predominantly young white men. If anyone has any information as to why that particular demographic is more predisposed to homelessness than others, I'd genuinely be interested in knowing.
I started reading this and while it is very sad that a woman apparently gave birth while on the streets, none of us know the full story or the woman's background - it's not beyond possibility that she was not aware that she was even pregnant!
What I have found shocking is that two supposedly intelligent people have decided to turn the whole post into a tit for tat argument - suggest the two involved find somewhere else for their disagreements and not spoil it for those that want to make sensible comments that are actually about the subject first posted.
The fact is that on GN and other social media the rule of thumb is to shoot first and ask questions later!
Which is exactly what you did LG - see posts 1 and 3 after the OP.
I don't know why who is given priority actually matters unless you are saying legal immigrants should not be housed at all blondenana.
If, as we all surely all now know is true, there is simply not enough housing and not enough of the right type that is the problem that causes a waiting list - not your place of birth.
Immigrants are most emphatically not given priority in this area.
It's also true that some homeless people don't want to accept accommodation in hostels because they would be surrounded by people with drug, alcohol and mental health issues.
Please don't tar them all with the same brush. Nothing is known about the background of this lady.
There are more homeless and rough sleepers than ever before, and not enough accomodation
And i may get slated for this, but incoming immigrants here are being given properties before homeless,
I have nothoing against immigrants in general by the way, but people who have been homeless for longer than some of the immigrants should be cateed for first
I know the Government has said all councils have to take some of them, and ours has only agreed 36 families
I don't know where thee are houses vacant big enough for families.unless moving some from larger houses into smaller properties,but last year thee were not enough to go round,and when the bedroom tax came in, people just had to pay for extra rooms, because they couldn't downsize
I have no intention of moving out of mine even if there was a smaller place
Thank you for bringing us back to the actual issue Chewbacca. It is very difficult but I personally believe that the breakdown of society in this way is endemic because of the lack of insight into how easy it is for what seem like stable worlds to crumble.
As difficult as it may be for some of us to understand, some homeless people just do not want to accept accommodation in temporary hostels because they cannot use drugs or alcohol there and would prefer to remain on the streets.
Is this true? I wonder how many of us would spend a night in a hostel? I wonder how long it would be before we wanted to dull our senses to what had happened to us.
All too often things are not put in place early enough. Our services are industrial, treating people like widgets instead of individuals. Sadly, people are rarely asked "what do you need" but often given boxes to tick and then a tick-box solution is produced. This is an expensive way to run things. There are huge financial resources within our social services, NHS, etc. With all the knowledge we have, all the individualising of our society the first blame is attributed to the victim and then that same society offers a "one size fits all" solution - which often doesn't work.
Have you links which show ‘the others’ ?
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