Rough sleeper gives birth to twins outside wealthiest Cambridge college

growstuff how can many who are sleeping on the streets have a day job ?

I agree with most of your post trisher and of course more affordable housing and support is needed to prevent homelessness, but surely an ever increasing number of people is only going to make this more difficult.

MaizieD
I'm not the person tut tutting and agreeing with taxi driver's stories that do nothing to clarify and much to demonise...

EXACTLY. Gossip, heresay, rumour mongering. NOTHING factual to back up their bigotry.

The point made about the changes made by Labour regarding how benefits are paid also plays a part,

Labour changed the system to payment of housing benefit to claimants, rather than directly to landlords. In the clearly mistaken belief that claimants might feel rather more empowered and 'in charge' by having responsibility for their money; rather than it being 'done' for them.

They were not responsible for these the government actions as detailed in the Homelessness Monitor report

Start
• However, the growth in the private rented sector (only marginally reversed in the last year) has exposed many more low-income households to higher housing costs, a smaller proportion of which are protected through housing allowances in the benefit system. These tenure-related increases in the risks of housing related poverty, notably for younger families with children, highlight the deepening economic and social divisions in England between “insiders” (older owner occupiers) and “outsiders” (younger households without access to wealth or high-paying jobs).
• The safety net once provided by Housing Benefit, whereby posthousing incomes were protected from erosion below basic benefit levels, has now effectively ended for the bulk of private tenants in receipt of benefit across the country, with young people under 35 particularly badly affected by reduced Local Housing Allowance rates and the working age benefit freeze.
• Hardship due to standard delays for initial Universal Credit payments is compounded by widespread system errors; in some cases causing destitution. Recent Government concessions on the design and implementation of Universal Credit are welcome, but these must be extended to further mitigate risks of rising rent arrears that can lead to homelessness. New measures are needed to tackle payment delays and deductions and to fast-track rental assistance directly to landlords where appropriate.
• Further tightening of the Benefit Cap means that it now affects almost 53,000 households as its impact has spread out from London. Almost three-quarters of affected households are headed by lone parents - the group least able to avoid the cap by moving into work or increasing their hours. The cap is enacted in the first instance by reducing housing support payments, and although this might be mitigated through Discretionary Housing Payments, the scale of the losses is such that the scope for mitigation is limited.
• Only around a third of local authorities reported that the Local Welfare Assistance scheme in their area played either a “very” or “somewhat” significant role in preventing or alleviating homelessness. In all, 18 per cent of responding local authorities reported that they had no Local Welfare Assistance scheme at all any more in their area, including 38 per cent in the Midlands.
• There are widespread anxieties about the likely homelessness impacts of future welfare reforms already programmed to take effect over the next two years. Nearly two thirds of local authorities anticipate a “significant” increase in homelessness as a result of the full roll-out of Universal Credit, with a further 25 per cent expected some level of increase.
• The economic outlook remains clouded by uncertainty surrounding Brexit, with future prospects dependent on the outcome. A chaotic exit, for example, can be expected to lead to a severe economic downturn.

End

I don't know Anniebach but some do, probably not regular work and not well-paid.

I used to be involved with a homeless charity in Cambridge. There were a few people who drifted in and out of seasonal work and zero hours contracts. Sometimes they were able to sleep on somebody's floor or sofa, but sometimes they ended up on the streets.

The threshold income for a single room in shared rental accommodation in Cambridge is something over £20,000 and proof needs to be shown that it's a regular income.

Many people in a "day job" don't earn that on a regular basis.

The council don't have enough accommodation for the majority of single claimants, so people are forced to seek expensive, insecure private rentals.

Chestnut The situation isn't caused simply by an increase in population. Other factors include property owners/speculators "sitting" on land without building, purely as an investment, and councils' being unable to raise the cash to build.

Nobody is going to support building on sites of genuine beauty. However, it's estimated that in London alone, there is enough land without public access within 800 metres of tube stations to build a million new homes. This could be released for housing, but there are vested interests which mean that it isn't.

MaizieD of course mental health issues aren’t the whole story, drug use isn’t the whole story either, but both contribute hugely.

What a very Victorian attitude to the poor.

It is not a fact that ‘immigration plays a huge part in the homeless problem’ that is your opinion. You need to learn to distinguish between fact and opinion JE. And, while you are entitled to your opinion, it is not acceptable to dress that up as a fact.

Another factor which people are ignoring is the freezing of the Local Housing Allowance component of Universal Credit. There are few places in the country where the amount allowed is enough to cover the rent of even the cheapest accommodation. This was introduced by the coalition.

Homelessness also contributes to mental health issues and drug use. It's a vicious circle.

This article is from 3 years ago. I don't suppose things have improved. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/20/working-homeless-britain-economy-minimum-wage-zero-hours

Thank you growstuff .the reasons for homelessness sre legion

growstuff: Chestnut....The situation isn't caused simply by an increase in population.
I never said it was growstuff. I agree the reasons are multiple. I just said that an ever increasing population is only going to make the problem more acute. It seems people don't read posts properly before replying.

Our population has grown faster than house building.
That is a fact, so inevitably immigration plays a part.

hugely

What a useful word....

It certainly is a complex issue with many factors at play. My thoughts are that mental health issues are at the heart of it, as vulnerable people are left to sink or swim.

Isn't that a paradox? I would agree that this is a complex issue but that rather begs how it could be only down to mental health issues.

I keep remembering the point that has been made in many academic studies; that most people do not become poor by making bad choices. They make bad choices because they are poor. This means you need to study poverty, not people.

From this, it is simple to extrapolate that most people do not become homeless because they are mentally ill. They become ill or increasingly ill because of homelessness.

I am finding the work of Hilary Cottam really interesting at the moment and went to find a TED talk from her. It is here if you care to listen Social Services are Broken. How can we fix them?

While looking I found an American woman, Mia Birdsong, saying much the same thing but from a very different perspective The story we tell about poverty isn't true

Can anyone tell me of a political party that has this sort of thinking? And please, don't comment on them unless you actually know something about the thinking of the speakers or have watched the Ted Talks.

In my nearest city, in Scotland, the most expensive houses are very often empty during the winter as the rich owners are off in the Caribbean or at their other abode.

There may well be a population growth but what I see is inequality.
I discovered that the number of households is increasing, as marriages split and both parents need a space for the same children. The population growth itself is slowing down and has been just above the 5 million mark since 1939.

New housing estates are popping up all around but who can afford these houses? Certainly not the people who really need them.

Grammaretto: The population growth itself is slowing down and has been just above the 5 million mark since 1939.
It's been 5 million since 1997 Grammaretto.
The population in 1950 it was 50 million. By 2029 it is expected to be 70 million.
According to the Office for National Statistics migration to the UK has been the main driver of population growth since the 1990s.

Anyone with diagnosed mental health issues used to be housed in institutions, sometimes for life, sometimes for extended periods etc.
This included autism in the past.
Whilst not the best outcomes for anyone, child/teenager/adult it did provide a home with meals and treatments.This has mainly gone now, and we know that being in an institution isn’t good for anyone really, but living on your own in sad conditions or living on the street/homeless hostels isn’t better.
I believe we need modern enlightened small institutions for those with mental health problems of various kinds, who cannot cope on their own with life, staffed by well trained and
Caring individuals with experience.
For those who can cope with life, small council flats is the answer, build a lot! Some only need a leg up in life and a permanent address so that they can work.
Drug addicts are the hardest group to find an answer for, as, until they break their addiction there’s nothing you can do ( unless you believe in compelling them to rehabilitate.)
Those who became addicted because they lived on the street, may, in either their own flat or small institution be able to break that cycle.
Grammeretto yes, marriage breakdown sometimes forces
Teenagers or young adults to leave the home, particularly when the wife/ husband moves in with someone else.Or the husband loses the house, becomes depressed and enters a downward spiral.

As Chestnut says, and immigration has played a part in this too, everyone has to be housed, and councils give priority to families ( rightly) and the demand in cities, particularly London has been excessive.
In London there is little room for more building, but where there is, councils should really be building one bedroomed flats, as well as houses.

Anyone with diagnosed mental health issues used to be housed in institutions, sometimes for life, sometimes for extended periods etc.

That is simply not true; certainly not in our lifetime. I do wonder about the experiences of life - or lack of them - that causes such wrongful information to be said with such conviction.

In the clearly mistaken belief that claimants might feel rather more empowered and 'in charge' by having responsibility for their money

It may be mistaken in some cases but not in others, which we don't hear about of course.

A relative of mine is on housing benefit and is much happier to have it paid directly.
My relative is then aware of any 'hiccup' caused by the DWP and can sort it out without the landlord being troubled by it.
That means the landlord does not get the impression they have an unreliable tenant, due to a fault of the DWP.

*Paid directly to my relative, I meant.

In the clearly mistaken belief that claimants might feel rather more empowered and 'in charge' by having responsibility for their money.

I think this is one of the areas in which we see the inflexibility of the current system. Some people, for some part of when they are receiving housing benefit, would prefer it paid directly; others don't. It very much the one size fits all approach, that has brought us a long way in the last 70 years but is now so inflexible that the resources for "help" are poured into the structures of helping.