What would you do if you were homeless?
May 19th, 2008Imagine if I kicked you out your house with just what you had on you. What would you do?
We’ve all done it. We’ve walked past beggers on the street and tossed them a few coins. A few steps later you think to yourself, “What are they going to use that money for?”. You then go on to think about how they got in such an unfortunate position and you say to yourself, “If I was in that position then I wouldn’t just beg, I’d go do something about it.”
Another common assumption is that all the beggers are simply drug addicts looking for a few quid to buy their next batch of cigarettes or ounce of weed.
Here are some facts about homeless people living in the UK:
- Over three quarters would like to work immediately, with 97% saying they would like work in the future
- A quarter said the main barrier to getting work was to find a suitable place to live. They blamed expensive hostels and lack of proper accomodation. A further 9% said they couldn’t find a job with wages high enough to cover their accomodation.
- Over 40% of the homeless people asked had had a job at some point whilst they were homeless
- There are estimated over 300,000 homeless people. It is impossible to get an accurate figure as many sleep on friend’s floors or do not apply for any type of assistance.
- In 2006/07 almost 3000 people were reported to be sleeping rough in London alone.
- In 2005 an estimated 100 million people worldwide were homeless
Okay so if you were in the position of having no job or house then what would you do? Many commit crimes to go back to prison where life is ‘easy’. They have 3 hot meals a day and permanent shelter. These are often re-offenders. Would you go down this route?
Many homeless people are drug addicts. It is impossible to say whether the addiction causes homelessness or stems from it. It would be interesting to find out.
With little or no skills it is hard for them to get a job so there really isn’t much they can do. Magazine selling is a common job opportunity for them though it does not often provide them enough to pay for somewhere to stay.
If I kicked you out your home it would be easy for you to get another job as you are probably well educated and skilled, but what if you weren’t? I am interested in the internet but even if I had enough money to go to an internet cafe then how could I make any more? I wouldn’t be able to get money sent to me as I’d have no permanent residence!
The BBC did a program on this a while ago. Some people couldn’t bare sleeping in the street for the duration of the programme. A small minority stuck at it. One person tried selling flowers but needed a license to sell them so that failed.
I am really stuck as to what I would do. Getting a job which requires little skill seems the only way. There is no easy way out. But the thing is…
Are beggers in London really that poor?
Commuters give beggers in London more than half a million pounds a month! With 300 beggers in the city it works out at around £55 a day. Some claim to earn over £280 a day when working at busy times in the West End. £280*365 = £102200. That’s more than teachers and doctors. Also, would a begger have to pay tax on it? Probably not…
- Council figures show that over 70 per cent of beggars in London tested positive for Class A drugs after they were arrested and at least 60 per cent were found not to be homeless.
- More than one in 10 said they earned at least £50 a day through begging with some claiming they can earn up to £300 on a busy day in the West End.
- 14 per cent of people felt guilty walking past a begger without giving money. 50 per cent admitted giving money to beggers because they felt sorry for them.
