|
Post by Admin on Apr 28, 2021 17:19:02 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jul 4, 2021 15:53:27 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jul 20, 2021 16:43:36 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 18, 2021 15:34:30 GMT
Has The Government’s Vaccination Programme Failed Homeless People? By Hannah Shewan Stevens, Interim Editor 14 Sep 2021 eachother.org.uk/has-the-governments-vaccination-programme-failed-homeless-people/Given they are more regularly exposed to contact with the public at large than most, vaccinating homeless people and rough sleepers against Covid-19 was named a top priority by the government in March 2021. Nearly six months on, have they made it to the top of the list? In March 2021, health secretary at the time Matt Hancock agreed to put homeless people in ‘group six’ for the vaccination roll-out, alongside those with underlying health conditions that place them at greater risk. This announcement followed a letter from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) which stated that although homeless people and rough sleepers had higher rates of undiagnosed comorbidities, half had, in effect, no access to healthcare and should be made a priority. The average age of death of a person who dies while homeless is just 47 for a man and 43 for a woman, decades lower than the general population “Councils have been working with partners to reach out to people sleeping rough and those who are at risk of homelessness in their areas to encourage them to register with local GPs so that they can access wider healthcare provision, although this is not a requirement in order to be able to get vaccinated,” said Councillor Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board. “People living on the streets are among the most vulnerable in society, lacking access to healthcare and the ability to self-isolate safely, with many also having underlying health conditions.” Homeless people living in temporary or emergency accommodation are at higher risk due to being in close proximity with other residents and support staff. According to UK homeless charity Shelter, 280,000 people were entirely homeless or in temporary accommodation in 2019; rough sleepers made up 2,688 of the equivalent figure in November 2020.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 22, 2021 6:53:03 GMT
Universal Credit cut ‘will put young at risk of repeat homelessness’ www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2021/09/21/universal-credit-cut-will-put-young-at-risk-of-repeat-homelessness/More than 40 charities supporting young people who have been in care or homeless have urged the Chancellor not to remove the Universal Credit (UC) uplift at the end of the month. Young people will be hit hardest by the removal of the £20-a-week increase, according to the letter, spearheaded by Centrepoint and End Youth Homelessness. “Lifeline” The increase, which has been described as a “lifeline”, was introduced temporarily to help claimants weather the storm of the coronavirus pandemic.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 25, 2021 9:13:00 GMT
How Does The Rough Sleeping Support Service Affect Homeless People? By Yasmin Al-Najar, Freelance Journalist 24 Sep 2021 eachother.org.uk/how-does-the-rough-sleeping-support-service-affect-homeless-people/The Rough Sleeping Support Service leads to the deportation of some of the people it ought to help. It does so by entrapping homeless immigrants on the basis of questionably informed consent. Yasmin Al-Najar explores further. In 2018, the Home Office announced a new Rough Sleeping Strategy. A year later, The Observer revealed that the government breached privacy laws by collecting rough sleepers’ sensitive personal data without their consent and was using it to deport them. Then, in March 2021, The Guardian, The Observer and Liberty Investigates revealed that the Home Office had quietly relaunched a controversial scheme called the Rough Sleeping Support Service (RSSS). According to the government’s website, “The RSSS provides an additional and enhanced service to quickly provide immigration status information which may help rough sleepers”. Registered charities and local authorities can use the RSSS to help non-UK rough sleepers access any public funding to which they may be entitled. The government states: “The RSSS can identify non-UK rough sleepers who, on the basis of their immigration status, qualify for public funding but are unable to prove it.” But the government can also use data on homeless foreign nationals to deport them. The threat of deportation can deter people from asking for support and accommodation by creating an additional barrier to securing their basic human rights. Homelessness threatens several rights under the Human Rights Act, including the right to life in Article 2, the right to protection of property in Article 1 of the first protocol and the right to a private life in Article 8.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 27, 2021 9:43:13 GMT
Biden has launched his plan to end homelessness in the US – where’s the UK’s? The president is meeting Boris Johnson for the PM’s first US visit. Among chats on Afghanistan and trade deals, perhaps the PM could ask Biden about his plan on homelessness? LIAM GERAGHTY 22 Sep 2021 www.bigissue.com/news/biden-has-launched-his-plan-to-end-homelessness-in-america-wheres-the-uks/Boris Johnson is at the White House for his first US visit as prime minister just days after Joe Biden did something he, so far, has not – announce a long-term plan to tackle homelessness. The US president unveiled his House America initiative on Monday asking leaders in city, county, state and tribal governments to pledge to reduce homelessness. In return they will receive support from the federal government to provide permanent housing for rough sleepers as well as more affordable homes for people to prevent others losing theirs. The president is also championing Housing First – a model that sees rough sleepers given a home alongside support that is widely tipped to have a big impact in tackling street homelessness. “The Biden administration is launching House America, a new initiative for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness that will engage state and local leaders to set and achieve ambitious goals for reducing homelessness in America,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Nov 1, 2021 10:47:22 GMT
Homelessness Is Not Inevitable – It Is a Political Choice By Emmanuel Onapa New statistics show that youth homelessness increased 40% in the past five years – but the increase is not inevitable: it's directly attributable to government policies. tribunemag.co.uk/2021/10/homelessness-is-not-inevitable-its-a-political-choiceCovid threw the vast inequalities that have long affected Britain into new light. Before then, though, many already lived in poor conditions—particularly those conditions facing the young and vulnerable. Youth homelessness, for example, was already on the rise. Today, youth homelessness is still growing. In the last five years alone, the number of young experiencing or at risk of homelessness has risen by 40 percent, according to a warning last week from homelessness charity Centrepoint. Back in 2017/18, it was estimated that around 84,000 young people across England had approached their local authority due to being homeless or at risk of homelessness. The same number in 2019/20 was 121,000. Rough sleeping more generally hit a record high in London last year: a count found 11,018 sleeping on the capital’s streets, almost double the figure counted a decade ago. As with Covid, not everyone is equally affected. England has a black population of just 3.5 percent, but black people make up ten percent of those at risk of homelessness or already subject to it. Britain’s catastrophic homelessness problem persists despite recent government stats that show over 268,385 homes in England sitting empty long-term. In the capital alone, approximately 22,000 homes are quietly gathering dust. Despite what some would have us believe about the dog-eat-dog nature of humanity, homelessness, including youth homelessness, is not an inevitability. If our government wanted to end homelessness, it could, particularly in a country as rich as Britain: its continued prevalence is a political choice made by those who benefit most from a system of vast inequality. As with so much, this reality was made clear last year, when the risk of soaring pandemic death rates forced the Conservative government to facilitate its ‘Everyone In’ scheme. Some 37,000 people experiencing homelessness were given emergency accommodation, including in newly abandoned hotels—but the plug was pulled on that scheme in less than a year, and charities have pointed out since that less than one in four of those housed as part of the scheme had moved into permanent accommodation by August 2021. In Wednesday’s Budget, Rishi Sunak announced a spending commitment £640 million per year to ‘tackle rough sleeping and homelessness’. According to Inside Housing, however, that figure appears to be less than the £750 million the government claims to have spent on tackling homelessness this year alone. Rather than pursue clear and concrete measures to fight the problems that cause homelessness, including a drastic housing crisis, this government instead allows anachronistic notions of punishment that ‘deter’ people from sleeping on the street. The Vagrancy Act, which was introduced in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars to make it easier to clear the streets of returning ex-soldiers, was still being used to prosecute more than ten people a week in May this year. Boris Johnson has more recently committed to scrapping the law, but has not set a timeline. Last winter, the Tories also floated plans to make it easier to deport homeless foreign nationals—another non-solution to the real problem. Even were the Vagrancy Act to be repealed, though, the assault would not end. The rise of anti-homeless architecture across cities in Britain—slanted and curved benches, barred corners, rocky pavements, and street spikes—is proof of a growing and open hostility on the part of the wealthiest towards those most in need. The ruling class is happy to let the problem grow worse—for example, through cuts to Universal Credit, which have put 100,000 renters at risk of eviction—as long as they don’t have to see it with their own eyes. The effect of the recent Universal Credit cut on renters is proof of the intimate connection between rising homelessness and our ongoing housing crisis, exacerbated by the unchecked power of landlords. Our fight against homelessness is tied up with our fight against the exploitations of landlordism, including those landlords who govern us and make our laws. It is also tied up with our fight against efforts by wealthy developers who seek to gentrify and commodify historically and predominantly black and Asian areas, including London’s Brixton and Brick Lane. Landlords and developers see homes and the areas in which they exist not as hubs of family and community, but as an opportunity to turn a profit. Homelessness is predictable in a society which allows itself to be sucked into that myth: not until we recognise housing as a universal right, along with the air we breathe and the food we eat, will we be able to build a society of which we can be proud. If anything is clear from this growing crisis and its unbalanced impact, it’s that we live in a system where power and wealth is hoarded in the hands of the few, who intentionally and ideologically deprive others of what they need to live decent lives. Boris Johnson and his colleagues have huge resources at their disposal, but the one thing they continue to lack is compassion. Solving homelessness is possible—it’s just not part of their plan. About the Author Emmanuel Onapa is a freelance writer with bylines in the Independent, Huffpost, and I-D. He also works with Hackney Account, a police monitoring group, and the 4frontproject.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2021 12:03:53 GMT
Schizophrenia and Rough Sleeping: The Forgotten Crisis Posted: Wednesday, August 28th, 2019 livingwithschizophreniauk.org/schizophrenia-and-rough-sleeping-the-forgotten-crisis/Public Health England, the government agency set up to protect and improve public health in the UK, announced recently that it would be providing £1.9 million in funding to research new ways in which health services can reach the homeless rough sleeping population. PHE has already shortlisted projects and will be announcing the five winning schemes in October 2019. The aim is to identify new and better ways of getting rough sleepers access to health care which will include drug and alcohol abuse services and talking therapies. This is very welcome but is long overdue. This is a key issue for people with schizophrenia because we know that they are disproportionately represented amongst the rough sleeping population. In fact people with schizophrenia are ten times more likely to end up rough sleeping than those in the general population. And because mental health services in the UK tend to be designed for people in stable home environments it is rare for rough sleepers with mental ill health to have good access to mental health care. And the number of rough sleepers living on the streets of the UK continues to rise. BBC News reported in June of this year that 8,855 people slept rough in the capital between April 2018 and March 2019. This general picture of neglect has a very high cost. According to Homeless charity Crisis, suicide rates amongst rough sleepers are nine times higher than that of the general population and we are now seeing press reports from homeless charities of rough sleepers being targeted by people traffickers who are coercing them into working for little or no wages and even abducting and imprisoning them. But rather than trying to address the mental health needs of rough sleepers, some authorities are increasingly seeing law enforcement as the way to deal with the problem with an increasing use being made of the archaic Vagrancy Act and measures such as Dispersal Orders and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders to control rough sleepers. A strategy as ineffective as it is inhumane. It is vital that we find new ways of reaching rough sleepers suffering with mental ill health so that we can start to address the rough sleeping issue at its root. It may be that rough sleepers are amongst the most difficult patients to contact and engage with but that should not deter us from trying. Rough sleepers are citizens of our society and as such should have the same right to access high quality psychiatric care as any of us. Sources Univadis, 18/06/2019, Funding for research on health access for rough sleepers, www.univadis.co.uk/viewarticle/funding-for-research-on-health-access-for-rough-sleepers-670817Fazel S, et al, 2008, The Prevalence of Mental Disorders among the Homeless in Western Countries: Systematic Review and Meta-Regression Analysis. Timms P, 2005, Is There Still a Problem with Homelessness and Schizophrenia?, published in International Journal of Mental Health. Guilbert K, 30/10/2017, Human traffickers lure UK’s homeless into modern slavery: charities, Reuters. www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-slavery-homelessness/human-traffickers-lure-uks-homeless-into-modern-slavery-charities-idUSKBN1CZ253BBC News, 19/06/2019, Rough sleeping: London figures hit record high, www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-48692703RT, 11/04/2018, Rough-sleeper deaths double in five years, govt accused of ‘pitiful response’, www.rt.com/uk/423786-homelessness-deaths-tory-cuts/
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Dec 8, 2021 17:00:59 GMT
Make a set of infographics Stop Mass Homelessness JAZMIN GLEN 8 Dec 2021 www.bigissue.com/our-campaigns/stop-mass-homelessness/create-graphics-for-stop-mass-homelessness-campaign/Create a set of infographics to support the campaign An infographic can transform complex information into something that is simple, engaging and shareable on social media. If well-designed, they speak for themselves and are a good way to get messages across to others quickly. From facts and figures, to simple pictures portraying a message , we want your creativity to influence the look of the campaign. That’s why we’re asking you to give your digital hand a try at designing some infographics! We would love to see your work, so please send them in to Smassh@bigissue.com and we hope to be able to use them to promote the campaign. How to make your infographics You might already be skilled in making graphics or infographics, but if you’re trying your hand for the first time, Canva is an online design and publishing tool, which is free to use and easy to master. It has lots of free templates and some great little videos to help get you started – Getting started with Canva – Design School.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Dec 22, 2021 12:04:18 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Dec 22, 2021 16:42:17 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 5, 2022 17:07:57 GMT
The Big Issue Winter Appeal
“January is always a difficult time, but with continued restrictions in place, meaning many people are still working from home, coupled with the Government warning that we may see up to a quarter of workers being off work due to high Covid levels in the population, means that our vendors urgently need your support.” Lord John Bird, Founder of The Big Issue.
This comes off the back of an incredibly tough 2021 for the organisation and our 1,800 vendors. Big Issue vendors can’t work from home and with severe weather warnings on the cards, they face a very tough and uncertain Winter ahead. Please buy from your local vendor and if you can’t, please buy a subscription or donate today, your money will go to supporting our work with vendors.
"Being in lockdown also affected my mental health. Living alone, I felt very isolated. Regular welfare calls from The Big Issue really helped me to get through some difficult times" Emma, London Vendor.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 10, 2022 16:41:20 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 22, 2022 8:59:43 GMT
As storms batter the UK, homelessness is a political choice for the Tories www.thecanary.co/opinion/2022/02/21/as-storms-batter-the-uk-homelessness-is-a-political-choice-for-the-tories/Storms Dudley, Eunice, and Franklin have recently struck the UK. As one after the other hit, many of us stayed at home rather than getting battered by the wind and hail outside. But what about Britain’s rough sleepers? As trees have crashed down and church spires have toppled, local authorities have temporarily provided severe weather emergency protocol (SWEP) placements for rough sleepers. SWEPs mean that emergency beds are given to people to prevent deaths on the streets in extreme weather conditions. 📢Provisions are in place across the country to help anyone sleeping rough in bad weather. This is known as #SWEP.
|
|