by Donata Sungailaite
While I was heading away from Holborn tube station, I heard a small voice calling out to me from behind, asking me for change. I turned back, and beside me was a young woman in her early twenties with dirty shoulder-length blonde hair and piecing blue eyes that had dark bags under them. She wore blue jeans torn at the knees and a filthy, faded grey hoodie.
This is when the problem of homelessness in London was really brought home to me a few months ago. Research by Homeless Link shows that between July and September 2015, 2,869 people were recorded as sleeping rough in London.
Something about this girl struck me. I reached into my pocket and handed her a two-pound coin. I thought it was not enough. I asked her to go with me for something to eat, and after a brief question and answer session – her way of trying to ensure I was genuine – she agreed.
Five minutes later, we were both sitting in McDonald’s where an order of a Big Mac and hot chocolate had been placed in front of her. Contrary to popular opinion, she says, she rarely goes hungry despite living rough on the streets of London most of the time.
While I was heading away from Holborn tube station, I heard a small voice calling out to me from behind, asking me for change. I turned back, and beside me was a young woman in her early twenties with dirty shoulder-length blonde hair and piecing blue eyes that had dark bags under them. She wore blue jeans torn at the knees and a filthy, faded grey hoodie.
This is when the problem of homelessness in London was really brought home to me a few months ago. Research by Homeless Link shows that between July and September 2015, 2,869 people were recorded as sleeping rough in London.
Something about this girl struck me. I reached into my pocket and handed her a two-pound coin. I thought it was not enough. I asked her to go with me for something to eat, and after a brief question and answer session – her way of trying to ensure I was genuine – she agreed.
Five minutes later, we were both sitting in McDonald’s where an order of a Big Mac and hot chocolate had been placed in front of her. Contrary to popular opinion, she says, she rarely goes hungry despite living rough on the streets of London most of the time.
“There’s a lot of good Samaritan types out there,” she says, “some of them buy you food, some of them try to give you food they’ve already half-eaten. I’m homeless, not an animal. I wonder how they’d feel if the roles were reversed. I bet they wouldn’t take a half-eaten sandwich from me.”
While heading to the McDonald’s, she tells me that her name is Emma and that she grew up in Manchester. When she came out as lesbian 5 years ago, aged 17, her mother, who had strong religious beliefs against her sexuality, had thrown her out. She tried to get her own place in Manchester and had spent months dossing-down with friends and in public buildings that were open through the night.
She also held a job at an animal sanctuary, but then lost it because she was persistently late, and everything went downhill from there.
She started hanging out with other rough sleepers and was soon drinking heavily and smoking cannabis – all paid for by begging.
While heading to the McDonald’s, she tells me that her name is Emma and that she grew up in Manchester. When she came out as lesbian 5 years ago, aged 17, her mother, who had strong religious beliefs against her sexuality, had thrown her out. She tried to get her own place in Manchester and had spent months dossing-down with friends and in public buildings that were open through the night.
She also held a job at an animal sanctuary, but then lost it because she was persistently late, and everything went downhill from there.
She started hanging out with other rough sleepers and was soon drinking heavily and smoking cannabis – all paid for by begging.
Nevertheless, she later came to London to make a new start as she was encouraged by the number of casual jobs she heard were available, but it wasn't that easy. Since arriving in the capital, she kept moving houses, ditched the booze and drugs, and had been clean for six and a half months. “When you are on the streets, officials don't take you seriously, they just think you are a dosser or druggie and some of them deliberately try and put obstacles in your way,” she says
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Some of them try to give you food they’ve already half-eaten. I’m homeless, not an animal |
Until I spoke to Emma, I had never even considered the basic problems faced by homeless people like toileting, washing and laundering clothes. Emma laughed as she told me about the time she was chased by a security officer who caught her having a pee in Green Park.
I asked Emma about her plans, and she explained that she had been trying to make contact with charities that come out onto the street at night. She met another girl who was helped by those charities and so she thought that they were her best chance. She believes that if she could get some accommodation, she could access other forms of assistance and get on that first rung of the ladder to turning her life around.
Homelessness in London has been plaguing the capital for years, and with less affordable housing available than ever, it does not appear to be disappearing any time soon.
Miriam Morris, director of the Church Housing Trust, a charity that was set up in the 1880s to help the homeless, says, “there's a perfect storm of government cuts, plus the fact that people are having to come to London to find work and there are enormously high house prices, particularly in private rentals and the housing market.”
“You've got people who can’t afford the rents, you've got eight times more people for each private rental property, so the competition is enormous,” she adds. Morris also says that cuts to housing benefits mean that people on benefits no longer have enough to live on and therefore have to find money from elsewhere to support themselves.
It is difficult to get accurate information on the extent of homelessness, as most data is based on government statistics and can therefore be biased. However, a count done in August 2014 by Thames Reach showed that the number of rough sleepers across London had amounted to a shocking figure of 742 on just a single night.
Securing accommodation is very difficult, and Stephen Knight, a member of the London Assembly and a spokesperson on housing, also believes that the root of the problem of homelessness lies in the lack of affordable housing: “we have a situation in the UK where the standard tenancy agreement that tenants are given gives very little rights," he says.
Knight says that while the Housing Act 1996 does place a statutory duty on local authorities to assist people who are homeless or need to move out of temporary or overcrowded accommodation, people often need to be considered a “priority” in order to access proper help.
“Being on the street is not enough, there had to be something else that makes that person vulnerable, like a disability or mental health issue,” he says.
Problems such as those Emma faced with her sexuality and drug abuse are common among the homeless population, and activist Alison Stone says that not enough is being done to help people in similar situations.
"Demand is for social housing. When we say social housing, we mean council housing. Not as I've heard it put, ’affordable housing as social housing’,” she says.
I asked Emma about her plans, and she explained that she had been trying to make contact with charities that come out onto the street at night. She met another girl who was helped by those charities and so she thought that they were her best chance. She believes that if she could get some accommodation, she could access other forms of assistance and get on that first rung of the ladder to turning her life around.
Homelessness in London has been plaguing the capital for years, and with less affordable housing available than ever, it does not appear to be disappearing any time soon.
Miriam Morris, director of the Church Housing Trust, a charity that was set up in the 1880s to help the homeless, says, “there's a perfect storm of government cuts, plus the fact that people are having to come to London to find work and there are enormously high house prices, particularly in private rentals and the housing market.”
“You've got people who can’t afford the rents, you've got eight times more people for each private rental property, so the competition is enormous,” she adds. Morris also says that cuts to housing benefits mean that people on benefits no longer have enough to live on and therefore have to find money from elsewhere to support themselves.
It is difficult to get accurate information on the extent of homelessness, as most data is based on government statistics and can therefore be biased. However, a count done in August 2014 by Thames Reach showed that the number of rough sleepers across London had amounted to a shocking figure of 742 on just a single night.
Securing accommodation is very difficult, and Stephen Knight, a member of the London Assembly and a spokesperson on housing, also believes that the root of the problem of homelessness lies in the lack of affordable housing: “we have a situation in the UK where the standard tenancy agreement that tenants are given gives very little rights," he says.
Knight says that while the Housing Act 1996 does place a statutory duty on local authorities to assist people who are homeless or need to move out of temporary or overcrowded accommodation, people often need to be considered a “priority” in order to access proper help.
“Being on the street is not enough, there had to be something else that makes that person vulnerable, like a disability or mental health issue,” he says.
Problems such as those Emma faced with her sexuality and drug abuse are common among the homeless population, and activist Alison Stone says that not enough is being done to help people in similar situations.
"Demand is for social housing. When we say social housing, we mean council housing. Not as I've heard it put, ’affordable housing as social housing’,” she says.
According to Morris, even when a tenancy is guaranteed for tenants, they have few rights and landlords can increase rent with little or no notice and evict people almost at will. “I'm not sure that a lot of people in this country realise you can be homeless in England and have no recourse to any help at all,” she says. “Social housing used to mean council housing. Today the definition has been widened to include ‘affordable housing’ which just means it [a house] is 20 per cent below the market price,” she adds.
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Being on the street is not enough, there had to be something else that makes that person vulnerable |
The reasons why people end up on the streets are numerous. These can range from relationship breakdowns and divorce, where older children are left behind and can no longer live with their parents; to mental breakdowns, where sufferers get to a point where they just walk out on their own lives; to job losses, which can often mean a loss of accommodation for single people.
Crisis, a national charity for homeless people, published data on rough sleepers showing the following:
- 45 per cent suffer from mental health issues; - 41 per cent suffer from alcoholism; - 32 per cent have spent time in prison; - 31 per cent have a drug problem. Morris, nevertheless, believes that more can be done to tackle homelessness. |
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She suggests that rent controls, licenses on landlords, building affordable accommodation, as well as making student accommodation available to young people who come to London to work (such as apprentices) are all strategies that can help tackle homelessness. She also says that bettering access to mental-health services, increasing funds to local authorities for fighting homelessness, and employing ex-homeless people to work with rough sleepers will be effective in combatting homelessness.
It comes as a relief to know that several organisations work tirelessly to relieve the plight of the homeless. Some organisations such as the Thames Reach Housing First Aid and the Social Impact Bond Team even work on the streets of London every night, trying to help rough sleepers find accommodation so they can take that first step to in rebuilding their lives. I only hope that tonight or tomorrow they come across Emma, if she is still out there, a girl who I thought had great potential. If only someone can just help her reach that first rung of the ladder.
It comes as a relief to know that several organisations work tirelessly to relieve the plight of the homeless. Some organisations such as the Thames Reach Housing First Aid and the Social Impact Bond Team even work on the streets of London every night, trying to help rough sleepers find accommodation so they can take that first step to in rebuilding their lives. I only hope that tonight or tomorrow they come across Emma, if she is still out there, a girl who I thought had great potential. If only someone can just help her reach that first rung of the ladder.