A solution in search of a problem

Crisis-mongers

Bravo Radio Five Live for dumping a dose of realism on an annual myth.

The Homelessness problem in our capital city is tiny. The number of rough sleepers has shrunk to a third of what it was in 1997. The homeless charities have increased to at least double the size and funding in that time.

The core problems of the rough sleepers are rarely lack of housing. Nearly all have been in secure accommodation. The problems are addictions to drink or drugs, family ostracism and mental health problems. None of these problems will be reduced by the army of soup kitchens that descend on the capital’s centre every winter night.

There has been a lot of well-informed support for the plea by councillor Angela Harvey for the 50 soup invading soup kitchens from as far away as 50 miles to stay out of the centre. That’s one soup kitchen for two homeless. Mrs Harvey says she sees up to 80 people queuing up – few of them are homeless. Free food has a wider appeal. She said, “You see them going off with large carrier bags stuffed full of food which is for them and their house mates. We know they are in work and housed."

The charity Crisis recruited 6,000 volunteers to look after the vanishing homeless. How many per homeless person? While the motives of the volunteers are admirable, their work is probably counter-productive.

The founder of the Big Issue magazine John Bird, who spent years, living rough, also believes that soup runs keep people on the streets.

"The priority should be getting people off the streets altogether. Ninety per cent of all money spent on homelessness is spent on emergencies; only 10% is spent on cure. We've got it upside.” A well publicised false claim that an ex television announcer was thrown on the street by mis-using his credit cards was denied by his wife and mother. His problem is alcoholism.

Charities panic when their existence is threatened. Instead of rejoicing in the success of investment in reducing homeless, they fear their own decline. Defensively they exaggerate the problems and redefine them. The ‘hidden homeless’ has been invented to fill the gap. In one of

America

’s big cities ten years ago, a person was sleeping rough on almost every street corner. A vast bureaucracy was created to deal with it. Their success is that the total has now dwindled to a tiny 4,000. But bureaucracy is still at its swollen maximum and growing spending $millions on each homeless person. One of them is a local man who jets to American every year and spends six months as a professional homeless person touring the west coast of the sates.

They are a host of people who would benefit from a helping hand or an attentive ear this Christmas. The great majority of them are not to be found on the streets.