Should charities be fined for giving homeless people tents?

Adrian_Scope

"Suella Braverman has prompted outrage after she vowed a crackdown on tents used by the homeless and described rough sleeping as a “lifestyle choice”.

The home secretary claimed streets risked being “taken over” and that without action British cities would see “an explosion of crime, drug taking, and squalor”.

She added that many of those living in tents were “from abroad”.

Those who were genuinely homeless would always be supported, she said.

 But in a raft of criticism over her remarks, she was accused of “disgraceful” politics and of blaming the most vulnerable for her government’s failings.

 Even former Tory MPs condemned her push to fine charities who give tents to the homeless – part of proposals pitched to be included in the King’s Speech on Tuesday."

Source: Independent

Do you think this move will help tackle the homelessness situation across the UK? And should charities face fines for giving tents to homeless people?

66Mustang

Well I don't agree with her but trying not to give the automatic answer that people want to hear and trying to look from the other point of view.

I do find there is a lot of robust begging, sometimes actual aggression (by homeless people) going on in some cities and it makes me frightened to be there.

She observes correctly that most of them are foreign but that's nothing more than an observation to me - I don't think that makes a difference..?

As for "lifestyle choice". Maybe it's worth asking ... do people become homeless because of drug/alcohol abuse - i.e. they made a choice to prioritise drugs/alcohol above putting a roof over their heads? That, to me, is a lifestyle choice. If they in fact turned to drugs/alcohol after or as a result of being homeless, perhaps that is more forgivable?

Just my random thoughts.

vikingqueen

  I totally agree @woodbine that woman is just a disgusting human being and isn't fit for the job. I too would be banished if I said my piece so I'll leave it at that. 

Lou67

I also think it’s shocking easy for her to say, when I doubt she would ever find herself sleeping in a tent on a freezing night. 

A lifestyle choice is a disgusting choice of words. 🤦‍♀️

IMStruggling

Suella Braverman should be sent to live in a tent.

Steve_in_The_City

Here goes: Suella Braverman is a disgrace. Had she been in power when her parents came to this country they would never have got in. She is the unacceptable face of Toryism and Right Wing extremism. No one who is homeless does it because it is a lifestyle choice. It is disgusting to say this, and to blame people from abroad is nauseating. I live in The City of London and most homeless people I come across are British. I come from a very abused background and I ran away from home all the time. My choice, as I would tell Sulla Braverman, was to stay at home and be abused or run away and be homeless. I chose being homeless as the best thing for me, but if you think I liked it, I did not. No one wants to be homeless.

One Xmas Eve it was snowing like hell and I was sitting on a bench on a park. I had been homeless for a couple of months.  I was 14 and I wanted to die. I knew cold could kill me so I sat on the bench. I opened my jacket and shirt so that the cold could get to me and I would die. I laid down on the bench and I passed out. I woke up to find myself in a warm bed. It was Xmas day 1970 or 71, I can't remember. A lady had found me on the bench and picked me up and carried me home to her house. On Xmas day they gave me a present. I wanted to cry because I wasn't used to presents but I had to be big and butch so didn't show my emotions. Yet their kindness helped me on the road to being a good person, not that I was a bad person beforehand.

So how the cookie crumbles now is I donate to homeless people, and I have myriad ways of doing this. I think it is awful to say people are homeless by choice.

Albus_Scope

I'm so sorry you were put in that situation @Steve_in_The_City, but I'm glad someone showed you some kindness.  I'm hoping karma pays them back for that and I'm glad you're paying it forward now.  

Grinchy

So sorry to hear of your past abuse @Steve_in_The_City, i'm glad that lady found you, and showed you some kindness, as for braverman, i think it is disgusting what she said,this tory government needs booting out, so right wing its terrible, they think they can see and do anything that they want, lifestyle choice, huh, makes my blood boil

66Mustang

Just to clarify I am totally against her ideas, so much so I wonder if she is just "trolling" at a very high level!!!!

All I was doing was just trying to look at it from the opposite point of view, as I was taught to do, defend the indefensible sort of thing

I could join in with mindlessly slagging her off but I thought it would be much more interesting to look at the debate with some intelligence (well, try to, I don't have a lot of intelligence )

Sorry if any offence caused

Albus_Scope

No need to apologise @66Mustang, it's always good to try and see things from another perspective.  

Having worked with and known people with alcohol and drug dependencies, I'd never say it's a lifestyle choice though. 

66Mustang

Thanks @Albus_Scope

I have lived with someone with substance dependency and for a long time I was under the illusion that this made me "more qualified" to speak about them ... but I realise if anything that it has made me less rational. Instead of making me more liberal it made me dislike addicts more and more because I saw firsthand the destruction they cause.

I guess at the end of the day everyone's opinion is caused by their experiences and everyone's opinion is equally valid

Hope that makes sense!

rebel11

There is some psychology around what she is saying, why she is saying it and how she is saying it. 

But, not just on 'homelessness', but all the stuff she spouts. Everything is everyone else's fault.

There is a lot more, but maybe for another time.  

Albus_Scope

Perfect sense my friend!  When you've had an emotional investment in any situation, it'll always skew things when it comes to seeing things from a mostly neutral perspective. 

Steve_in_The_City

People believe that you do drugs or alcohol to become homeless, but that is not the case. Sometimes you become homeless because you are escaping the abused reality you are living in. It is somehow better, but not preferable, to be homeless. Sometimes I get so wound up. Even after all of the years that run into decades I feel bad. Yet none of it was my own fault. So I do all that I can do to help homeless people and I am not going to listen to anyone who disses the homeless.

THE_DUDE

Sunak is behind all of bravermans comments. Ships sinking,  tents will be the last of their worries. 

Like @Steve_in_The_City and @Biblioklept I was also homeless for a while.

I didn't take a drug once not even medication for my anxiety. it was times I couldn't sleep and then started to drink alcohol just before I tried to ssleep. Wish I had a tent back then.

Steve_in_The_City

San Francisco is a wonderful place to be if you are gay - or straight for that matter - provided you live on the grassy green side of the street. I lived in West Hollywood for a while. It was a wonderful experience but in London now everyone seems to be gay!

rebel11

THE_DUDE said:

Sunak is behind all of bravermans comments. Ships sinking,  tents will be the last of their worries. 

Like @Steve_in_The_City and @Biblioklept I was also homeless for a while.

I didn't take a drug once not even medication for my anxiety. it was times I couldn't sleep and then started to drink alcohol just before I tried to ssleep. Wish I had a tent back then.

I suppose what we've learnt over the last couple of years is that anyone can be Prime Minister, you don't actually need to know what you are doing, in fact the more clueless you are, the better. 

I think I will stand on a platform of being 'Totally Clueless', when I'm quizzed about my policies, I will be honest and straight with the public, 'I'm Clueless', that should get me elected. 

joelincs

I think for some it MIGT be lifestyle choice but I shouldn’t think by many.  I feel that if we can find accommodation for ILLEGAL migrant then we should able look after our own home even if it on a boat. We need a system to both employ and house those of working age that are long term unemployed. 

cymbalfern

https://youtu.be/wMt8h9rnxYg United Nations homeless video if you copy & paste onto YouTube. Very informative.