I was shocked by this situation where people are left on the streets while at the same time told ‘Stay at home, save lives. The hypocrisy!

‘Everybody in’ initiative was a great opportunity and a great hope. However, I cynically fear, it only happened due to the general spirit of the 1st lockdown. There were some campaigns and acknowledgment of the problem by organisations such as Shelter. The problem of homelessness in the pandemic was also discussed on the national radio. It was a little bit like the Marcus Rashford campaign, so the government could not ignore the problem. Now people are more fed up, fatigued and the spirit of the 1st lockdown is not there that much anymore. Additionally, nobody knew in April what will happened with the pandemic. It could had been like the plaque and having people on the streets could have meant not only tragedy for homeless people but also a health danger to general public. The government must have feared that they will be blamed if lots of people die because of it, homeless or not homeless. So they had to do something. Now they feel less pressure.

I was shocked by this situation where people are left on the streets while at the same time told ‘Stay at home, save lives. The hypocrisy!

I have actually noticed when looking into the published rules that one of the permitted legal reasons to be outside is homelessness ??? Shopping for essentials, obtaining mediation and medical care and … homelessness? Then I looked further into the news and realized that ‘Everbody in’ is not happening any more. WHY? We are told this waive is worse than the first one. Children do not go to schools so clearly homelessness is not safe either (if it ever was).

Furthermore, Everybody in was helping people with no access to public funds who do not receive help by other channels, such as housing benefit, as they do not have access to benefits. Some of these people are foreign born people who live in the UK legally. With the absence of ‘Everybody in ‘ they are not receiving the support they need.

However, the government have come up with an ingenious alternative to the problem! Changing the law, so that any homeless foreigner born person with no access to public funds living here legally, may have their visa overturned and could be deported. Such a clever solution to the problem! Deported people would not be on the street of UK anymore! So there would not be a visible problem! They may be on the streets somewhere else, but that is not visible to the UK voters.

Additionally I would like to report that there are currently many people visibly sleeping rough in NE London. And there must be many who camp in less public places, too. The numbers increasing. Some people are permanently camped up underneath the post office, and some clearly homeless people ride buses with all their possessions on board. Bus drivers tend to be kind, accommodating this, while possibly putting themselves at risk of all sort of trouble. The bus drivers must be anxious to go to work in these dangerous times, and yet they are kind to help just a tiny bit, to keep a homeless person out of the cold. It would be nice if the government followed this example.  Did they not notice that homelessness can be deadly at the best of times, especially in winter, so how about in a pandemic!??

I am also surprised about the change of approach, where a hostel is seen as settled accommodation, while it clearly isn’t. But to be honest, I am not as shocked as I should be. When surveying people for a project, we attended a men’s hostel in the centre of London, pre-pandemic. There was a man in his late 60/ early 70s. He suffered from dementia and struggled to engage with the survey process.  He had lived in this hostel for 26 years! I feared for him – would he ever come out of there alive; other than to a nursing home to die or to a mortuary. It’s shocking and this certainly should not be the norm. This is not ok!

If people are put in a decent clean room and given the support they need, it might prevent years of homelessness, health emergencies, criminality, imprisonment, destroyed lives. What a difference it could make! Is there a way to reignite the good will from the 1st lock down, to change the whole approach and start to heal? I wonder, there must be a way to show that prevention is cheaper than an emergency. Why is it that the decision makers do not want to know?