Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Homeless Man at Harringay Green Lanes station
Tags for Forum Posts: homelessness
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Cat on
-
"Put the politicians on minimum wage and see how fast things change" and all that.
-
Permalink Reply by Antoinette on
-
I give up... I'm an evil bitch for not wanting to be aggressed in the street and for thinking that encampment is an eyesore
-
-
Not an evil bitch. i think it's an eyesore too, you'd be weird not to, but my initial thought on seeing it is thank god it's not me, and poor them. That's the difference. I just don't think it's their choice, they don't have homes and they're trying to keep warm and comfortable against all the odds. I'm not saying I'm great, I have my own areas of intolerance like everyone, but you posted something that contained fairly inflammatory language and I'm just responding. I don't know what you expected. It's a public forum.
-
-
You don't think it breaks my heart?
-
Permalink Reply by Abi on
-
Yup, that's the key difference here. It's the victim blaming mentality that really gets my back up. I'm not massively tolerant of anyone speaking to me in the street (even politely), but I wouldn't for a minute try to dehumanise that person by buying in to some narrative about it being a lifestyle choice or 'profession'.
-
-
Who is the victim when I'm told to die of cancer?
-
-
I already sponsor a room at Centrepoint which is aimed at getting young people off the streets. I know that in order to be homeless in your teens you must have been dealt a crappy hand by the people who are supposed to care for you and protect you. They provide a wealth of information on homelessness issues so to be accused of being well-meaning but ill-informed and prejudiced is unfounded and quite hurtful. I don't claim to have the answers to all these problems but I do my best, and I try to do my bit.
-
-
Apologies for saying ignorant - you seem to have done your homework which is maybe more than many have done - but I maintain that there is a level of cynicism and prejudice in your original post that I find grim, even if you essentially mean well.
-
-
So easy to judge and put labels on people! Would you honestly not mind if a homeless person set up camp outside your house, whatever his reasons for being there? Would you offer them to move into your house out of the kindness of your heart? If not, please stop having a go at the lady...
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
Can we perhaps try to extend our sensitivity and understanding to people like Antoinette and Jessica? It seems to me they are both being clear and frank about their thoughts and feelings - as it happens mixed feelings.
Surveys and data drawn from representative samples are helpful. But so is paying attention to and listening carefully and respectfully to individuals who are prepared to engage openly and thoughtfully about their responses. Saying honest things which have opened them up to criticism.
There have been similar sorts of discussions on HoL about other people asking for - or sometimes taking - assistance. For example people who were sifting through wheeled bins looking for clothing or other useful items. With similar and entirely understandable mixed feelings by residents who observe that behaviour.
Actually I'm puzzled that rough sleeping and street begging have not increased far more. It's what has happened in the past when recessions bite. And when Government policies and social changes have increased inequality and removed the safety nets for more people.
I've posted before a short BBC film about homelessness made by Don McCullin in 1989. Having worked as a photographer in war zones across the world, he was shocked to see increasing destitution on the streets of London, his home town. (He grew up in Finsbury Park.)
Of course, most poverty is not immediately visible on the streets. Not only do the Council's propagandists keep repeating that Haringey is getting better, with other local councils Haringey has taken its own small unhelpful steps which currently make things that bit worse. As campaigner Rev Paul Nicolson and the group Taxpayers Against Poverty have pointed out.
Paul has a letter in the Guardian this morning drawing some of these threads together.
-
Permalink Reply by Liz on
-
I agree with you Alan about hidden poverty in Haringey.
Those bedding down in the street may have reached the end of their options but they are the tip of the iceberg. There are far more people who are sleeping on a sofa or floor; young families being forced to live in overcrowded and/or unpleasant rooms, more often than not placed there by an overworked, under-resourced LBH housing department (there are quite a few "social landlords" on the Ladder incidentally) and are one HB mistake away from eviction. Not to mention, the barely noticed, well-dressed, quiet single people who live in tiny rooms and whose meagre incomes are sucked up by rent and who reveal in a whisper that they are hungry since the money ran out to eat a few days before.
As Paul points out, the state is creating debt for the poorest in Haringey by forcing them (unlawfully) to find council tax. It is often the thing that tips people over the edge as it is a debt that you have to pay or else end up in court. Councils sending bailiffs round to seize people's possessions for non-payment of council tax wasn't something I read about in the local election campaign literature. Although they were keen to whisper 'bedroom tax' in everyone's ear, they somehow failed to mention "unlawful council tax levy on the poorest".
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
