On Monday the 27 November I shall be on the BBC radio with a geezer called Alan Sampson the chief executive from shelter. No doubt he will be talking about families and the 60.000 housing shortfall. I will be listening intently so I can answer questions from my own point of view and I do have my own opinions and you'll probably hear them but I think my being homeless has a different slant and a large say on the way I think. Homeless people do not get many chances to say things that matter to them. It's this thing of thinking because you are homeless you are in fact a second class citizen or not a member of today's society.
Facts and figures are all I seem to hear from politicians and such but as I know from my own experiences that's not all that counts. I read Ruth Kelly's speech the other day. The case she makes for tackling homelessness is good but has the government gone far enough or have they in fact just taken homelessness off the streets and created an even bigger problem in what's now being touted as hidden homeless. After all aren't hostels supposed to be a stop gap to permanent housing.
The housing problem all over the country adds to the problems off the homeless. I agree that we have to stop people repeatedly becoming homeless. The Revolving door syndrome as it is known. So shouldn't we be concentrating on housing support once people get housing and the question how long should the support last I think depends on the individual case because every case is different. The thing of how much it cost should be irrelevant as we are dealing with lives and doing it now will definitely save money in the future.
the real question i think now being asked is, is there really an answer to the homeless problem? Homelessness as been around as long as prostitution and if you think about it Jesus was made homeless for a night or two and had to get temporary accommodation.