[Politics] The Right Honourable Suella Braverman. KC MP **Sacked 13/11**

[Thunder Bolt]

Big text part - where should they live then given councils only have limited property to house people ? If you're male, under 40, you have zero chance of even emergency accommodation. Many of those living on the streets are ex-service personnel.

Bit in italics - 99% of people don't choose to live on the street or in a tent.

I've given money, food and beer to those on the streets. Each time I stop and chat to them, find the time to speak to them - you'll be given a lesson in understanding their situation and rarely is it of their own making.

It looks like you've fallen for Braverman's prose completely.

Veterans are a small minority of homeless people. I know those talking about the homeless do tend to use veterans as a examples but they are a minority.

Source ONS
Of the 13,595 residents counted at hostels or temporary shelters for the homeless, 1.88% were veterans. This compares with 3.81% of the usual resident population aged 16 years and over in England and Wales that were veterans.

There are quite a few service charities, Soldiers Off the Streets, Help for Heroes etc who do help homeless veterans as well as service housing. My friend that I trained with, lost her flat, through no fault of her own, and stayed with a different friend for 3 months until a small flat in a sheltered housing complex came up. She is with Britannia Housing, who have several sheltered complexes for WRNS, and widows of RN personnel, in Southsea.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

please provide an example that would be an alternative to sleeping outside?

Ignore the troll who thinks they are being 'edgy'.

 

[Zeberdi]

yes, in my most previous job in particular I had a very varied caseload. People who were long term entrenched homeless to people who had until recently had careers, families etc

many had previously been in care, many ex services etc

there's many lazy stereotypes when it comes to people experiencing homelessness but in my (vast) experience this fits a small % (who are perhaps the most visible)

Braverman is probably mostly thinking of London which is out of my sphere of knowledge but certainly in B&H the whole system is overwhelmed and failing. Emergency Accommodation (which is probably my main area of expertise) is often not fit for human habitation and to be honest, diabolical, the hostel system is very limited and not person-centered and there is a huge lack of social housing. The only time in recent years that it's been improved was during lockdown and the pretty successful scheme which primarily used hotels. This not only got people inside but got eyes on people who were going unnoticed by services.

We’ve probably crossed paths in Brighton- I worked in night shelters, day centres and rehabs for over 20 years and was also on a citywide forum for homeless people in B&Hove so fully agree and can relate from experience too:

I particularly worked with people with drug and alcohol problems (which is an endemic problem in homelessness along with MH issues) and what Braverman doesn’t seem to understand- a lot of homeless people simply struggle to engage with supportive services because of a chaotic lifestyle.

There was even in Brighton, a city well advanced in support services for homeless people, a shortage of day centre provision and emergency night shelters, or any short stay accommodation - was repeatedly having to sign post homeless people that came to the shelter to other services when the one I was working at was full..

All of these services too require registration (at a particulat time of day ) and non-drugs/non/alcohol policy - for those with drug and alcohol addiction- it is not easy queuing up at a certain time and then being locked in all night - many homeless people had dogs too which were not always allowed in night shelters. Compounding the problem, in the late early 2000s requirements for a local connection made it even harder for people to come off the street and access care.

In all my years working in Brighton, entrenched/lifestyle homeless was a very small minority of the total homeless people living in unsafe, temporary accommodation that invariably yo yo’d them back onto the streets.

For longer term support, like rehabs etc, the revolving door issue is a big problem - you can’t force someone to go through intensive and often very painful CBT/12 step programmes and expect no relapses - relapse also meant being on the street again.

I was on the executive committee of a charity that ran a drop in for homeless 16-25 year olds - these kids invariably had drug and alcohol addictions linking directly to sexual abuse, domestic violence and emotional abuse they suffered as young kids growing up in care or broken homes - they can’t go home and struggle to engage with support services at a level that is expected of them and quite often were sleeping rough, sofa surfing or in unsafe accommodation .

It’s disgraceful that this is the Country we live in now that we have a government that would take the only means someone has of keeping dry on a wet night. I worked with Off the Fence for a while ( which our Club supports) and helped distribute sleeping bags to those that needed them - they later distributed tents. I find it shocking that the charities I worked for could be fined for providing emergency support for street homeless.

Homelessness charities have been doing for years what any compassionate government should be doing - If Braverman really wants to help homeless people then she should be giving funding to these charities to help them off the streets not threatening to sue them for being compassionate.

Of course ‘helping’ homeless people is not what she is doing despite the rhetoric of ‘tough love’, she just doesn’t want to have to step over the ‘disgusting, filthy, smelly person’ in her Louboutin heels as she goes in to Starbucks to buy her triple macchiato on a Monday morning.

 

[rippleman]

There are so many empty buildings around, surely the local councils could do something with them if there was a will.

In Worthing, the old Debenhams building has been abandoned since I don't know when. It is already falling into disrepair with windows broken and pigeons getting in. The council could comandeer that. Stick some partitions up, put a basic kitchen in (it already has loos) and hey presto.

Far from ideal but at least the homeless would have shelter from the elements and a loo and a kitchen.

There is a way. Just no will.

 

[Bakero]

FFS don't say that, it'll give her ideas

One way tickets to Botswana, perhaps?

 

[stewart12]

There are so many empty buildings around, surely the local councils could do something with them if there was a will.

In Worthing, the old Debenhams building has been abandoned since I don't know when. It is already falling into disrepair with windows broken and pigeons getting in. The council could comandeer that. Stick some partitions up, put a basic kitchen in (it already has loos) and hey presto.

Far from ideal but at least the homeless would have shelter from the elements and a loo and a kitchen.

There is a way. Just no will.

easier said than done in some cases. The building on the corner of elm grove and queens park avenue (the old pub?) was turned into an excellent hostel for particularly complex cases- people who struggled to maintain accommodation in less tailored environments. It didn't take long before the local residents kicked up a stink and got it closed down. This is not an isolated case either in B&H

 

[stewart12]

We’ve probably crossed paths in Brighton- I worked in night shelters, day centres and rehabs for over 20 years and was also on a citywide forum for homeless people in B&Hove so fully agree and can relate from experience too:

yes we probably have- I worked at Off the Fence from 2013-16

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

I don't overly worry about what Braverman says. Most of the time she does the square root of sod all. She sounds and acts like she is the alternative voice in the student union rather than the Home Secretary. She talks to police chiefs as if it wasn't for her reminding them of the job they are supposed to be doing, they would be spending all their time contemplating their pronouns and deciding which toilets were most appropriate for them to use.

For someone with a legal background, she appears to lack even a basic understanding of how legislation works. She isn't a fixer or a doer and for some reason her appeal as a right wing charismatic leader is extremely niche.

I heard her interviewed on a podcast a while back (pre-referendum I think) and my conclusion was that she was a bit thick. She could not put forward any logical argument to support any of her views. It's an indictment of this government and a clear sign of the lack of available talent she is anywhere near office. I mean - who did they look at and then selected Braverman.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I heard her interviewed on a podcast a while back (pre-referendum I think) and my conclusion was that she was a bit thick. She could not put forward any logical argument to support any of her views. It's an indictment of this government and a clear sign of the lack of available talent she is anywhere near office. I mean - who did they look at and then selected Braverman.

She’s a useful puppet. Look at the distraction from revelations of the covid enquiry.

 

[Zeberdi]

I mean - who did they look at and then selected Braverman.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

yes we probably have- I worked at Off the Fence from 2013-16

You’ll know my friend J, then. Avid Brighton fan.

 

[goldstone]

please provide an example that would be an alternative to sleeping outside?

How about clean up, sober up and get a job. Like it or not that's pretty much a requirement in this world and the majority of the population seem to be able to function that way.

 

[birthofanorange]

How about clean up, sober up and get a job. Like it or not that's pretty much a requirement in this world and the majority of the population seem to be able to function that way.

What about the minority who are unable to function that way? Christ, you really are something.

 

[BLOCK F]

How about clean up, sober up and get a job. Like it or not that's pretty much a requirement in this world and the majority of the population seem to be able to function that way.

Oh, it is so easy isn’t it. A bit like telling people with mental health problems to just pull themselves together and get on with it.
Dear oh dear.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Don’t feed the troll.

 

[A1X]

 

[BluesRockDJ]

There are so many empty buildings around, surely the local councils could do something with them if there was a will.

In Worthing, the old Debenhams building has been abandoned since I don't know when. It is already falling into disrepair with windows broken and pigeons getting in. The council could comandeer that. Stick some partitions up, put a basic kitchen in (it already has loos) and hey presto.

Far from ideal but at least the homeless would have shelter from the elements and a loo and a kitchen.

There is a way. Just no will.

There's a nearly empty barge in Potland Harbour which could help ease the problem !

 

[BluesRockDJ]

Thus speaks the daughter of foreign immigrants...................I suppose she's classed as privileged ?
I won't go there with the unelected PM !

 

[Zeberdi]

There are places which help the homeless. There is no need for them to be living in tents in our cities.

Perhaps a few of them could move into this nice house?

 

[lawros left foot]

I have just read all through this thread, if I wasn’t depressed before, I am now.
Braverman is a vile, opportunistic, arrogant, corrupt, excuse for a human being.
Her most recent tilt at being the darling of the far right, racist Tory fringe is obviously to deflect attention from her abject failure to’Stop the boats’, her professed ambition.
Her inclusion in her statement, of the sentence about foreign speakers is gaslighting the nation to view rough sleepers as ‘them’ not our own.

With an estimated 4,000 ex servicemen either homeless or in need of permanent secure accommodation, I do wonder why this particular target was picked. Could it be that with the Government plan to turn asylum seekers onto the streets with no form of support, either financial or material that it is a preemptive strike against the Governments inept handling of the asylum problem.