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I've met many council leaders and MPs to talk about housing and homelessness over the years. The view that local services are attracting homeless people to an area is REMARKABLY common, across all parties. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-55722079
It's a variation on the idea that many / most street homeless people are migrants, when in fact they tend to be UK adult men.*
Many people struggle to take responsibility for homelessness in our own community, to believe we could really have let it happen. But we have.
Many people struggle to take responsibility for homelessness in our own community, to believe we could really have let it happen. But we have.
*This is not to ignore the huge challenges migrants face in finding secure and affordable housing, and the horrific situation of homeless people unable to access support because they are deemed to have "No Recourse to Public Funds".
But they're not the majority.
But they're not the majority.
There's also a parallel with the way the Left sometimes obsesses about foreign buyers pushing up house prices.
This happens of course, esp. in cities.
But if we banned foreign buyers we'd still have a housing crisis & a desperate shortage of affordable, secure, decent homes.
This happens of course, esp. in cities.
But if we banned foreign buyers we'd still have a housing crisis & a desperate shortage of affordable, secure, decent homes.
Truth is our housing and homelessness problems are of our own making. We can't blame buyers from somewhere else, or poor people from somewhere else, forever.
But this also means the solution is in our hands.
We can start making different choices any time we want.
But this also means the solution is in our hands.
We can start making different choices any time we want.
