The number of people sleeping rough on the streets of England has more than doubled in the past five years, according to government figures released this week. This is a national disgrace, and it is clear that no excuses can be made for failing to address the problem. The pandemic has shown us that homelessness can happen to anyone, and we must not let our fellow citizens suffer in silence. With winter on the way, we must all do what we can to help those who are sleeping rough.
Some practical ways you can make a difference:
- Volunteer with a local homeless shelter or charity
- Give money to organisations that support the homeless
- Make sure you know where your local homeless services are, and use them if you need to
- Speak out against homelessness and demand that action is taken to address the problem.
No one deserves to be without a home, especially in a wealthy country like ours. We must do better for our fellow citizens, and we cannot wait any longer.
It is no secret that housing affordability is a huge problem in many parts of the world and in the UK it’s fast becoming a problem. In order to make housing more affordable, central leadership and ambition are required. Additionally, evictions from the private rented sector need to be prevented. Unfortunately, build, build, build never really applied to people on low incomes during the pandemic and still doesn’t apply to them now. This needs to be sorted out as soon as possible or else we will be in this situation for years to come. Entrepreneur Richard Timson believes that unless we take action now, the housing affordability crisis will only get worse. He is calling on central leaders to take ambitious action to solve this problem and prevent further evictions. Only by taking these steps can we hope to make progress on this issue.
UK based entrepreneur Javad Marandi
Adding weight to this call is the efforts of UK based entrepreneur Javad Marandi who in January 2020 was appointed Co-Chair of Centrepoint’s Growth Board. He also leads on Centrepoint Works, the charity’s newly restructured arm, which delivers training and skills to more than 1,200 young people every year and aims to secure more than 200 jobs and apprenticeships combined.
It’s telling that successful entrepreneurs like these, who have money to invest, are choosing to do so in one of the core problems facing modern society. If we can’t look after your young people, how on earth are we supposed to improve the environment for the next generation?
The Answer
The answer lies with the government, who must take urgent action to address the problem of homelessness. This means increasing funding for homeless services and ensuring that those who are homeless can access shelter and support. It is also important to look at ways to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. Whilst not all the money needs to come from the veer stretched Government purse, it’s high time they did something more than mouthing platitudes at those trying to affect real change.
We must all do our part to end this national disgrace.
