And you are sure about that? Dr Gabs Evans has a view!
Many people who read our Blog - and thank you, you are appreciated - are not actually on the street. Moved by the plight of the homeless they want to "DO SOMETHING". Some volunteer, some buy things from sites like ours that donate directly to the people involved, some source essential things, like food, socks, underwear - and donate to outreach organisations.
Which leads us to our next guest.
Beanie cellars breaks out the coffee and a muffin for Gabriella Evans, known on Twitter as @DrGabsEvans.... Who with the permission of her new friend Vinnie, is going to share their experiences.
Vinnie’s Journey
Says Dr Gabs -
Sometime in early March
2016, on a rather frosty day, I took the dogs out to a nearby park. They became agitated and dragged me to a park
bench where a man was sitting. He seemed to be drifting in and out of
consciousness, so I offered to call an ambulance or help him to a doctor. He
explained he’s OK, just homeless and hadn’t found shelter or food for a few
days.
I ended up dragging Vinnie
home, so he could have a shower, some food, wash his clothes and have a few
hours of sleep in our guest room. He explained the difficulty of the system, so
we decided that he should stay for a few days while we help him out. We thought
it was a short-term arrangement, he would stay a few days, maybe weeks – it’s
been 6 months…
Due to Vinnie’s mental health
problems, it’s incredibly difficult for him to talk to strangers, talking on
the phone is a major problem for him. I offered to make the phone calls for
him and learned a few shocking things:
* From a mobile the calls
are very, very expensive, especially for somebody who has to make the choice of
food or topping up the mobile (if they actually do have that choice), so a lot
of people are unable to actually call those so called “helplines”
* You end up hours on hold,
being transferred from one person to the next, again it makes it very expensive
for anybody on a mobile phone, for somebody with a mental health condition,
it’s also torture.
* You’ll end up being given
another number to call, you try to call the number and it doesn’t work or the
people aren’t responsible, so you have to go through the whole process again.
* If somebody takes you in,
even if it is just temporary, you fall out of the system.
* If you’re homeless, you
don’t have an address. You can get letters sent to the Job Centre, but the
atmosphere there is less than nice and there is no guarantee that you’re a
priority, so be prepared to stand around for a while until somebody decides to
check if you got correspondence.
* The DWP assessments tend
to be in places that are quite far away, the travel costs are refunded AFTER
the assessment by the local job centre, the dates are with short warnings. If
the dates are missed, it’s your fault and you’re sanctioned… So if you don’t
have £10 to buy a train ticket (and you’re usually going there because your
money was stopped already), you’re just out of luck.
Vinnie
Dr Gabs continued
I don’t have a mental
health problem, I’m quite eloquent and assertive, but I ended up frustrated and
sometimes in tears just from making the calls for Vinnie, he always had to be
nearby to assure the person that he’s OK with them talking to me (which is fair
enough) but we’ve spent hours on the phone, listening to the most annoying
music possible and just waited to be transferred from one department to the
next, to occasionally losing the connection and starting the process all over
again…
So ends Part one! We will be welcoming Dr Gabs back later in the week to share more of Vinnie's story.
Which leaves us thinking that there must be an easier way. Are all these barriers and convolutions really necessary? Is there an all powerful being trying to make the system as unhelpful as possible so the homeless will conveniently go away?
Oh I know. There are people in the system who are amazing. Who go the extra mile to help and to shortcut the rigmarole.
But, if you are on the receiving end, low on self esteem, feeling dirty, invisible, and running on empty... these complications are the final straw. And when the sanctions are applied, cutting you off from ANY money AT ALL...
What does the future look like?
There are people on Twitter who can offer help, sometimes as food, sometimes as advice.
See
@YorkRoad Project - Worthing
@SimonCommNI - Northern Ireland
@Wolveshomeless - Wolverhampton
@simonotstreets - Leeds
@llamauUK - Wales
@onebigfamilyHTH - London and Medway
@Tell_StreetLink @crisis_uk
If you would like to buy a warm beanie hat or scarf, or a duffle bag to help someone on the street the link is here
Thank you for joining us!
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