on โ13-06-2014 07:53 PM
I think this is an interesting fuss in the UK...first a unit block now a supermarket have installed spikes in the ground to stop people sleeping outside their premises.I can see it seems mean but I would not be happy to have homeless people sleeping outside my home or work.It is an unfortunate truth that most of them have issues or beg and I will avoid places if that kind of person is around .
I think it should be legal to do it if you want and feel it is needed .
The supermarket has just had radicals ruin their spikes with concrete poured over them even though actual customers were complaining of being harassed by people sleeping outside .I wonder how common this kind of thing will become and if we will see human pigeon spikes here in Australia?
on โ14-06-2014 08:38 PM
The biggest issue in the UK has been the tightening of welfare payments and the slashing of funding into services that help the homeless. We will see more and more of this happening in our backyard as the govt seeks to slash homeless funding here and tighten welfare payments. it's meant more and more vulnerable people will have no where to go and no means to survive.
Homelessness can happen to anyone, it could be our children, our friends, our relatives...anyone really. As a young adult I used to take some of these people to lunch and feed them, you would be surprised by the stories of people. It can be mental illness due to major trauma, disability or any numbers of factors that can cause homelessness.
Seriously I wish I could help these people, I even asked OH the other night whether there was some kind of program where you could take someone in. But of course its never that simple. The only way to effectively address these issues is to provide services where people can access assistance. Near where I live a lady goes around looking for the homeless and connects them up with accommodation and a caseworker. Sadly though the government has announced cuts to these programs...
on โ14-06-2014 08:45 PM
Bella, it will get a lot worse if the govt gets it way.
on โ14-06-2014 08:56 PM
For sure Boris, it's really scary and it saddens me to think of the human impact in all of this.
on โ14-06-2014 09:02 PM
@bella_again wrote:The biggest issue in the UK has been the tightening of welfare payments and the slashing of funding into services that help the homeless.
Yes I agree, and you can blame Depressing Dave for that, and his bunch of Bullingdon Boy Eton toffs and cohorts. It's no wonder people are turning to the UKIP party. People are sick and tired of the same-old-same-old waffle from the main three, but the Tories are, and always were, for the rich and privileged. I hope next year at the general election, they get firmly kicked into the long grass.
on โ14-06-2014 11:00 PM
@boris1gary wrote:
@crystal**flake wrote:I feel that tthe spikes are ok around business' and housing.
where do you suggest homeless people sleep?
Not near where people have to commute.
โ14-06-2014 11:19 PM - edited โ14-06-2014 11:21 PM
Yes, bella there are cuts in funding for services that assist homeless people
NSW
The 29 per cent proposed funding cut to inner Sydney homelessness services affects not only stand-alone womenโs services but other long-standing services working with the homeless and those at risk.
States yet to sign federal deal for homeless services funding (as at 5 Jun)
In March, Federal Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews pledged $115 million for a one-year deal for the National Partnership on Homelessness.
That was $44 million less than the previous Labor government had allocated because it did not include any money for capital funding.
In our local news, the smaller organisations that have previously provided services for homeless persons for a very long time, have been unsuccesfful with their tenders.. The Govt is instead putting in a bigger more central organisation to run these services. Less local input, from experienced staff that know their area.
โ14-06-2014 11:25 PM - edited โ14-06-2014 11:26 PM
@carls*world wrote:Ah yes, NIMBY on a big scale.
Don't care where they go, or what else they can do to survive, as long as it's Not In My Back Yard.
Well the news is, it's gotta be in someone's.
During my life I have offered a bed to numerous homeless people.
Most are temporarily homeless due to circumstances not choice.
Random acts of kindness cost nothing.
Spikes are a super cruel method of degrading the already down trodden who need a bit a kindness more than a kick in the guts.
on โ15-06-2014 11:00 AM
@crystal**flake wrote:
@boris1gary wrote:
@crystal**flake wrote:I feel that tthe spikes are ok around business' and housing.
where do you suggest homeless people sleep?
Not near where people have to commute.
Ah yes. Can't have those pesky homeless people in sight. Best out of the way so we don't have to acknowledge them. After all, it is their choice.