Do you like what you see ? Share it on social media !
No one has yet asked me this question, but its bound to come up.
Some of the people we see in town on outreach and a few I have photographed over the last few days are no longer homeless, some of them are vulnerably housed in supported housing.
So why if they are housed do we still feed them ?
One simple answer : Addiction.
Just because they are housed now doesn't mean they are suddenly on the straight and narrow. They can still be addicts. As some of them get a small amount of benefit, some people will wonder if they get benefit why cant they cook for themselves, buy them selves food rather than the heroin, the alcohol, and what ever may be there drug of choice ?
Once you have been homeless, especially for a long time, your in the mindset of being homeless even after being housed. Many don't even sleep in their beds in their houses for a long time, they prefer the hard cold floor because that's what has become normal to them rather than a warm comfortable bed. Its hard for us, having never been homeless, to understand that feeling of re creating their homeless habits in their houses.
When your an addict, your main priority is to get your drugs, not go to asda and buy some food to cook. A lot of people vulnerably housed still hang around on the streets a lot, begging, even sleeping rough, because it has become a way of life for them, and some go back out onto the streets every now and then to see their friends and look out for them.
Take P, for example, he is housed, but he still goes and sleeps out on the streets with all his belongings because after being homeless for over 10 years, that's what he is used to. Also, T. He was given a place in shared accommodation but he felt trapped. He had been on the streets for so long, being inside a house, having a bed, having a kitchen to cook in and a room to clean was so alien for him he gave up his place in the house and returned to sleeping rough on the streets.
So, back to the point in this blog post. We still feed those in houses because otherwise they simply wouldn't get fed, if they weren't seen by us or if they didn't go to the soup kitchens. Some have debts to pay off, so while receiving their benefits, they are now paying off their debts. Some find it too stressful and difficult to have structure in their life, going to the supermarket, cooking a meal an cleaning up. Sitting down at a table is still alien to them. A quarter of the people who go to soup kitchens are housed. Some have severe mental health issues, some have anxieties.
When we feed someone on the street we don't care if they are homeless or housed, if they are hungry , we will feed them. Although, sometimes when we see the people who are housed, they turn down food, saying give it to someone who is still on the streets and who is in need more than I am.
Anastasia x x x
0 comments:
Post a Comment