The 2022 rates of homelessness as published in the Homelessness Monitor: England 2022, published by Crisis, shows an overall drop in rates by eight per cent over the last two years. However, this still meant that 282,000 people have found themselves on the wrong side of the door this year.
However, there seems to be little optimism that these rates will continue to fall in the coming months. In some way they are skewered by the moratorium on evictions that was placed during the covid pandemic, protecting tenants from being evicted and ending up on the streets during the months when they were expected to be staying at home.
2022 going into 2023 is looking to be a worrying time
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With the UK poised to go into a recession, energy prices doubling, and inflation rates seeming to increase almost month on month at the moment, many households are going to be struggling to make ends meet just as the winter months and the colder weather kicks in.
A thin cold line
It doesn’t take much for an individual or family to find themselves in a situation in which they no longer have a roof over their heads. It is often the compounding effects of a number of economic and emotional factors that pile up one on top of the other.
This could be the loss of a job, the loss of a family member, emotional distress, abusive situations and simply an unwitting mismanagement of affairs which have collectively led to the very rug being pulled from under your feet.
Poverty is at the root of all causes, with stagnant wages and rising costs pricing those on the bottom rung of society’s ladder out of the market and leading them to fend for themselves with little or no support.
Being homeless need not be a life sentence
But being homeless does not have to be a prison sentence, and with compassion, understanding and support the vibrant spirit that once occupied those that live on the streets can be revived and turned into something positive and productive for the future.
That compassion can be shown through supporting a winter appeal, helping those who find themselves shivering on the streets of our cities during the coldest months.
Turning it into the start of something new
It is important to stress that the state of being homeless can actually be the start of great changes in someone’s life. Although ‘hitting rock bottom’ is a cliché that might seem insensitive in this situation, sometimes getting to that point in life when everything you owned is gone, can give you the freedom and liberation to see more clearly and start the process of rebuilding your life again.
The American actor Anthony Mackie immersed himself among the homeless in New York for several weeks in preparation for a film role (Shelter). During that time he came to understand the powerlessness that you can experience when facing the loss of everything that you own. He said: “This guy said his apartment caught fire. He didn’t have renters’ insurance because he couldn’t afford it. So he lost everything. He missed a week of work because he didn’t have clothes or anything. He didn’t have money, so he went to Goodwill, scraped up what clothes he could. And then he lost his job, because all of the mental stress of that. He said he hadn’t been able to get back on his feet. This is a college educated man.”
He also went on to say: “Even though homelessness reaches into the depths of despair, there’s also a pride and beauty in it as well.”
It starts with love and kindness
Helping any individual to come out of the despair of homeless requires bucketloads of empathy and understanding and patience. Getting to that state involves a gamut of emotions that can keep an individual pinned into a state of inertia and fear. This is all wrapped up in guilt and shame, and anxiety about making themselves vulnerable to a similar situation in the future.
But there are many famous people who, having at one stage themselves been homeless, can demonstrate that there will always be a path to follow, no matter how difficult. David Letterman once lived in his truck. Shania Twain and her family lived in a shelter when she was eight – she started singing in bars to help earn money for her family. Sylvester Stallone lived in a bus station in New York for three weeks after being evicted. Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was declared bankrupt in 2004 and forced to live in a homeless shelter.
If you’re currently struggling and need help, you can contact the homeless charity Shelter who can signpost you towards the nearest practical help.
