Why does Britain have such a big problem solving homelessness?

 

As a country Britain has gone to the dogs. What we see emerging is a kind of Victorian underclass. 

Last December, two men, Michael Heaton, 26, and Anthony Horn, 46, froze to death on the streets of Manchester in a city where the Labour Mayor, Andy Burnham, pledged to eradicate rough sleeping from the streets of Greater Manchester, when he was first elected. 

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I don't remember seeing rough sleepers or people begging in the street. I realise that it takes time to build housing, so why haven't the authorities resorted to building prefabs, to house people or provided some other kind of temporary accommodation? Private rents in Britain are completely out of sync with most people's incomes and there ought to be rent controls. Housing Benefit is also capped. 

The problem of homelessness isn't insoluble if there's the political will to do something about it. But some politicians like the former Conservative Home Secretary, Suella (Cruella) Braverman, would have us believe that homelessness is a lifestyle choice. I never met either Mr Heaton or Mr Horn, but I can't believe that they chose to freeze to death on the streets of Manchester, because it was lifestyle choice. Nor do I believe that if people can't get a job, a GP appointment, or an affordable rented home, it is somehow the fault of migrants. It has more to do with government policy. Some British politicians don't believe that it's the job of the government to provide people with affordable social housing. They think that's the responsibility of the individual to find their own accommodation. 

I am reliably informed that a country like Finland doesn't have a homelessness problem because homeless people are offered shelter and if they have problems with substance misuse, they get help and treatment. 

I remember all the brouhaha about the Bibby Stockholm that was moored at Weymouth naval dockyard to house asylum seekers. We had the ridiculous and farcical situation of homeless English people sleeping rough in doorways in Weymouth, while migrants were being housed. I gather that a number of the asylum seekers were undertaking voluntary work with the local homeless. Why weren't the rough sleepers in Weymouth offered a warm berth on the Bibby Stockholm or hotel accommodation? I was told that many of the rough sleepers in Weymouth, were former ex-servicemen in the British armed forces. 

Some British slum landlords have made millions out of housing asylum seekers and refugees after receiving taxpayers' money from the British government.