Dave makes a living from Street Art. He used to draw on the pavement but has been restricted since it's classed as 'graffiti' now by local law enforcement - interestingly I thought it looked more like a tourist attraction.....horses for courses!
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| Dave Sells Art For Donations |
Dave is currently homeless and has the same methods that Stuart reminisced to me - he pitches a tent on the beach cliffs amongst the bushes. Seems local enforcement haven't clocked on to this one yet so promise you don't tell. There are no hostels to be had so Dave's art uses money to purchase his daily food supplies and essentials.
I asked Dave how he found himself homeless in the first place - he is a former alcoholic who lost his home and job due to the excess. Helped into recovery by AA, he now finds himself on the steady grind back to mainstream living.
He has been homeless for seven months and refuses to beg. This takes some discipline because his takings vary up to about £6 per day. So far at midday when we spoke - he had only raised £2. His takings used to be better when he was allowed to draw on the pavements. Not only do people seem to be less impressed but of course he needs to now purchase more materials (i.e. paper/canvasses)
Dave offered some common sense objections to Bournemouth's 'Kindness Kills' campaign. In answer to the scenario levied by the Council officer that the homeless need to engage in the structured support currently offered by the borough, Dave highlights that it is pretty nigh impossible to maintain structure as a homeless person. They sometimes travel for miles from make shift shelter, to washing facilities, lavatory and all with your life in tow in a back pack. You can therefore understand how keeping appointments present additional challenges to the displaced - one can't camp outside the benefit office after all. Hunger and other base instincts must be catered for as priority - as nature dictates. The stuff of living is by no means a given to the dis-enfranchised.
Dave is currently saving for a place of his own - at £6 per day this is going to be a long haul. As for benefits in general - Dave portrays a grim picture of the Job-seekers-allowance circus. He explained that you have to commit to about 3 interviews per week, that alone is a disciplined challenge - but furthermore you will be turning up to the interview as homeless. Imagine how the initial question period will go when you are asked to clarify correspondence details and resident proof papers? Not to mention that you wont want to be turning up un-washed and hungry with the contents of your make-shift home on your back!
As for the Kindness Kills campaign advice to give to local out-reach instead - Dave explains that at about 5 am the 'outreach program' comes round identifying the homeless only to tip-off the police who later move them off the streets; so you'd actually end up contributing to a law-enforcement program, not to the homeless if you follow the council's directive.
Dave's Update, 26.8.14
I had been seeing some of Dave's art work on the pavement here and there and on the Bank Holiday took the opportunity to ask him why he had reverted to the pavement as his canvass? He told me that purchasing paper wasn't always possible due to the expense and he'd recently run out of his stock, that was supplied free by a sympathetic local art shop owner. The police had consequently warned him of a possible fine being imposed if he persisted to use the pavement - this would explain why some of the abandoned pavement-art looked unfinished. He was understandably concerned about his police warning and the threat of incurring future finds. That very day I witnessed him with an assortment of rough and inadequate scrap materials, so again he was chancing the pavement as canvass. Unfortunately and worryingly, when I passed later on, he had gone, pavement-art unfinished.
During our conversation he also relayed to me that he'd passed by what used to be the homeless shelter premises and saw that they were partly used as some sort of day-care facility but that the old hostel staff remained. The irony is that they looked bored and un-occupied, yet had obviously been retained, on the Bournemouth pay-roll.
I do question the logic of closing the shelter and intend to look into the reasoning further. Apparently - like everything else - it was due to local budget pressures and consequent spending cuts. I notice that Bournemouth felt it a worthwhile investment to fund mounted police for the Bank Holiday tourists though; I wonder what kind of budget it takes to maintain this aesthetically beautiful service?
Whatever the cost, I'd argue that the funds could be better spent on the local homeless population's need for safe, healthy and necessary shelter. Indeed I have recently been impressed to begin a petition requesting that it be re-opened in preparation for this Winter; with the staff still in place, this certainly sounds 'do-able'. All we need is the local support of the valued, contributing, public.
As for the Kindness Kills campaign advice to give to local out-reach instead - Dave explains that at about 5 am the 'outreach program' comes round identifying the homeless only to tip-off the police who later move them off the streets; so you'd actually end up contributing to a law-enforcement program, not to the homeless if you follow the council's directive.
Dave's Update, 26.8.14
I had been seeing some of Dave's art work on the pavement here and there and on the Bank Holiday took the opportunity to ask him why he had reverted to the pavement as his canvass? He told me that purchasing paper wasn't always possible due to the expense and he'd recently run out of his stock, that was supplied free by a sympathetic local art shop owner. The police had consequently warned him of a possible fine being imposed if he persisted to use the pavement - this would explain why some of the abandoned pavement-art looked unfinished. He was understandably concerned about his police warning and the threat of incurring future finds. That very day I witnessed him with an assortment of rough and inadequate scrap materials, so again he was chancing the pavement as canvass. Unfortunately and worryingly, when I passed later on, he had gone, pavement-art unfinished.
During our conversation he also relayed to me that he'd passed by what used to be the homeless shelter premises and saw that they were partly used as some sort of day-care facility but that the old hostel staff remained. The irony is that they looked bored and un-occupied, yet had obviously been retained, on the Bournemouth pay-roll.
I do question the logic of closing the shelter and intend to look into the reasoning further. Apparently - like everything else - it was due to local budget pressures and consequent spending cuts. I notice that Bournemouth felt it a worthwhile investment to fund mounted police for the Bank Holiday tourists though; I wonder what kind of budget it takes to maintain this aesthetically beautiful service?Whatever the cost, I'd argue that the funds could be better spent on the local homeless population's need for safe, healthy and necessary shelter. Indeed I have recently been impressed to begin a petition requesting that it be re-opened in preparation for this Winter; with the staff still in place, this certainly sounds 'do-able'. All we need is the local support of the valued, contributing, public.
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