Hatred Kills, Kindness Heals

Let's not get it twisted - your kindness is always appropriate. The last thing that thugs need is an excuse to clear-up our streets of the homeless in the form of a "government issued theme tune and mantra"

Many of the homeless that I interview report malicious attacks on them by random haters in Bournemouth. Now the government has the audacity to launch a campaign entitled 'Kindness Kills'; is that at all wise in this current climate? Not only have we just experienced one of Britain's worst recessions, but there has also been an accompanying increase in teen depression and suicide. Are we really saying that we are to withhold kindness from the victims of either?

And what of your high hopes for your own family members coming up? Can you imagine a day when they go through a slump that ends up to be fatal, because we fail to monitor our streets for the homeless? "David Atkinson’s father, Neil,said the family were devastated.The father-of-four said his son, a former pupil at Winton Boys’ School, had a breakdown last month but seemed to be turning things around" (Bourenmouth Echo 27.8.14) .All it takes is a spell of vagrancy for one of our promising youths to be snuffed out. Hatred kills, Kindness heals!

We can't say yet whether murder or suicide is involved in today's Echo reported death's of the 2 young homeless men (aged 27 and 21); What we can recognise though is:

• The marginalisation of the destitute 
• The current climate of promoting the unkind, 
• Our local government putting good money behind anti-kindness campaigns to promote unkind agendas

Hayden's Brother - Ron - Siblings in Care

Ron has been homeless longer than Hayden - he is 41 and Hayden is 31. Ron grew up in a combination of Children's homes and his grandmother's home. He became homeless when his Grandmother died, when he was just 25 years old. 

He spiralled into depression and out-of-society. He has had a history of drug and alcoholism since bereavement. 17 yeas on he struggles alonside his brother, Hayden to make a living from 'Big Issue' sales'. The bigger issue of course is that neither of them can ever qualify for any social assistance anywhere because their childhood's in care has robbed them from any 'local connection'. Their lot then is to try and raise a combined £1400 from incremental Big Issue street sales. Of course it doesn't help when Hayden wakes to find his essentials robbed. Suffering from 'trench foot' he needed to buy back his trainers that had been stolen last night while he slept rough in a shop doorway.

Kids in care seem doubly disenfranchised - with the odds permanently stacked against them from birth. Few beat the odds, many fall foul, few of us seem to even know much less care.

Hayden and Ron are currently appealing their rejection for assistance with local detox and will get a decision next week. I have offered to assist them with paper work - they are going through the designated Bournemouth Council appeal process. Let's hope that their dedication sways the decision in their favour.

United they stand - we mustn't let them fall!

Street Trader - Sean

Sean has been homeless for just over a year; he originally hales from London. He became homeless after witnessing his, then fiance, sleeping with his own brother. He left her distraught and with the property in order to relinquish his home to his sons, twin boys.

His ex-fiance has since had the children removed from her into their Grandmother's custady, but Sean misses them terribly. Sean is 3rd gneration in care - he grew up in a combination of foster homes and children's homes - but it was his fiance's unfaithfulness that finally drove him down-and-out.

Sean is well qualified and comes from a counselling background - having obtained a level 3 qualification in it. He is also a trained tatooist and was a fully functioning member of society until his recent emotional trauma.

He now sleeps in car parks and doorways and is gradually trading through all of his possessions just to survive.

He sells the 'Big Issue' but would much rather be a street artist or professional tatooist.The former requires a trading license which he has been refused due to 'no local ties' in the area. The latter is a challenge because Sean finds it difficult to turn up to interviews washed and prepped to perform outside his street existence. Daily some stop and offer him potential opportunities only to renege their promise upon witnessing him in less favourable circumstances or attire.

Seam is optimistic about his future - because he has real skills and marketable qualifications. The danger is that he may no survive the streets though - only last night he woke to see a 'burly blonde man about to stamp on his head' - upon meeting eyes with Sean, he decided to just trample his sketches instead. But this, Sean tells me, damaged his heart and soul deeply.

To be honest I am a little concerned at the recent and sinister antagonism towards the local destitute in Bournemouth - perhaps even encouraged by the governments recent 'kindness kills' anti-charitable announcements. A 21 year old was found dead in the streets just this week, plus Hayden who we recently blogged about had his trainers stolen from him while he slept - the same Friday night that Sean was almost assaulted.

I will research and blog further on this recent violent down-turn.

On a side note, in line with the fact that Sean is part of the 3rd generation of his family in-care, he tells me that his sister is sleeping rough and in London; her homelessness experience has been even more challenging than his because of the recent installation of pavement spikes to deter the homeless from loitering. She apparently rolled over, accidentally spiking her hip - and now has these injuries to deal with on top of her obvious housing needs. I truly question how we value human beings when I hear of such mistreatment. What's more important - clearing the problematic from our eyesight or offering real solutions to their problems?

Street Artist - Dean

Dean with his Guitar

Dean has been on and off homeless for the last 12 years - he says he just cant pay bills. This most recent bout of homelessness came as a result of him getting behind in his rent.

He prefers to offer something in exchange for funds so he's a guitarist. He has been in Bournemouth for about 6 months but doesn't qualify for any assistance from the council because he 'has no local ties.

Dean's sister, Jo, has just reached Bournemouth to join him and is paying £40 out of her £60 weekly benefit for accommodation at the YMCA. This should eventually qualify Dean for some Social Assistance with a local sibling connection; until then - he's looking at a long and hostile Winter. Of course Dean could sit for decades until his bones freeze over, but this wont count as any local connection with the pavement or anything else - he literally doesn't count until he becomes a contributing member of the system - through bills, rent, etc.Indeed this is how so many of the homeless remain invisible and isolated - I guess the hope is that they just keep moving - out of sight. Anywhere, we don't mind!

A random destitute lady - marginalised and ignored

He has from time to time taken drugs and his sister, Jo, started on Morphine as a result of chronic pain resulting from an unfortunate car accident. Although formerly on a £40k salary, her life has spiralled down to just-over-broke.

This isn't the first sibling connection I've witnessed here in Bournemouth - its almost like an underclass of the dis-enfranchised is being allowed to develop - whilst the rest of us go on our merry way.

Jo has in the past been quite an activist for the homeless, having witnessed it first-hand via her brother. She intends to take on Bournemouth as a new frontier, given her shock and dismay as she assesses the current state of play here.  

Street Traders - Hayden

Hayden has been homeless, on Bournemouth streets, for a year now, since his son died of meningitis at the age of 7. His history is that of foster care and children's homes, he's only ever known his Mum who currently resides in Bulgaria. His brother is also homeless. Hayden fell into drugs (heroine) and alcohol after his son's death. He has scaled down but wants government assistance with a full detox. He isn't able to get any assistance in Bournemouth because he is assessed as having no local connection, indeed this was the reason sighted during last week's local council rejection interview, where he and his brother were refused local detox assistance.

This failure to be recognised as local, bars them from any local provisions, including housing lists or local detox programs. The thing is neither Hayden or his brother have any local connection anywhere, having grown up through foster care and being moved from home to home. Hayden sells the big issue, sales reach 60 - 100 copies per week. He buys each copy at £1.25 per issue and sells them on at £2.50 each and reckons its somewhat of a living. Though he currently sleeps in local shop doorways, his aim is to raise enough money to privately rent some day.

Hayden left care at the age of 14 - unfortunately his launch into adulthood was dramatic and significant. He was imprisoned for assault of his, then, step-father whilst defending his mother who had endured years of domestic violence and abuse at his hands; Her latest assault of a broken nose, Hayden just couldn't ignore; yet he paid dearly with a 2 yr. custodial sentence, of which he had to serve 22 months. Hayden reached the streets alone at 17 and the rest they say is history.

When asked what he thought of the latest Kindness kills campaign's emphasis on the drug and alcohol issues of the homeless, Hayden simply replied "to be honest, there are more drug and alcohol issues in-doors than on the streets" and I guess he has a point - for that's where many of them originate - before people find their lives spun out onto the streets. 

Hayden was to visit his brother in Bournemouth General Hospital today, but he has had to put it off since he hadn't sold enough Big Issues yet and it was already 6 pm. The six mile walk to the hospital would take some doing after a full day of street touting, and weighing it up, Hayden decided to defer until tomorrow; he had 4 boxes worth of the Big Issue yet to shift. After all without any other local assistance - it literally is his "bread and butter"

Does Kindness Kill?

Street Traders - Dave

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!

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.

Why Bourne Homeless?

I write this blog out of outrage!

Bournemouth's/The UK's/The World's homelessness issues have always bothered me, but none so much as recently released government directives to 'wannabe good-Samaritans'. Directives which out-and-out state that you should never give to the homeless street beggar - lest you encourage him/her in their 'chosen career'.

Now local government (namely Dorset County) has invested in what can only be called a hate campaign against the homeless-amongst-us. They feel so bold and entitled to tell 'good citizens' never to give to the homeless for fear that it will encourage them to repeat the pattern of curb-warming. Posters have been issued that claim that the majority of homeless beggars are drug addicts, alcoholics or equally depraved and that your giving simply serves as an enabler to such self-destructive and perpetuating behaviours. Like a self-fulfilling prophesy your giving arguably provides the vital missing link in the de-generation of the degenerate. Instead you are implored to give to the legit - those charities set up to assist the un-assisted. 

My angst with all of this is that - surely the government knows that people are well aware of more established ways of charitable giving; the minute percentage of ad-hoc givers are probably those who still, despite all of the negative media propaganda, feel moved to do so. I say live and let live!  Why-Oh-why has the government taken it upon themselves to jurisdict over the situation - one that has existed since the dawn of time itself? After-all, in the words of the great J C, "the poor will always be with us", right? Never a truer word spoken; He must have seen Bournemouth Councillors coming - with their malice and contempt for the poor!

Did it not occur to the government that people are already well aware of the many means of charitable giving via registered charities and opted to give out-of-pocket and out-of-the-system instead? That this is a conscious decision of the giver and not at all a bad thing? I recently challenged a senior housing officer on this very matter. Her smug - long service (long salaried), self was only too keen, eager and proud to lay claim to having been 'one of the instigators' of the new deal. She simply stated that - "many of the homeless have a problem with structure" - they simply wont engage in the system and follow the structured forms of support that the government has on offer. This of course is code for - these beggars just aren't good little citizens.

I feel sorry for you if you ever slip through this Economy's net with your backbone still intact. For if you do, you will be one of these mavericks referred to here; a structureless beggar who must be renegade to certain street-death at the hands of your local council and enforcement troops. Expect merciless-mistreatment and liberal-bullying and black-listing - all state sanctioned and state induced. For if you fail to comply with whatever is asked of you, you fail to qualify for benefits; Furthermore, if the government turns you away, no other should rescue or habour you - you are now effectively outlawed. In order for the state to develop, and maintain, this god-like authority, it must be assured that if it chooses to 'run-a-beggar-out-of-town' it sticks! God forbid you - Mr or Mrs DoGooder - mess this up with your random-acts-of-ruddy-kindness - seriously! 

The last thing the government wants is a challenge, any challenge, to it's

authority and ruling. Much like Rome, it must have 'absolute power and control of its minions'. The question is - are you die-hard do-gooders going to play ball?

My Challenge to you this week is to stop-a-beggar and hear their truth for yourself - don't judge the un-judged and pre-dispose yourself to unwarranted piety; you'll inadvertently be opting to become a tool-of-the-state and a weapon to humankind.