Homeless In The Winter
Homelessness is a subject that many people feel uncomfortable talking about of experiencing on the streets. There is an assumption that everyone on the streets has an addiction or is on the streets because of something they have done; that they have put themselves on the streets and they should get themselves off if they want to. Statistics show that of the majority, these assumptions are wrong. In 2011, an estimated 2,181 sleep on the street on any one night in England with 40,000 hostel and longer term bed-spaces already filled up by the homeless. There are three categories of homeless people; rough sleepers, temporally housed homeless and the hidden homeless; of which there are an estimated 400,000 who are not included in official figures. The majority of rough sleepers are male with a ratio of 9:1 ratio of men to women.
Winter is the hardest time to be homeless as the hours of
daylight are shorter and the temperatures often drop below freezing and those
on the trees do not have adequate items to keep them warm. 61% of rough
sleepers are aged between 26 and 45, 52% were of UK nationality and 46% were
White British. The main reason for a person or household becoming homeless is
that relatives or friends are no longer able to accommodate them which accounts
for 34%.
Charity bags are a strategy used by charitable companies in
the UK to collect clothes to make money for those in need. There are charities
that use this method to support the homeless but the success rate is not very
good due to a UK culture of hoarding and preferring to sell our items rather
than giving them away. The bags are posted through letterboxes are often
discarded with junk mail or used as free bin bags. Approximately 525 million
leaflets and bags are delivered in UK per annum of which there is a success
rate of only 1 in 35 or approximately 2 or 3 per street containing on average
10 items each. Visit https://mybrotherskeeper.org.uk/
With winter fast approaching, the need is getting greater.
You may experience an influx of charity bags through your door so how about
preparing for your Christmas by helping make someone else's better. Clear out
some of your children's old toys and ones that they have grown out of to make
space for the new ones they are about to receive and be ruthless. If you are
buying new knits and woollies for the Christmas season they bag up you old ones
from previous seasons and help keep someone warm as they will need warm jumpers
all year round. Christmas is a time for giving and just because the wrappings
aren't beautiful, doesn't make the gift anything less than perfect.
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