A good man died on our streets last night, how many more good men or women must die in order to make drastic changes to the way the government and people in power approach the homelessness issue?
For the second time in months, we have had deaths on the streets. In Belfast alone we have many on the streets with numbers rising nearly weekly. A charity I work with called Help4Homeless has encountered a sharp rise in the amount of people on the streets and moving into hostels(Temporary accommodation usually it is called the hidden homeless).
If we included this number as well as those on the street it’s scary. Those who find themselves on the streets a lot of the time have mental issues they are dealing with, this can be caused by becoming homeless but mostly is part of a family breakdown, a breakup or drug abuse.
Yes, it’s true, some people want to live on the street, but this is a small minority of people and some of those are usually people who have been on the streets a long time making connections with fellow homeless, friends, who they don’t just want to leave on the streets. but as well as becoming solitary, they are maybe dealing with issues that
but as well as becoming solitary, they are maybe dealing with issues, that means they do not want to be alone. The people in power need to be doing more and quicker doing it, the crises is getting out of control, people are dieing in the streets and have been for a long time. Real action needs to be taken by those in power to help curve the homeless crises.
We need direct action right now if we are to stop more lives from being lost on the street. This should not only be looked at in local context but in a national context, across the UK and Ireland we have had deaths on our streets, without any real action from the people in power, like the opening of a soup kitchen by TD Joan Burton, all there has been is token gestures towards our homeless.
Until the governments make real efforts to fight the crises of homelessness then the people will need to do their bit to help, not only with charitable goodwill, but we need to take to the streets and show that we are serious about what we want.
Help for homeless FB page
The Risen People 