CARDBOARD CITY
Raising awareness about young homeless people in and around LondonSpecial Delivery
The Dispatch Online reported this week that a homeless man was spotted delivering post for the day in one of East London’s leafy suburbs – claiming he was standing in for the regular postman who allegedly paid him to do his job.
The unofficial deliveries were stopped when a Bunkers Hill resident asked him why he was delivering mail. The man replied that he had been “sub-contracted” by a South African Post Office postman who, he said, had paid him R10 to do the job.
Lionel Scott yesterday explained how he caught the man with two bags full of post, meant for residents of Bunkers Hill, on Tuesday afternoon. Scott confiscated the bags.
He said his wife called him after seeing the man at Schekter Place – “sitting outside looking through the post”.
Scott continued: “I drove from home and found the guy on his way into a nearby bush. I asked him if he worked for the Post Office and he said no; he then told me the postman gave him R10 to deliver the post.
“When I asked him why he was going into the bush, he said he was going to deliver it later … I took the two bags from him; he didn’t resist.”
Scott pointed out the unidentified man to the Daily Dispatch team at Eastern Beach.
Attempts to talk to the topless young man failed. He refused to speak to the Dispatch and walked away.
But postman Andile Ndzwana, who delivers mail in the Bunkers Hill area, denied paying the man R10 to do the job – instead, he claimed that the bags had been stolen from him.
Charity Begins At Homelessness
A new employment academy is to be set up in south London dedicated to helping hundreds of homeless people find employment.
The Thames Reach charity, which works with rough sleepers across the capital, will involve former homeless people in building the centre.
Thames Reach hopes the new Academy will help to reduce the number of people sleeping rough in the capital by helping homeless people develop new skills, increase their self-confidence and find work, in turn enabling them to settle into their new homes – reducing abandonments, evictions and returns to street
homelessness.
The Academy will provide a range of services for men and women living in homeless hostels and supported housing projects, and to people living in the local community who need help to increase their skills and find a job. It is estimated that 150 people will be making use of the facilities every day.
The project is possible as a result of a £4 million capital grant from the Department for Communities and Local Government via the Places of Change Programme. It will be situated in either the London borough of Lambeth or the London Borough of Southwark.
Jeremy Swain, Thames Reach Chief Executive, said: “The Employment Academy will provide a range of innovative services to help homeless and vulnerable people get back into work, including a range of social businesses, classroom space, and a restaurant where the workforce will predominantly be made up of homeless people.
“The Employment Academy represents a shared commitment to helping people escape homelessness by developing the skills, confidence and motivation to get work and shake off for good the debilitating shackles of long-term worklessness.”
Drug Money
Rebecca Williams
Friday’s Inside Out on the BBC took a disturbing look at homelessness in London.
ThamesReach, a charity that help homeless and vulnerable people find homes and build a better life for themselves, gave simple advice: not to give money to homeless beggars on the street simply because it goes straight to the drug dealers.
According to a survey carried out by ThamesReach 80 per cent of homeless people are feeding a drug habit and their average life expectancy is 31 years of age.
ThamesReach provide a street rescue team whereby they provide night shelter and hostels for those living rough on the streets.
Drugs aren’t permitted in the hostels so homeless people have to substitute their addiction with methadone prescriptions and super strong lager.
I agree with the advice given by ThamesReach. When I was staying at the bed and breakfast, a huge majority of the other residents were druggies. They may not have been begging on the streets but I would see them rubbing their hands on the day they received their income support or had to sign on for benefits. I knew and they knew exactly what the money would be going towards- their next fix.
It’s a shame, really. Once you get hooked onto drugs it a downwards spiral from there. I would see perfectly healthy individuals get sucked into the world of drugs and end up helpless and ill. They’d be so addicted they would twitch and become almost schizophrenic when due for their next fix.
I mean, how are you honestly going to get a job or get out of your depressing situation if your state of mind is so clouded and docile? The answer is you’re not. They simply find themselves as slaves to drugs for the rest of their lives. Even if they do try to kick their drug habit, by that time the long-term mental damage has already been done.
I’ve never tried drugs in my life, so I have no idea how difficult it is to kick an addiction but I’ve seen what it’s done to people who have so much to offer the world. It’s all about will power and support. If you really know where you want to be in life you will strive hard for it.
Giving money to homeless beggars is in fact contributing to the harm that they cause themselves daily. Giving food or drink will prove to be a much more worthwhile donation to anyone who is homeless- much healthier consumption for their bodies than drugs and alcohol.
