Are The Homeless Too Comfortable?

[Kromovaracun]

https://welfareweekly.com/new-tory-housing-chief-says-rough-sleepers-are-too-comfortable-on-the-streets/

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/new-housing-minister-kit-malthouse-operated-callous-policy-to-make-life-more-uncomfortable-for-rough-sleepers_uk_5b43895fe4b07aea7542aa1a?guccounter=1

Kit Malthouse, the new housing minister, believes that "life was too comfortable on the street" and is proud of his record as a Westminster council leader making life "more uncomfortable" for the homeless in the hope (allegedly) of encouraging them into shelters.

Malthouse also supported an initiative between Westminster council and the police, in which some 30 rough sleepers were arrested in one night.

He gave this answer as a response to a question about whether he had supported "hosing homeless people out of doorways", as some of his former colleagues had suggested.

Do you think life is too comfortable for the homeless?

[Ken4155]

Of course it is. All those nice, cold, hard, wet doorways to sleep in. All that cardboard going spare. Soooooooooooooooooooo envious.

[jno]

aye, when I were growing up there were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road.

[mushroom25]

[maggiebee]

Like Ken, I'm soooooooooooo envious - where else would I like to spend my days and nights?

[Minkyme]

Homeless people looking comfortable=meaning=we rich toffs don’t like to see the consequences of our political actions on a night out quaffing champagne,oysters and truffles.

Tory, says it all really.

[ToraToraTora]

jno, you had a shoe box? Looxury!

[MallyJ]

Stupid, stupid man with absolutely no understandiing of the myriad reasons that people live rough and the difficulties they face......beyond stupid and not intending to educate himself. He is in government because he has the best interests of the people at heart...... Worrying.

[mallyh]

yes they live the life of riley...... not .... my son was attacked ,robbed ,frozen ,wet ,got a bad stomach bug
before i'm condemned as the mother from hell from those who don't know he is a heroine addict and we couldn't have him living with us anymore .

[dannyk13]

If the question is "are the homeless comfortable with the idea of living rough"? then the answer must be that some are judging by the numbers that refuse accommodation.

[Kromovaracun]

Lots of homeless people are mentally ill danny and might not understand the decision they are making. That isn't a reason to abandon them, if anything it highlights the duty we have to ensure that they get help.

[Kromovaracun]

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/statistics/mental-health-statistics-homelessness

[pastafreak]

I remember talking to a long time rough sleeper a few years ago. He said he'd rather die on the streets than go into the local shelter...run by a very well known national Christian organization. We have clients who to you or I may seem to have obvious mental health issues. But, they are deemed to be fine as they do not fit perfectly into the official designation of what mental illness is. Therefore they do not/ can not get the help they need. They spend their lives jumping through hoops...getting no where. Then they die in their comfortable doorways.
As for encouraging them into shelters...there are not enough beds even if all homeless WANTED to go into shelters. Let's see them fund more...and not just in London.

[Kromovaracun]

It's probably worth mentioning that there are very few homeless shelters in Westminster. Plenty of advice lines and day centres, but very few beds available at night.

So when Mr. Malthouse was "making life more difficult" for these people in order to "encourage them into shelters" - what he means is he was using the authorities to shunt them out of his borough and into another one where he didn't have to deal with them.

[jackthehat]

Pasta - When I first started work there was a homeless woman who would wander round the car-park leaving scraps of paper under our windscreens. They were full of scribbled symbols and random words. She slept in the nearby public convenience and whilst slightly scary was actually completely harmless.
My dad was a police officer in the town and I was chatting to him about her one day; he'd had quite a lot to do with her 'professionally'. He also told me that her proudest possession was a certificate (of some sort) declaring that she was completely sane......it was certainly more than I have ever had. :o)

[Old_Geezer]

Has he tried it ? I think the conclusion is in the other direction; not too comfortable, but the individuals have grown too tolerant of miserable conditions.

[andy-hughes]

It's very simple - anyone who uses the adjective 'comfortable' when referring to spending even one night sleeping in the street has clearly never done it.

If they had, they would realise that the experience has a variety of adjectives to describe it, but 'comfortable' is not one of them.

[cassa333]

Daft apeth.

Some are comfortable being homeless in as much as give them a room and they don’t like it. But that is more down to mental health issues.

Tbh I’m pretty sure no one in their right mind would choose to be homeless.

[Peter Pedant]

// All those nice, cold, hard, wet doorways to sleep in.//
agree kenbo

it is trump speak to say; we are a caring society and so we must make the homeless more at home by making Great Britain great again and hosing them down in doorways - and then charging them for the water!

[pastafreak]

A lot of homeless shelters are not very nice places...the inhabitants get worse not better. Those who try to "behave" are often threatened by others...it's not a safe haven by any means.
More foreward thinking councils want to create environments that are more like proper housing...where each individual has their own room...where they feel safe. Hostels are not safe for many. It's wrong to say choosing homelessness indicates mental instability.