We've been following Gary Bishop--CEO of Justlife Foundation--as he takes us through the top 10 myths of unsupported temporary accommodation. We are up to the fifth myth. Check it out:
Myth 5 - 'Its not my problem'
Perhaps, like me, you woke this morning to the sound of your alarm and rolled over to bask in the warmth and comfort of your bed, hitting 'snooze' one more time before finally mustering the motivation to work through your morning routine and embark on the day. It's pretty easy in such circumstances to think - even believe - that the plight of those who today will wake up to face all the horrors of living in unsupported temporary accommodation is not my problem. It doesn't affect me. Its none of my business. We all have enough worries of our own.My colleague Christa recently visited Oxford University to discuss our research with the author and population geographer Professor Danny Dorling. Amongst many insightful and wise words he helped us to realise this:Most of the things we worry about are statistically speaking never going to happen, we waste a lot of time and energy worrying about all kind of risks which society has thankfully mitigated to all but the rarest of occasions. However, with homelessness in England rising 6% in one year, rough sleeping rising 16% in the same period and 275,000 people making applications for help with homelessness last year alone, with no sign of those trends changing we need to acknowledge that there is a very real statistical likelihood that one of our children or grandchildren will, at some point in their lives be dependent upon a housing system which will support them properly in a time of crisis.Its a very sobering thought isn't it and all the more so because I can currently see no change of direction in terms of social or welfare policy which will even begin to reverse the trends we have seen in these areas over the last decade.Supporting Justlife will help us to make real and lasting system change as well as providing frontline service to hundreds of people in need everyday.
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