Hjemløshed i London: Politiets rolle og initiativer

There is far too many homeless in the streets of London, and we have to do something! But what?

Written by Mette D. and Thomas T.

The police are checking the streets

London is struggling with the homeless, and the police have already been out to check the streets. A so-called welfare check, where the police is searching on the streets, for the ones who need help. The police also have a cleaning team, which cleans the streets. The simon community says it is chicane, because if the streets are wet, the homeless people cannot sleep there. We talked to a policeman, named Gareth Nicholson, and asked him why he discriminates homeless: ”It is my job as a policeman, to take orders, not question them. I do not feel guilty, because we are helping the homeless people. We are searching for the ones who need help, and we take care of them.”

Why is it not their own fault?

There is 1.441 homeless, which sleeps in the streets of London. Some people say it is too many, others say that it is their own fault. But why is it not their own fault? We asked the human rights organisation Liberty: ”There is far too many homeless people living on the streets, that there should be. They are living on the streets because they don’t have the money to buy a flat. It is too expensive. They don’t have a job either, and that’s because it is too hard for a homeless to get a job. They don’t have the ”look” or the skills to have a job.”