Last weekend I found myself bleary eyed in a sleeping bag in Holyrood Park at one in the morning. The anticipatedly grim experience of “sleeping rough” was readily cheered up by the company of another 80 sponsored sleepers and a pizza delivery. We were all acutely aware of the high quality of our conditions in comparison to those on the streets and park benches.
I was initially persuaded to “sleep out” by a company I worked for over the summer. In doing so I would be taking part in a one-night charity event called Byte Night in aid of Action for Children, a charity which works to aid homeless and vulnerable young people. On October 8th, Manchester, Edinburgh, London, Newcastle and Thames Valley hosted a collective of over 700 sleepers under the stars. Beforehand, my sense of dread accumulated as I piled on six layers and braced myself for hypothermia. It quickly puts the situation into perspective, considering this is a nightly reality for many children with no respite or temporary shelter. As students, myself included, grumbling over letting agencies and heating bills, the threat of being “roofless” is never imagined.
Byte Night is the single biggest fundraiser for Action for Children, raising a total of £300,000 between the five regions involved. The money raised goes into local projects to tackle issues that can cause homelessness, and provide training opportunities, skills to live independently, and help for young people to enter employment. As a means to achieve stable and secure independence, young people are often assigned a support worker. Moira Luccock, Operational Director for Children’s Services for Action for Children Scotland, commented: “Our annual Byte Night event highlights the challenges facing homeless young people in Scotland, and the work Action for Children Scotland is undertaking through our housing support services helps these young people to live independently, and to turn their lives around”
Launched 12 years ago in London with a mere 35 sleepers, this year’s event takes on increased significance amid widespread expectations that the charity and voluntary sector will suffer in the current climate of cuts. In 2003 the Scottish Parliament passed ambitious legislation stating that everyone would have a right to permanent housing by 2012. How likely is it that targets will be reached, not forgotten? During the course of Byte Night, Labour MSP Frank McAveety paid tribute to the volunteers, especially during “this difficult period”, however admits that there is “a long way to go” towards fulfilling the government’s commitment to eradicate homelessness. Figures taken from the Operation of the Homeless Persons Legislation in Scotland indicate that 42,207 households were accepted as homeless in 2009-10. This represents a 2 per cent increase from 2008-09, however, applications by household have decreased by 1.6 per cent. More critically, however, applications assessed as in priority need has risen to 85 per cent from 60 per cent in 1999-2000.
However, public endorsement of these issues gives reason to hope; from McAveety to Sally Magnusson to Duncan Bannatyne, speaking out has ensured others are not rendered silent. Action for Children remain confident in their partnership with the government and are refreshingly optimistic about the future, with Luccock saying that “We welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to tackling homelessness, including its commitment to ensure that by 2012 ‘every unintentionally homeless person will be entitled to permanent accommodation’.”
75,000 children and young people in Britain were homeless last year. Since becoming roofless, 70 per cent of them were diagnosed with depression or other mental health disorders, one in seven were sexually or physically abused and one third attempted suicide. One in four rough sleepers are under 25. If limited without visual representation, the statistics become especially poignant once connected to faces. Rachel, a young adult who was given a support worker by Action for Children reminded sleepers at Byte Night why they were there. She spoke of how at the age of sixteen “I made myself homeless because I couldn’t stand the situation I was in any more, and didn’t want to come home at night”. From the age of eight her parents’ heroin addiction was glaringly obvious. She reported herself to her council and was initially placed in a bed and breakfast (which she calls “the worst experience of my life”), and then put in contact with Action for Children. What do they provide that social services cannot? “Consistency. I had my support worker for two years, one person I could tell everything to”. Rachel’s optimism is elevating - she now has a permanent place to stay, a job, and is currently in college. But the other side is never too far from her mind: “If it wasn’t for Action for Children I would either be worse than my parents…or I wouldn’t be here at all”.
Rachel’s speech demonstrates both her own strength of character, and how easy it is to take comfort and security for granted. The idea of dwindling university places was omnipresent this summer, however, the pictures we have of disappointed young people are those with some kind of support system, at least a home. Improving our own awareness of homelessness, and how easily it can affect those our own age, is crucial. Unfortunately situations like Rachel’s occur more frequently than we would like to believe. Action for Children have published studies that estimate every year one in nine Scottish children run away from home before they reach 16. This amounts to 9,000 individuals - 50 per cent of whom are escaping conditions of abuse and neglect.
Unhelpful stereotypes often make it difficult to communicate the severity of homelessness. For many the idea of a homeless person conjures up a caricature that has no basis in reality. People do become homeless due to alcohol and drug dependency, but this is a separate problem, not a grounds to dismiss homelessness as a “choice” or “lifestyle”. This summer, I had the opportunity to undertake two weeks work experience in Glasgow’s Big Issue offices. I was excited to be involved with an organisation founded on such a worthwhile principle, providing structure for people’s lives, a way out rather than a one-off. Unexpectedly, however, it opened my eyes to the unsavoury attitudes existing close to home. After meeting someone through friends, I related my then current work experience stint. In response, he quickly fell into imitations of vendors attempting to target him before laughing: ‘I’m a man in a suit getting into a Porsche, do I look like I’m going to buy a Big Issue?’ I pushed him to tell me why not, since he had indicated he could afford it. I was left only with the sinking sensation that his perception of “the homeless” was far from uncommon.
Felicity Loughlin, an Edinburgh student who volunteers for The Homeless Project organised by St. Catharine’s Convent of Mercy emphasized: “The first time I volunteered at the Project I was very apprehensive about working with the homeless. It is sadly very easy to create a stereotypical image of ‘the homeless’ as drunks and addicts. Although many do indeed suffer from alcoholism and addiction, every person has a different story. Often bereavement leaves people who had homes and stable jobs unable to cope and through their grief find themselves homeless.”
In addition to providing meals and shower and toilet facilities for Edinburgh's homeless, the project at St. Catharine's aims to help people out of poverty through services ranging from advice on how to deal with estate agents, guidance with job applications and providing support groups for addicts and the bereaved. Felicity maintains, however, that “perhaps the greatest contribution they provide is simply listening to people respectfully. The sisters know everyone by name and take an active interest in the lives of those who come through their doors. Every year they hold a Homelessness Sunday remembrance and light a candle for all the deceased homeless. I think it is important for such a faceless group in society to know that there are people who remember them and care about them.”
Facts taken from the Operation of the Homeless Persons Legislation in Scotland 2009-10 list various reasons why applicants were unable to remain in accommodation. Among those are physical or mental illness or, very often, a lack of support from family and friends. In specific instances of having to leave, domestic violence, harassment, or a household dispute are listed. Alcohol, drug dependency and crime are registered, yet do not by any means make up a majority. Using this as a reason to discredit the homeless is irresponsible; help needs to be provided in every instance. It is apparently easier to see homelessness as a problem caused by individual effort; as opposed to a wider social and economic issue.
What I enjoyed most about Byte Night is exactly what is lacking in the lives of so many homeless young people - the sense of community, camaraderie, and the altogether temporary nature of it all. Robert Heggie, chair of this year’s event comments that “it is symbolic in a sense as the sleepers can go home to their families and their own house and their own bed the next day, whereas the young homeless cannot. They can sometimes find themselves in pretty difficult circumstances too - that’s why it is so important to support Action for Children - getting the young homeless into secure accommodation and giving them opportunities in education, training, finding a job and then someday going out and living a life that is regarded as normal by the rest of us who haven’t had to go through such a situation”.
Whilst it is impossible to predict progress, it is possible to predict potential. Heggie mooted that: “In my view, it will never be possible to eradicate youth homelessness, as the circumstances that lead to it happening will continue to occur within families, but we can help when it happens”. As the council keeps their eyes on their target, awareness as a community and