Homeless in Newcastle
As Shelter celebrate their 50th anniversary, we take a look at the state of homelessness in 2016.
James* is sitting on his bag, his back against the brick of the railway arches on Newcastle’s Trafalgar Street. In his hands is a polystyrene container holding a generous portion of meat pie and vegetables, his second of the night.
Around him other homeless and vulnerable people sit and stand whilst the volunteers of The People’s Kitchen, dressed in high-vis jackets, serve hot food and drinks from their van. Those eating represent a total cross-section of society: young, old; men, women; people dressed in suits and others who are clearly sleeping rough.
James’ story is that of many young street-sleepers. Addiction, coupled with relationship breakdown, took him from the security of a job and an apartment to sleeping rough, and not for the first time. “This is probably the fourth or fifth time this has happened”, he says, “everything was good, we broke up…and here we are again”.
A previous attempt to witness the outreach program in action had been thwarted after a riot started by some of the ‘friends’, the term given by The People’s Kitchen to their service-users, had forced the operation to pack-up early - something that volunteer Colin Heron tells us happens frequently. This time, however, everything goes smoothly, despite a visit from The Police, and the volunteers are able to supply food, clothing, toiletries and even sleeping bags to those in need.
For James, the service is a lifeline: “Things would be a whole lot different if I didn’t have something like this. Okay I may not have a roof, but at least I’m going to get fed two or three times a day”.
Perhaps most shocking is the sheer volume of people needing the help of The People’s Kitchen. Heron tells us that an average Sunday morning can see 120 people come to eat, whilst 80-100 usually use the Thursday evening service.
This is the reality of homelessness in Newcastle in 2016, 50 years since the founding of Shelter, the UK’s leading homeless charity.
*Name changed for privacy.
An introduction to homelessness in Newcastle.
The premises of Shelter in Newcastle.
Shelter’s original aim was to deal with the millions of “hidden homeless” people living in over-crowded slums in the 1960s, but they now seek to tackle homelessness in all its forms, across the UK.
Since its founding Shelter has had significant successes. As well as case-work dealing with the individual problems of homeless and vulnerable people, Shelter has campaigned tirelessly: lobbying governments, raising funds and keeping homelessness in the public conscience.
Examples of this include the 1974 Housing Act, which provided housing associations with full government funding, and the 1977 Housing (Homeless Persons) Act which extended the legal definition of homelessness beyond ‘rooflessness’- giving legal recognition to the ‘hidden homeless’ for the first time.
But, as Shelter would admit, their work is far from complete. On average, 3000 people call their national helpline every week, and between 2014-2015 68,946 people made use of their face-to-face advice and support services. The scenes at The People’s Kitchen’s outreach program alone are testament to the fact that homelessness is still very much a problem in Newcastle.
The fiftieth anniversary of Shelter presents a good opportunity to take stock: to examine the biggest problems facing the Newcastle's homeless in 2016, to reserach what support services are available to them, and to discover what remains to be done.
Whilst the ‘typical’ homeless person may be the grey and grizzled man bedding down in a shop door, Newcastle is seeing an alarming increase in young rough-sleepers.
Gemma Waldron, the Temporary Accomodation Manager at Newcastle City Council said "in the last couple of years we have seen, for the first time ever, 16-17 year olds who've been rough sleeping".
Angus Miller, a volunteer at The People’s Kitchen, has noticed an increase in the number of young people using the charity's free food and clothing bank, saying: “They come in trickles, most don’t have family or don’t have reason to be here, so they end up going on the street because there is nothing else for them. They like to come here because they know we can give them a hand and talk to them like a normal person.”
Temporary Council accommodation at Cherry Tree View.
There are different theories as to why more young people are ending up on the streets. Waldron believes the problem stems largely from the increased use of NPS (New Psychoactive Substances), or legal-highs, which have proved particularly popular amongst Newcastle's younger homeless population, with devastating consequences. But for Dr. Suzanne Speak, who has studied homelessness around the world, the increase in youth homelessness is due to a nationwide "lack of affordable housing", and changes to welfare policy which make it hard for young people to afford their own home.
In terms of tackling this problem Tracy Guy, Shelter’s North East Hub Manager, believes the key is to consider the right accommodation for a young person. There are specific accomodation services available for 16 to 17 year olds, such as Foyer, which can cater more specifically to the needs of young people, but those over the age of 18 are faced with the daunting prospect of mainstream supported accommodation. Here, vulnerable young people mix with older and more street-wise residents, and due to the limited control in these accommodations, Guy believes that this “is not the right environment” for the young.
If there are no provisions available Newcastle City Council can assist 16 to 17 year olds without involving the social services and they can provide more formal ongoing support. Working with the family is the main component of their support structure, with mediation being one of the key prevention tools – they believe it is much better, wherever possible, for a young person to be living with their own family than in any form of supported accommodation. However, the service remains open to any young people who made need help at a later date, after a resolution for a previous situation was found.
The strength of this service is shown in the very low numbers of young people who have to return to the Council for assistance, although this could also mean that some young people are giving up on help. Waldron is keen to emphasise, however, that the Council does not give on young people:
“We would tend to deal with them if they have been evicted from another provision...we've got a sector in the city who will keep going with individuals, and its very, very rare that someone would be excluded from everywhere, we will always keep trying to find a solution".
Finding appropriate accommodation is only part orf the story, however. The Council also offers free and confidential drug and alcohol addiciton support, as well as counseling to deal with the consequneces of abuse. Waldron also says the Council believes in getting youg people into education and training:
“I think it’s more important to help young people to get into education, employment and training, keeping people busy, having some structure, and it’s very important for them to move away from the lifestyle that can be associated with homelessness,” she added.
These services are becoming all the more important in the face of the Newcastle's problem with legal-high consumption, a problem which seems to pertain particularly to young people.
Legal-highs have swept across Britain in recent years, proving popular on the UK party scene but also amongst the homeless population. Whilst their ‘legal’ label may fool some into believing that NPS are safer than traditional drugs, this is not the experience of Kathryn Heathcote, Progression Team Manage at Newcastle’s Crisis Skylight, one of the city’s homeless charities. She believes legal highs can have “ten times” the negative impacts of traditional drugs, and that Newcastle is one of the worst affected cities in the UK.
Particularly problematic for those tackling homelessness, are the impacts NPS can have on mental health and behaviour. The highly addictive nature of the substances, which often have similar effects to illegal drugs like cannabis and cocaine, means that users focus on satisfying their cravings ahead of finding and sustaining employment or getting into sheltered accommodation. When you add the fact that most homeless hostels, or food suppliers such as The People’s Kitchen, have a strict policy of excluding legal-high users, it is easy to see how they become yet another barrier to getting off the streets.
According to Heathcote, legal highs can also cause drastic changes to people’s behaviour, turning usually calm individuals aggressive and violent. Withdrawal symptoms can also be extreme, including physical pain, prolonged vomiting and collapsing.
Whilst legal highs have become widespread across the homeless community, they are particularly popular with younger people, and NPS are now a common cause of youth homelessness. Heathcote says that the behavioural and psychological changes that NPS cause can often mean parents of children using the substances often cannot cope with having them at home and, with nowhere else to go, young people end up on the streets.
Tracy Guy, says that legal highs are “seen as the ‘new thing’ to do” and that they are “gradually becoming normalised” amongst young people.
Sue and Tony, volunteers at The People's Kitchen discuss legal highs.
At a national level, the government is expected to bring in a blanket ban on legal highs within weeks, although this has met with fierce opposition from some who believe the ban is a blunt tool, and that educating people about the dangers of legal-highs may be a more long term solution.
The education approach has already been adopted in Newcastle by Your Homes Newcastle, a wing of the City Council. They work with ex-users of NPS, going into schools, where lots of young people access the drugs for the first time, to discuss the dangers of using the substances.
At the same time, however, a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), has also been discussed by the Council. This measure would also seek to curb legal-high consumption, but in a very different way.
The Council's proposed PSPO has two main branches: banning begging and chugging (approaching people in the street for money), and banning legal highs from Newcastle city centre.
A PSPO is an official measure, enforceable as part of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, and can be used to protect the public from ‘persistent and unreasonable’ behaviour that is having, or is likely to have, a detrimental effect on the quality of life in a locality. Newcastle City Council believes that the problems of begging and legal high consumption have now gone far enough to warrant this type of order.
The initiative was fueled by public complaints of “aggressive” and “intimidating” begging and chugging in the city centre, together with the Council’s argument that donations to beggars and homeless people do not provide a long term solution to these peoples’ problems, instead funding alcohol and drug habits. The Council believes that the fines would act as a deterrent to keep beggars out of Newcastle.
"90% of those surveyed do not agree with the implication of a PSPO"
Gemma Waldron however, realizes the PSPO is contentious:
Michael Brown, a former city centre reporter at The Chronic is sceptical of the measure. He says “introducing fines against people who are genuinely homeless, people who are genuinely requiring that money to better themselves...just increases the problem”.
Dr. Speak agrees, describing the PSPO as “nonsensical” and “counter-productive”- asking how the Council expects beggars to be able to pay fines.
She also doubts the effectiveness of fines and bans when it comes to legal highs. Whilst the PSPO would give the Council and Police the power to tackle the legal high epidemic, Dr. Speak believes this is not a long term solution, describing the move as a “knee-jerk reaction”, adding “it will do nothing really significant to dent the increasing homelessness in the country”.
Whilst the PSPO is yet to come into effect, it has already proved highly divisive. From our survey 90% of those surveyed disagreed with the implementation of the PSPO, with some believing that the measure will further alienate homeless people, echoing the views of many of the charities interviewed.
Something that the PSPO debate has shown us, however, is that public opinion can often weigh heavily on measures taken by official bodies when dealing with homelessness. But in Newcastle in 2016, what does the general public think of homeless people?
"I hear how much money is made in the places we all stay and we’re talking serious, serious money"
- James, a local rough sleeper
The word ‘homeless’ comes with many connotations. People often associate homelessness with addiction, rough-sleeping and begging, and this can significantly impact upon the way people treat the homeless.
Dr. Speak believes that public opinion on homeless people is mostly split between two camps: empathy and blame. Whilst some people may see people on the streets and feel sorry for them, others may see this situation as arising from the individual's own mistakes.
One of the greatest factors affecting public opinion on homeless people is begging. As reported in The Chronicle, begging has become a prevalent problem in Newcastle, and 96% of beggars in law courts have been found to not actually be homeless.
Northumberland Street and Central Station are particularly known for beggars, whilst Dean Street and Grey Street are also lucrative spots. James, the young man we met at The People's Kitchen outreach programme says the situation is far from straight-forward, “Everyone has their own opinion when somebody begs…I hear how much money is made in the places we all stay and we’re talking serious, serious money”, adding that “that money is not used for anything else but alcohol and cigarettes, drug addiction”.
Michael Brown has heard similar stories about begging's potential profitability. He revealed that beggars can make up to £54,000 a year from people’s generosity, ironically a great deal more than the salaries of many people donating money.
Such stories put people off giving money to anyone on the street, and the issue becomes one of distinguishing between the genuinely homeless, and those begging for profit.
For James, if the public want to help people on the street, the best way is to buy food or a coffee, and to treat them like they would anyone else. Especially, he says, giving homeless people half-eaten food is “the greatest disrespect…you wouldn’t do that normally”.
Whilst homeless people are sometimes subjected to abuse from the general public, there is also a significant number of people who do care about their plight. As well as big drives to help the homeless at holidays such as Christmas and Easter, we have found from our surveys and from discussions with the charities that many people donate to the cause all year round.
Volunteering numbers are gradually increasing, for example the over 200 people giveup their time to support The People’s Kitchen every week, and 37% of the people we asked said they would consider volunteering for a homeless charity.
Whilst our surveys suggest that people are becoming increasingly sympathetic to homeless people, key to giving the public a more informed picture of homelessness, are the media.
"You don't get a human face to homelessness"
- Michael Brown, Journalist
Michael Brown has found that the general method of communicating homelessness to the public is via hard facts and statistics. Whilst some feel that numbers will help the public understand the severity of the situation, Brown feels that portraying the homeless in a more personal way is key to helping people gain a fuller understanding of what life is like for homeless people.
Being able to put a face to a statistic, and hearing individual stories will highlight the many different circumstances leading to a person finding themselves homeless, and this will allow people to see the ease with which someone can fall from a comfortable life to a homeless crisis. By highlighting the fact that there are many different attributes to the decline of a person’s life, besides the usual drug or alcohol addictions that are often shown, the public will develop a greater understanding of the situation.
However, this may not always be practical, Brown says. Portraying individual stories can involve a great deal of time-consuming work by journalists, and whilst the cause is clearly worthwhile, the reality of deadlines in a newsroom can mean that this simply does not happen.
Unfortunately, there will always be homelessness and the only solutionin the long term is to fund services, donate food and clothes, and for volunteers to continue to donate their time to keep services running. But the media does have a role to play.
It is important that homelessness is kept in the public’s conscience, and for the right reasons. Coverage should be responsible and appropriate, and the media should be wary of sensationalist headlines that take only the most extreme stories and paint them as the norm.
Homelessness is not an attractive story but it is one that must be told. Homeless people are often not in the position to make their case for themselves, and it would be all too easy for their stories to slip below the radar. This is particularly true in relation to the austerity measures that have caused so much financial distress for so many. Those at the bottom of the pile often feel powerless to fight the authorities, so it is up to journalists to ensure that these people are given a voice.
"Non-profit organisations have to shoulder the burden when we're already stretched."
Tracy Guy, Shelter
Our public surveys found that many people believe that the government is to blame for the current homelessness situation, an opinion shared by Tracy Guy of Shelter.
Whilst she maintains that Newcastle Council have tried hard to limit cuts to funding for homeless provision, they only have a finite amount of resources available. As well as a reduction to the range of services on offer from the Council, charities are feeling the effects as well, as they have to shoulder more of the burden at a time where they are already stretched.
Since austerity measures began, charities such as Shelter have seen an increase in the number of homeless people coming to them for support but have also found a different type of client coming forward. More working people have found themselves in crisis and are at risk of homelessness because of job cuts and price increases. They may not be on the streets but they are dangerously close to becoming so because they can’t afford the increasing costs of rent, food and other essentials.
One name that kept coming up was 'Universal Credit'. This is a new benefit system in the UK that will eventually replace housing benefit, income support, employment support allowance and jobseeker’s allowance. Introduced in 2013, it is designed to top up the income of people of a working age, to a minimum level. Speaking to Glen, at The People’s Kitchen Sunday outreach service, he feels that this initiative from the Department of Work and Pensions is largely responsible for the current situation:
100% of those surveyed think the government need to do more to help homeless people
At first glance the picture of homelessness painted here may seem bleak, and in some regards it is.
Austerity measures and changes to the benefits system have placed more people at immediate risk of homelessness than there have been for a long time, and cuts to Council services mean that charities are struggling to fill the gaps left in service provision.
Newcastle has also found itself at the epicentre of the UK’s legal high epidemic, which has had a devastating impact on the homeless population. As well as the physical dangers posed by these substances, the effects they can have on the mental health of already vulnerable individuals means they pose a serious barrier both for users, and those trying to help them.
The Council’s proposed order to deal with the problem of legal highs, the PSPO, has dominated many of the conversations we have had with charities and homeless people alike- and it is clear that opinion is split on the issue. Only time will tell what impact, if any, this order and the national ban on legal highs will have. For some it is already too late.
Begging is another problem that Newcastle has yet to come to terms with. The numbers of beggars, and their sometimes aggressive begging tactics have been, in part, the driving force behind the PSPO, and beggars often impact negatively on the public’s opinion of homeless people generally. It is worth remembering, however, that whilst these people may have a home to go to, they are still vulnerable and in need of help. And as we have found, a great many people think that bans and fines are perhaps not the most constructive way of tackling this problem.
However, it is not all doom and gloom. We spoke to a number of homeless people who have seen the situation on the street change over a number of years, and they all said that whilst times are tough, there have never been more services working to help them.
Shelter was the first organisation in the UK to really draw the public’s attention to the plight of the homeless, and without the charity's tireless campaigning there is no doubt that Newcastle’s, and the nation’s, homeless population would be in a far worse situation.
But, in 2016, Shelter is not alone in fighting homelessness in Newcastle. Between them and community projects like the Period Pride Movement from Newcastle University Feminist Society, charities such as Crisis and The People’s Kitchen, can offer legal help, addiction counselling or simply a hot meal which, in some cases, can literally mean the difference between life and death for the city’s homeless population.
Clearly, there is a long way to go in the battle against homelessness and, sadly, the problem will never fully go away. Perhaps Shelter’s greatest success with regard to ‘the homeless problem’ is the fact that it has become ‘a problem’- an issue that is in the public eye, and not simply an inconvenience to be swept under the rug.
In Newcastle the vast majority of the provisions in place only exist because of the volunteers who give up their time, and the only way these organisations can continue and expand is if more people become aware of the problems affecting homeless people in Newcastle and beyond.
Newcastle University’s Feminist Society fundraised to put together menstrual care packs for the homeless of Newcastle, as part of their wider Period Pride efforts. The purpose of the campaign, spearheaded by the Free Periods at NUSU movement started by student Rohan Kon , was to eradicate shame and added expenses (luxury tax) with having a period.
