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> Homeless people and people who are vulnerably housed in the UK have pretty lousy treatment from "services", a lot of which is provided by faith and voluntary
by rdancer 11y ago
> Homeless people and people who are vulnerably housed in the UK have pretty lousy treatment from "services", a lot of which is provided by faith and voluntary groups.
Local council has to put you up in some accommodation. That's what we pay taxes for, so that people who happen to be evicted didn't end up in the streets. There's plenty of money on the table, and all you have to do is ask. You have to work the system, you need to know where to go and whom to talk to, and in a situation when you don't have the money for a bus ticket, that requires much more effort than it would normally do.
The system in the UK can be summed up as "help thyself, and the government will help thee". I think it is a good system, because it taught me to take care of myself. Its unfortunate effect is that people whose coping mechanism involves self-destructive behaviours are not being helped, even when help is available for them.
- dmichulke 11y agoNow I understand your indignation with this and I totally agree with it. Yet, I believe the "system" is not the only culprit here, it's also you who is complicit - you say the system is good and still it didn't help in this concrete case. Now I know it's hard to not pay taxes so I wouldn't expect you to. But for starters you could admit that the system works poorly, is intransparent, doesn't adapt and covers only what falls under its own definition of poverty/... A good indicator of being "complicit" is always when you use the line "they should do something about it".
- rdancer 11y agoYou make some great points, but are you replying to the right comment? For those, who are not of the biblical persuasion, "help thyself, and God will help thee" is a principle that says that you can count on a lot of help, but you have to do a little yourself first; that little is very hard, and no-one can do it for you.
- dmichulke 11y agoI mainly referred to the implicit delegation to government in your comment. This is technically ok (because you pay taxes for it) but it's not morally ok if they don't do it well. Naturally, I only picked the "bad things" (with a big IMHO) in your comment which didn't keep me from upvoting it ;)
- richthegeek 11y agoI remembered a joke from my childhood earlier today, and your comment bought it to the fore again: A man down on his luck prays in Church "God, let me win the lottery. All my troubles will be over". A week goes by and the man is doing even worse, so he prays again: "God, please let me win. I've been a good man with poor luck, and I've never asked for anything before". Next week, the man has been evicted, and once more he prays: "God, why have you forsaken me? I'm homeless, loveless, and penniless. Please, let me win the lottery!" To which a booming voice answers him: "Meet me halfway! Buy a ticket!"