Beggars, homeless, street drinkers & drug users in Sheffield!

[chakademus 10]

Returned to Sheffield to visit friends this week and can't believe the amount of beggars on the streets of the city centre! Most have dogs to tug at the heartstrings which is a cheap trick and borders on animal cruelty as these animals have no say as to who their owners are. The best thing I saw was a 'homeless' guy selling the big issue while looking intently at his touchscreen phone which looked better than the one I own!

If someone is generous enough to give some spare change would it be better spent on food or saved until you have enough money for a top up?

Does anyone know if these people are genuine or not?

 

Its a problem that's getting worse as living costs go up & benefits cut, quite frankly. Change will go on drugs.

 

---------- Post added 24-07-2018 at 15:52 ----------

 

But some people on the Dispatches program last night were being asked to pay a deposit of £2000, up front, in order to get a rental property. How do they afford that on £314 a week....are they meant to just have a couple of grand knocking about in their back pocket?

 

Not spending money on rent or bills so why can't they save?

[Anna B 1,414]

No - that's clearly ridiculous. But I'm not sure what sort of rental properties are asking for that. I've certainly not encountered one - my rental property for instance was a months rent as deposit, which seemed reasonable and also seemed to be common practice.

 

It's fairly standard practise, especially when renting throuh letting agents, for them to demand a months rent in advance, plus a bond, (usually equivelent to one months rent,) plus agents fees.

They are also not always keen to rent to people on benefits now they have stopped paying money direct to Landlords, and some landlords simply won't touch people on Universal Credit as it's deemed to be unreliable..

 

---------- Post added 24-07-2018 at 16:40 ----------

 

Anna B

 

Doesn't this link blow your argument to bits

 

https://www.gov.uk/housing-benefit/what-youll-get

 

i may ae well put this with it as well

http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=opera&q=working+under+16+hours+housing+benefit&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe

 

To get housing benefit you need to have a place to live. Chicken and egg situation. And as been said before, benefits can be stopped at the drop of a hat bbecause of sanctions, which is where the problem often starts. 6 weeks with no income leads to debt, debt is major problem for people on benefits.

[Ms Macbeth 75]

There are 45 social housing properties (mainly council) with no waiting time in Sheffield. One, two and three bedroomed properties, that no one has applied for. They are available for anyone who is eligible for social housing. They may not be in the most desirable areas, but they could be a start.

 

https://www.sheffieldpropertyshop.org.uk/PropertySearch/Results?Sender=ResultsPage&AttemptedLocationName=Sheffield+(Sheffield)&PreviousAttemptedLocationName=Sheffield+(Sheffield)&AttemptedLocationLongitude=-1.4685214886&AttemptedLocationLatitude=53.3825102071&SearchRadius=5&Location.Latitude=53.3825102071&Location.Longitude=-1.4685214886&Location.Name=Sheffield+(Sheffield)&SortOrder=0&PreviousSortOrder=0&PropertyID=&AllocationScheme=556&AdvertTypes=1&ConfigurablePanelFilter=13&ConfigurablePanelFilter=12&ConfigurablePanelFilter=11&ConfigurablePanelFilter=14&AccommodationTypes=0&AccommodationTypes=1&AccommodationTypes=2&AccommodationTypes=3&AdvertisedDates=&_=1532450769672

Edited July 24, 2018 by Ms Macbeth

[the_bloke 17]

But some people on the Dispatches program last night were being asked to pay a deposit of £2000, up front, in order to get a rental property. How do they afford that on £314 a week....are they meant to just have a couple of grand knocking about in their back pocket?

 

That is a lot of money; if fees are £300 which is normal, then if it follows normal practice of the bond being £100 more than a month's rent, it means they were looking at renting a place of £800 a month.

 

The usual guide is if your income is more than 40x the monthly rent you can afford it. So it suggests the renter should have an income of £32,000 pa. If they are on £314 pw they clearly don't as that works out at £16,328 unless it is being topped up with benefits.

 

So perhaps the problem is not rent being too expensive, it's people not willing to rent somewhere they can afford.

[lesserthan1 10]

So, to get away from the issue of being homeless and back on to the topic of all the drinks and drug addicts around town; what's actually being done?

 

Today the usual bunch were all shouting and fighting outside our offices and I'm pretty fed up with it now. Imagine having customers coming and being confronted by those scrubbers, it's really not on.

 

What is town for these days? Business and commerce or a bunch of tramps on extra strong lager scrapping with each other? At the moment it seems to be the latter, even more so than before.

 

And just to confirm, I don't think (or care) if this lot are homeless. I just want rid of them.

[paula4sheff 10]

So, to get away from the issue of being homeless and back on to the topic of all the drinks and drug addicts around town; what's actually being done?

 

Today the usual bunch were all shouting and fighting outside our offices and I'm pretty fed up with it now. Imagine having customers coming and being confronted by those scrubbers, it's really not on.

 

What is town for these days? Business and commerce or a bunch of tramps on extra strong lager scrapping with each other? At the moment it seems to be the latter, even more so than before.

 

And just to confirm, I don't think (or care) if this lot are homeless. I just want rid of them.

 

Nothing seems to be done. Register as many complaints as you can- the more received the more pressure to take some action.

 

 

Sadly it seems that drug dealing openly, begging and fighting is now the norm for the city centre.

 

Then people wonder why business is struggling.....

[Bob Arctor 11]

There are 45 social housing properties (mainly council) with no waiting time in Sheffield. One, two and three bedroomed properties, that no one has applied for. They are available for anyone who is eligible for social housing. They may not be in the most desirable areas, but they could be a start.

 

https://www.sheffieldpropertyshop.org.uk/PropertySearch/Results?Sender=ResultsPage&AttemptedLocationName=Sheffield+(Sheffield)&PreviousAttemptedLocationName=Sheffield+(Sheffield)&AttemptedLocationLongitude=-1.4685214886&AttemptedLocationLatitude=53.3825102071&SearchRadius=5&Location.Latitude=53.3825102071&Location.Longitude=-1.4685214886&Location.Name=Sheffield+(Sheffield)&SortOrder=0&PreviousSortOrder=0&PropertyID=&AllocationScheme=556&AdvertTypes=1&ConfigurablePanelFilter=13&ConfigurablePanelFilter=12&ConfigurablePanelFilter=11&ConfigurablePanelFilter=14&AccommodationTypes=0&AccommodationTypes=1&AccommodationTypes=2&AccommodationTypes=3&AdvertisedDates=&_=1532450769672

 

Those properties will be let though. They always are, there are no social housing properties that remain unlet. So why do you keep posting the same post as if it represents a solution to the housing crisis and the complexities of street homelessness, the second of which you should know relates very strongly to poor mental health and often child abuse. It's just facile, and bordering on stupid

[the_bloke 17]

Those properties will be let though. They always are, there are no social housing properties that remain unlet. So why do you keep posting the same post as if it represents a solution to the housing crisis and the complexities of street homelessness, the second of which you should know relates very strongly to poor mental health and often child abuse. It's just facile, and bordering on stupid

 

I think that's a a bit unfair. Those properties linked are ones that literally no one wants on the propertyshop website. No one has bidded on one and for whatever reason if they have been offered by the housing team to someone on priority they have been turned down. Anyone registered on the system priority or not can say they want one, first come first served. As someone who has been homeless and had to go through the whole bidding on properties shindig, you don't care where you live as anywhere is better than being homeless. Genuine people in need don't have the luxury of picking and choosing, you take the first thing as it's better than being on the street, in a B&B (or in my case) a caravan.

 

When I was having to bid for houses, the first come first served section was usually only 2 or 3 single bedroom flats, I'm quite surprised it's now up to 45 being offered in a week.

 

That's 45 properties available that can take 45 people/couples/families out of the nightmare of being homeless. Will be interesting to see how many of the same ones are being offered next week.

[Cyclone 10]

Many homeless people refuse to engage with the authorities and "anywhere is better than being homeless" simply isn't true for these people.

[Bob Arctor 11]

I think that's a a bit unfair. Those properties linked are ones that literally no one wants on the propertyshop website. No one has bidded on one and for whatever reason if they have been offered by the housing team to someone on priority they have been turned down. Anyone registered on the system priority or not can say they want one, first come first served. As someone who has been homeless and had to go through the whole bidding on properties shindig, you don't care where you live as anywhere is better than being homeless. Genuine people in need don't have the luxury of picking and choosing, you take the first thing as it's better than being on the street, in a B&B (or in my case) a caravan.

 

When I was having to bid for houses, the first come first served section was usually only 2 or 3 single bedroom flats, I'm quite surprised it's now up to 45 being offered in a week.

 

That's 45 properties available that can take 45 people/couples/families out of the nightmare of being homeless. Will be interesting to see how many of the same ones are being offered next week.

 

A significant number are sheltered housing, so only available to people aged 60+. Most of them are 3 bedroom properties so that excludes anyone with fewer than 2 children. The one on Eldon Court is with Guinness Partnership who insist applicants pay 4 weeks rent up front - that's over 300 quid in this case so not accessible to the vast majority of homeless people. These properties will get let, as will all the others that get added this week, and the next week, and the next. Yet the homelessness crisis will continue. This is the equivalent of saying "there are jobs advertised in the Jobcentre so there is no unemployment". Also, MsMacbeth said they have no bids on them as if no-one is interested in them - bidding isn't open until tomorrow!

 

And people may well have bid on them but been refused the property - often because there are significant problems in that block or the area and the applicant is vulnerable (these are called 'senstive lets' and there are more of these than there used to be as social problems have got worse, this might explain why the FCFS is so much longer than it used to be, or SCC may be putting them on FCFS after 1 refusal, when it used to be 3). These properties will end up on First Come First Served but 100 people may have bid on them in the last cycle, it's just that the successful applicant didn't end up signing for it, often for very good reasons.

[woodmally 10]

So, to get away from the issue of being homeless and back on to the topic of all the drinks and drug addicts around town; what's actually being done?

 

Today the usual bunch were all shouting and fighting outside our offices and I'm pretty fed up with it now. Imagine having customers coming and being confronted by those scrubbers, it's really not on.

 

What is town for these days? Business and commerce or a bunch of tramps on extra strong lager scrapping with each other? At the moment it seems to be the latter, even more so than before.

 

And just to confirm, I don't think (or care) if this lot are homeless. I just want rid of them.

 

I think there are two seperate issues. There is the issue of people who are homeless for various reasons but we have a group of people that simply spend all day taking drugs and drinking heavy strength beer and fighting and causing problems. When they are not in a zombie like state or begging for money for their various vices they are fighting and causing problems. Many of them even had accomodation like this chap (till he went to prison).

https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/banned-sheffield-beggar-charged-for-offences-including-assault-and-breaching-court-order-1-9239820

 

Its getting to the point where people are refusing to go into town now and its impacting on businesses something drastic needs to be done.

[redruby 279]

I think there are two seperate issues. There is the issue of people who are homeless for various reasons but we have a group of people that simply spend all day taking drugs and drinking heavy strength beer and fighting and causing problems. When they are not in a zombie like state or begging for money for their various vices they are fighting and causing problems. Many of them even had accomodation like this chap (till he went to prison).

https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/banned-sheffield-beggar-charged-for-offences-including-assault-and-breaching-court-order-1-9239820

 

Its getting to the point where people are refusing to go into town now and its impacting on businesses something drastic needs to be done.

 

Yes, agreed. Turning a blind eye to anti social behaviour is just making the situation worse and worse. That and kind, well meaning but misguided people handing out cash to beggars. Folks, if you feel sorry for someone on the street and want to help give to one of local homeless charities.