Britain is one the worst countries in Europe for the homeless.
More than six hundred people died on the streets of England and Wales last year. Homeless people are hundred and fifty times more likely to be killed in an assault, thirty four more times likely to kill themselves and eight times more likely to die in an accident.
On December the 26th 1995, homeless men and women refused to come in from the cold even for a day, because they were too scared to leave their tin and cardboard '' bashes'' for fear of being ousted. Many homeless people turn to drink and drugs to comfort themselves.
The number of young homeless people is growing, many of the older men keep away from them for fear of being beaten up.
One reason why so many people are homeless is that they can't get jobs because they don't have a home address, so they can't earn any money to rent some accommodation. So they are stuck in a hole and can't get out. It's like a bottomless pit.
We decided to try and find out more about what it was like for homeless people in Oxford. We wrote a questionnaire and distributed this to homeless people who are staying in a night shelter in Oxford. The shelter is for people over 25. There is another hostel in Oxford called "The Bridge" for younger people.
Our questionnaire and our results are shown below.
1) How long have you been staying in this night shelter?
Most of the people stayed in the night shelter ranging from 2 days to 4 weeks. 1 person said "it was too long".
2) Do you have any income (eg. selling the "Big Issue")?
The vast majority of the homeless people didn't receive any income. If the homeless people are lucky then they receive sickness benefit or they have to beg.
3) How long have you been homeless?
This varied a lot. The homeless people that we talked to said that they have been homeless from a shortest time of 7 weeks right up to a longest time of 24 years.
4) Do you always stay in this night shelter?--Give details
Most of the homeless people said that they didn't stay in the night shelter every day. Only two of the people said that they stayed there most of the time.
5) Have you got any plans for the future?
Many of the homeless people have plans for the future. They want to get a house, find a job, meet their children. Most of all they want a normal life.
Write and let us know what you think. You can mail us at cherwell@rmplc.co.uk