In search of respect, and a roof

Roofless but street smart

There is more to homelessness than being without a roof over your head. Charities like the London-based Homeless Link say that vulnerably-housed individuals need self-esteem and meaningful employment.

Dave could not agree more. The 42-year-old stood a few yards away from Rail Europe’s office in Piccadilly on a windswept morning, selling copies of The Big Issue magazine.

“Would you like to buy a copy for £1.50?” he asks passers-by expectantly. He balances four copies of the magazine on his outstretched left hand and flashes the cover of the fifth with his right hand. By the end of the day he hopes to earn enough for “a cup of coffee and sandwich” and have a few “quid” to spare.

The Big Issue is a magazine sold by homeless people with the hope that they will earn an income and regain their self-esteem. The inspiration came from Street News, a newspaper sold by homeless people in New York. Gordon Roddick of The Body Shop happened to see it on a visit to the United States and returned to help launch The Big Issue with John Bird in September 1991. Initially a monthly publication, The Big Issue became a weekly in June 1993.

The idea was simple. The Big Issue Foundation says vendors can earn an income by investing their own money in buying the magazine at a wholesale price and then selling it on to the public at the stated cover price. It says the lives of many of the homeless and vulnerably-housed individuals changed after The Big Issue magazine helped them to help themselves by providing a means to earn legitimate income through sales of the magazine.

Young and Alone

ike Dave, more than 500 people sleep rough in England on any one night. Around a quarter of them are aged between 18 and 25, according to official figures released in November. Then there are some older homeless like the dishevelled man who calls the Sainsbury’s on Tottenham Court Road his home. Or the unkempt one in a black tunic with a mongrel in his lap, seen squatting outside Tesco’s.

There are an estimated 94,000 new homelessness cases every year, with people slipping in and out of homelessness. The overall number is expected to increase because house prices are expected to rise a further six per cent next year. Consider this. The average cost of a home in England has doubled in four years. The majority of the young stand little chance of buying their own home without taking on unsustainable debt.