Darkman Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Outrage as 'anti-homeless spikes' spotted outside London buildingThe spikes, designed to prevent vagrants from sleeping in doorways have sparked anger on Twitter after photos of a London doorway went viral If you can't house them, just clear them off the streets. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/outrage-anti-homeless-spikes-spotted-outside-3658055 Tiny flat taken off the market by Islington councilIslington's housing chief councillor, James Murray, told the Guardian: "The problem is that people are getting squeezed by high private rent prices and the lack of affordable housing, so you get landlords who are in a position to exploit people." This is the level of housing exploitation the UK has sunk to, mainly in London of course. The council shut this one down, but how many of them still remain? Thousands I bet. http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/tiny-flat-taken-off-the-market-by-islington-council-9497765.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mewParadigm Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Could that tiny 'flat' be this bubble's poster-child equivalent of the 6-square-metere converted broom cupboard in Knightsbridge that sold in 1988 as that mania came to an end? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
“Nasty Piece of work” Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 The "market" has hit the accelerator, instead of the brakes, and will hit the brick wall, producing a fire ball that will engulf Dave and his nodding dog, George. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 Princess and the pea....nothing a thin matress couldn't sort out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderpup Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 If you can't house them, just clear them off the streets. In the US they are in some states now prosecuting people for feeding the homeless- presumably on the basis that feeding vermin simply encourages it to stay around. Home of the brave, land of the free?- what a truly disgusting place the United states is becoming- where even charity is now a crime. (Vast bailouts to bankers excluded obviously) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John The Pessimist Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 I can see a Mumsnet thread about where to buy your porch spikes in the very near future....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Self Employed Youth Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 In the US they are in some states now prosecuting people for feeding the homeless- presumably on the basis that feeding vermin simply encourages it to stay around. Home of the brave, land of the free?- what a truly disgusting place the United states is becoming- where even charity is now a crime. (Vast bailouts to bankers excluded obviously) The same policy is soon to be in place in parts of London I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okaycuckoo Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 From the OP article: Katharine Sacks-Jones, head of policy and campaigns at homelessness charity Crisis, said: "It is a scandal that anyone should sleep on the streets in 21st century Britain. Yet over the last three years rough sleeping has risen steeply across the country and by a massive 75% in London. And I picked this up from Zerohedge today about a "spike" in homelessness in New York: By any measure, New York City’s homelessness crisis broke every record during the final year of the Bloomberg administration. The already record-high homeless shelter population soared even higher, to more than 50,000 people per night. The number of homeless children bedding down in municipal shelters eclipsed historic levels, exceeding 20,000 for the first time in history. http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/pages/state-of-the-homeless-2014 Both sources are VI charities, so the figures are questionable. But it looks like we allow ourselves to be ruled by freaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbrown Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Studs aside, they have been using water/sprinklers in the subways of the IMAX in Waterloo for years to discourage vagrancy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digsby Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 The same policy is soon to be in place in parts of London I believe. Do you have a source for this? I that were true, I would be out on the streets. (Er, protesting, not living, obviously!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
200p Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 (edited) If you can't house them, just clear them off the streets. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/outrage-anti-homeless-spikes-spotted-outside-3658055 "Life will find a way" Jeff Goldblum, Introducing the the Portable anti-spike floor system (PASF). (some MDF boards). Edited June 8, 2014 by 200p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaker Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 The same policy is soon to be in place in parts of London I believe. Do you have a source for this? I that were true, I would be out on the streets. (Er, protesting, not living, obviously!) me too.. i'd like to know. Criminalising charity goes so far against my sense of decency I could see myself turning Ghandi over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StainlessSteelCat Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 The only problem with the "flat" was that they called it such as far as I can see. If it had been called a room in a shared house, it would have likely been fine - and the landlord could have probably still charged the same for it. It isn't right, but that's quite luxurious compared to some shared houses I saw in London which included a mattress in the bath (presumably you had to wake up in time for the first inmate to have a shower) and another in a throughway sandwiched between a fridge and a washing machine (both of which seemed to operate 24 hours/day). There were dozen people living in that 3 bedroom house. I knew of studio flat that had half a dozen guys living in it. This was back in 2000 - so I can only assume things have got worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R K Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Could fit bunks in there. A real Tory landlord would have spotted that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zugzwang Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 "Life will find a way" Jeff Goldblum, Introducing the the Portable anti-spike floor system (PASF). (some MDF boards). Bit extravagant. How about a discarded pallet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juvenal Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Spikes, eh? I can see Indian holy men packing their bindles and getting on the cheap Ganges - Victoria coach right now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Self Employed Youth Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Do you have a source for this? I that were true, I would be out on the streets. (Er, protesting, not living, obviously!) http://www.insidehousing.co.uk//7001863.article Pret a Manger vows to continue to give unsold food to rough sleepers Sandwich chain Pret a Manger may face calls to curtail its food handouts to homeless people under a plan being considered by the London mayor. The company vowed to keep providing free food to rough sleepers after minutes from Boris Johnson’s rough sleeping group, obtained by Inside Housing under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed the Greater London Authority is considering launching a campaign that would flag to the chain and other businesses the ‘unintended consequences’ of giving food to homeless people. The suggestion was put forward by a representative from Camden Council at the November meeting but the GLA said it would ‘explore [the] scope’ of such a campaign. The group met again to discuss the proposal on Wednesday as Inside Housing went to press. The practice of handing out food to rough sleepers has drawn criticism from councils because they believe it encourages homeless people to stay out on the street and attracts antisocial behaviour. Waltham Forest Council, in east London, is facing a judicial review in February after asking homelessness food charity Christian Kitchen to move out of the town centre and into a busy lay-by. Croydon Nightwatch, a soup kitchen in south London, also says it faces being forced to move by Croydon Council after allegations from the police that it is a ‘hub’ for ASB. A spokesperson for Pret a Manger said: ‘We believe it is better that our unsold food goes to people who really need it at the end of the day, and not in the bin. Providing food and support to those who are [homeless] is something we believe is the right thing to do.’ The company, which gives 12,000 meals a day to homeless people in London, says it donates food to charities and hostels. It has a contract with homelessness charity the Simon Community, which gives its sandwiches to rough sleepers. http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/protest-against-rough-sleeper-criminalisation-today/7002315.article A protest will be held today in a bid to stop the ‘criminalisation’ of rough sleepers in London. Arranged to coincide with mayor of London’s question time, the ‘Homes not jails: sleeping rough is not a crime’ protest has been organised in response to Operation Encompass. Under Operation Encompass, which was announced in October, the Metropolitan Police force has teamed up with six London boroughs to ‘combat begging and rough sleeping’. The authorities are working together to target those who ‘commit’ such behavior through ‘engaging, disrupting and deterring’. The ongoing operation aims to tackle persistent begging and anti-social behaviour. The six London boroughs involved in the scheme are Camden, Islington, Lambeth, Southwark, Westminster and Croydon. The protest is being held at 10am outside City Hall and the organisers hope Operation Encompass, which they say is ‘criminalising some of the most vulnerable people’, will be called off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie_George Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Sandwich chain Pret a Manger may face calls to curtail its food handouts to homeless people under a plan being considered by the London mayor. Let them eat chicken feed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neon tetra Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Some householders have now taken to using one of these to stop undesirables sleeping in their living room. It's disgusting, I tell thee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 ....the truth can't be hidden forever however hard they try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blod Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Those spikes have got to contravene HSE. I hope someone who's homeless sues the management company for injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Loo Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Those spikes have got to contravene HSE. I hope someone who's homeless sues the management company for injury. Indeed, I can see the first turned ankle claims rolling in...or tripping near the door and landing on one is possibly going to be equivalent to a kneecapping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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