Article Title: Homeless people need a home first, support second

Article Summary

In this article, the author discusses the right to housing and his own experience as a homeless person. The government is forever concerned about the welfare of the destitute and the poor – but more than anything else homeless people need a home first. The author is appalled at the sight of people still living in tents in a country as wealthy as the UK but is thankful that homelessness is now more accurately and widely defined to include sofa surfing. The solution to this problem will be to first mend the fractured private rented sector first and, provide housing as a basic right next. He believes that the working homeless are rarely rich but they don’t necessarily require assistance for the chaotic lives they are believed to lead. His time homeless showed him that some homeless people desperately do need help but also showed him how wasteful the system can be. They are a victim of the broken rental housing system and don’t all need this compulsory “support”, which they can’t afford to pay for either. He believes that if housing is to be a basic, incontrovertible human right, evictions must become the very last resort. Governments must provide a roof over everyone’s head and there cannot be any excuses in this regard.