Facts About Homelessness

There is an alarming rise in the levels of homelessness in the UK as more and more people feel that they are being forced to live on the streets. This is the very visible face of the homeless problem but the reality is that it runs much deeper than people living on street corners and in shop doorways. Homelessness tends to indicate that people have suffered either through addiction or poverty. Rehabilitation can help the individual people and it can help to improve homelessness figures too.

Why People Become Homeless

Poverty is one of the leading causes of homelessness along with drug or alcohol addiction. While these may

be linked to one another in some cases, this isn’t always true. In reality, every homeless person has their own story and it is getting to the bottom of these problems that will ultimately help rehabilitate and help the individual on the road to recovery.

Homelessness Statistics

It is virtually impossible to track actual homelessness figures. Homeless people are transient in nature, choosing to move around often or being forced to move to a new spot on a regular basis. This makes counting actual figures incredibly difficult. What’s more, there is no single set of figures and statistics that is used to measure the exact number and crossover of data sets means that estimates can prove incorrect.

What Can Be Done To Help?

The first stage in helping combat homelessness is to get the homeless off the streets and into emergency hostels and shelters. Living on the streets is potentially very dangerous and life threatening and needs to be prevented. Those that do come in from the streets then need to receive assistance in order to help them combat the problems that led to homelessness and they need support to help rehabilitate them into society.

What Can Be Done To Prevent Homelessness?

Prevention is better than cure. A lot of homeless people find themselves back in the same position, even following time on a hostel or shelter. This is because they did not receive the necessary support that would have helped them to rehabilitate completely before the problem resurfaced once again.