Just over 50 years ago, SCT, the homelessness and addictions charity I help run in East London, opened its doors for the first time. Its birth as an organisation was the result of a tragedy: a homeless man found dead on the steps of Christ Church Spitalfields just hours after the Vicar had tried to help him with food and a hot drink.
As a result, the church decided to act by offering a safe space, in its cavernous Crypt, to house homeless men during their time of greatest need. SCT recruited volunteers to provide food, shelter and basic support. This was a fairly simple act of kindness but it has undoubtedly been a lifeline for so many vulnerable people.
Our aim as an organisation was - and is - simple: no-one should ever die on the streets without a home and a chance to put their life back together again. To most this would appear to be a fairly uncontroversial objective. Surely, as the world’s fifth richest society, we can agree that having a roof over your head is a basic human right?
But 50 years on, this same tragedy is still replaying over and over again on Britain’s streets. New figures out this week, compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ), show that 440 homeless people have died in the UK in the past year alone. That’s more than one person every day.
Their stories are heart-breaking: ex-service men and women fallen on hard times; lives ravaged by alcohol and drug addiction and hard-working people unable to make a living having lost their job. Most were in their 40’s or 50s at the time of death. That is younger than the average life expectancy of people in countries such as Sudan, Yemen or Malawi.
Since 2010 homelessness has rocketed by 134% in the UK. The number of people receiving treatment for addiction has fallen significantly over the same period. And, the UK has become the drug overdose capital of Europe.
These are not failings of the charity sector but of politicians and policy makers instead. We have tried David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ - where volunteers and charities step in to replace the state - but the brutal truth is that it simply doesn’t work on a problem of this scale.
Earlier this year the government announced its intention to “end rough sleeping by 2027” and pledged the grand total of £100m help make it happen. But we know that this simply won’t cut it.
The homelessness charity, Crisis, actually puts the cost of ending homelessness at nearly £19bn over the next decade. Their solution is both simple and obvious: we need to build thousands of new social houses every year to address the UK’s housing crisis. If people are homeless the solution is more housing.
Later this month SCT we will launch a project with the artist Beau which will see ten reclaimed front doors, that have been exposed to a year out on the streets, displayed just down the road from the corridors of power in Westminster. The project serves to highlight how something so insignificant to most people can become so unobtainable for so many. Our hope is that our politicians - perhaps on their way home from a long day at the office - reflect on its message.
Homeless deaths like those reported this week are a national scandal. They are a stain on our claim to be a civilised society. Like the Vicar at Christ Church Spitalfields, all those years ago, Theresa May and her fellow MPs must now recognise that ‘enough is enough’. We can no longer sit back – knowing it is in our power to do something – and watch this happen. It is time for government to ‘throw open its doors’ and give everyone the home they deserve.
Harry Quilter-Pinner in Director of Strategy at SCT, a homelessness and addictions charity in East London.