Giggs & Neville's Gesture Is A Start - But This Issue Is Much More Complex

IT'S A story that could be the plot of a feel-good film: luxury hotel in the making is occupied by a bunch of down-on-their-luck types, but instead of evicting the plucky folk the benevolent owners (who in a surprise twist are also local sporting legends) say they can stay for Christmas. All that’s needed is the comeuppance of a stuffed-shirt lawyer and we have a hit.

The first thing to clear up is the long-held confusion between homelessness, begging and living on the streets

But it turns out that the true story of the Stock Exchange hotel is a lot more complicated than a movie plot, and Neville and Giggs are not the only stars of this story. Since the ‘Sock Exchange’ has coalesced into a more organised collective, the original leader, Wesley Hall, has been evicted for various reasons, while, Ryan MacPhee, who set up the Manchester Ark on Oxford Road, was previously denied and then given access to the Exchange.

The reason I point these developments out is not to talk about the ins-and-outs of collective organisation, but to note that the very fact that these names are given and recognised, that the recipients of such generosity are not just faceless extras in the Giggs and Neville show but real people with names and personalities, represents a new way of portraying homeless people in the media.

But the tale of the Stock Exchange does not just illustrate that the homeless are more visible in the headlines - they are more visible on our streets too. By now everyone has noticed more tents and of course, be aware of Manchester City Council’s effort to remove them. Does this increased feeling of presence reflect an actual increase in the number of homeless people in our city?

The first thing to clear up is the long-held confusion between homelessness, begging and living on the streets. Beggars are not necessarily homeless, homeless people do not necessarily sleep on the streets and people who sleep on the streets do not necessarily beg. When thinking about numbers provided by various agencies, including the Council, the term ‘homeless’ covers far more people than the stereotypical image people have of people who bed down on a park bench for the night (the correct terminology for people who sleep out on the streets is ‘rough sleeper’).

Homeless people are in a variety of situations, from being in temporary accommodation such as hostels and B&Bs, to sleeping on friends’ couches. According to homeless.org.uk, one of the main reasons people lose their home is the breakdown of their relationship with their families. For households in temporary accommodation such as B&Bs, around 50% have children – the saddest figure of all is that the latest data for the Manchester area indicates that 492 children have no home.

According Manchester City Council figures, rough sleeping increased by 79% from 24 in 2013 to 43 in 2014. This kind of data is collected in one of two ways – estimates based on local intelligence (i.e. based on reports from local charities and groups that help the homeless every day throughout the year) or by doing a head count on a single night. The Council favour the second option, despite the obvious drawbacks of sampling in this way. One night does not reflect the average over a year as seasonal variations occur; the count is said to be performed only in well-lit areas and it is down to the counter to decide who is or is not a rough sleeper, which in a busy city like Manchester is not easy. Some charities claim the real number is closer to 200 but the nature of the problem means no-one can give a definitive figure.

Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville are allowing homeless people to stay at their £1.5m property for winter

One night the council will be avoiding for its count is the Friday 6 November, which has been chosen by the Booth Centre, a homeless day centre in the city, for its annual Sleepout event. Hundreds of people will sleep outside Manchester Cathedral to highlight some of the hardships that rough sleepers face every single night.

One man, Dave, said, “I lost my job, my relationship broke down and I ended up homeless. I slept rough for seven months, it was a very dark and scary time in my life. I heard about the Booth Centre through other people on the street and I went along for some help. They helped me get into stable accommodation, and with the support of the centre, I’ve been able to stay in my own flat for four years now.

"They are always there for me, even though I’m not homeless anymore, they’re still helping me every single day. I volunteer in the kitchen at the centre. It gives me a purpose to my day, a reason to get up, and it’s my way of helping other people like the Booth Centre helped me.”

Richard Leese took the opposite tack when he wrote in his blog piece on homelessness: “One thing we do know is that plonking tents in the city centre is not a way of dealing with homelessness although in reality many of the tent occupiers are not homeless [...] I know many people think the Council is being unnecessarily tough with the street camps. I think we have a number of serial protestors who are quite willing to use some of our most vulnerable citizens for their own political ends.”

While Leese has been criticized for being hard-hearted, he is not wrong when he says that the needs of homeless people are complex. Manchester City Council has recently revisited its Homeless Strategy Action Plan (view the report here) which identifies several key issues and priorities in tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. There are, of course, problems with drug and alcohol to be tackled, and even more pressingly, mental health issues which need to be served in conjunction with getting a roof over people’s heads (all of which are undermined by Government cuts) – but there are needs which are even more intangible than that, not mentioned in any council report, including the need to be recognised as people.

The generous nature of Neville and Giggs’ gesture is just one step in the right direction, and while there are many practical things that individuals and the Council can do, practicing a little empathy can also help, whether it’s going on the sleepout or just remembering that a homeless person has a name too.