Do charities impel social exclusion, welfare dependency? FWD
Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Fri, 9 Oct 1998 02:17:26 -0400
http://reports.guardian.co.uk/articles/1998/10/7/25790.html
FWD Guardian [UK] - Wednesday October 7, 1998
See also: Social Exclusion Unit http://www.open.gov.uk/co/seu/seuhome.htm
Shelter: http://www.shelter.org.uk/main.html ]
HITTING HOMELESSNESS
by Chris Holmes [director of Shelter]
Could it be that the very people who are trying to tackle social exclusion
are adding to the problem? Chris Holmes thinks so, and he says it's time
for charities to change old habits and practices.
Last week at a Shelter fringe meeting in Blackpool I made some strong
criticisms of charities and the voluntary sector, arguing that in some ways
we have actually contributed to the growth of social exclusion and colluded
in maintaining benefit dependency.
My purpose in saying this was not breast beating for its own sake. The aim
was to respond to the challenges set out by recent reports from the Social
Exclusion Unit on street homelessness and poor neighbourhoods. This
programme for tackling social exclusion challenges many of the deeply
ingrained practices by which we deliver services. The targets are
ambitious: to reduce the number of people living on the streets by two
thirds; to bridge the gap between the poorest neighbourhoods and the rest
of Britain and to deliver policies across the board that work for deprived
areas.
What is absolutely clear is that the Government cannot achieve these things
alone. It has thrown down a gauntlet to public bodies, the private sector
and voluntary agencies to play their role. Partnership is not just a buzz
word, it is a necessity, and I believe organisations like Shelter have a
duty to respond to this challenge in a new way. We need to shout very
loudly about the things we do that work, but we also need to be candid
about what has failed. A crucial test of success must be whether the work
we do helps people to take control of their own lives.
However well intentioned, this is not always the case. There are housing
associations which charge unaffordably high rents, which discourage tenants
from ever looking for work. Some housing associations and voluntary
agencies have developed supported housing projects where only unemployed
young people can afford to live.
Likewise, we have too often responded to the needs of people on the street
through soup runs and other short-term emergency help without enough
emphasis on long-term solutions. Every night around 2,000 people sleep out
on the street. During the day there are others on the streets who are not
homeless but who have mental health and addictions problems. The needs of
both must be met with the aim of getting them off the street. Those working
to meet the target for reducing street homelessness must start from the
point that living on the street - night or day - is dangerous, damaging and
humiliating and should not be encouraged.
The voluntary sector, working with others, must ensure that we are
providing services as a step towards increasing people's independence, not
perpetuating attitudes towards dependency. Paternalism - still a bad habit
that the voluntary sector and charities find hard to kick - must give way
to a more empowering culture.
Some of our attitudes have been in part a response to economic and social
policies, especially in the eighties which took away hope from the most
disadvantaged: where thousands of young people were growing up in
communities where there was no prospect of work and where teenagers left
care without the educational qualifications or skills needed to live
independently.
Shelter has suffered from its own form of short termism. I believe we have
been right to campaign on behalf of those people who have nowhere to live.
But we have also been guilty sometimes of only thinking of the immediate
crisis and being blind to what happens to those who are rehoused and end up
living in communities occupied only by the disadvantaged.
This is why Shelter has recently set up five projects that will work with
families to help them settle after homelessness. For some homeless people
getting a key is not an end to their problems. Having faced months -
sometimes years - of disruption and insecurity, many move to find an empty
property with no carpet, cooker or furniture. Children, who may have had to
move schools several times while homeless, often find it hard to settle in
their new home. Shelter's projects will give families the support and
resources they need to rebuild their confidence and skills to cope
independently after periods of disruption and insecurity.
At the heart of the strategy for tackling social exclusion must be the
promotion of inclusive, socially mixed and sustainable communities. The
initiatives that will work will be those which encourage and enable people
to maintain and increase independence, control and choice over their lives.
They will also be those which avoid harsh punitive responses and start with
those who are most vulnerable and most disadvantaged.
It would be a tragedy if the social exclusions initiative were to end up
being to the Labour Party what 'Back to Basics' was to Major. When
historians come to judge whether it was simply another initiative, or an
agenda which created long-lasting change, the voluntary sector will also be
in the hot seat.
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