Jason has lived on the streets for most of his adult life. He left home after an argument with his father and escaped to London ‘to get work, new friends, a fresh start’.
Jason’s new friends on the streets showed him how to survive on little or no money, how to get the most out of the system and how to get away from his past through drugs.
Jason soon became heavily addicted to both heroin and crack cocaine. Gingerly rolling up a trouser leg, he will show you a large concave indentation on one side of his leg - a result of gangrene following a blood clot caused by injecting crack mixed with bleach.
Jason’s future remains uncertain. He is no longer taking heroin, but is finding crack cocaine more difficult to quit. His complexion remains grimly unhealthy with a pasty sheen. Trips to hospital as a result of reoccurring clots remain a routine part of his life.
Jason has a dedicated hostel key worker who helps him to plan his next steps. However, the factors drawing him back to the street are strong. Old friends remind him of the ‘good old days’, surviving on instinct and the rapturous oblivion of class A drugs. For Jason, the problem remains of how the hours that were once taken up with raising cash, scoring, coming down and starting again can be filled.
The biggest pull of all is the lure of easy cash. Jason is a beggar, a trade he has perfected over the years. He knows the impact of the winning smile, the mumbled plea or the downcast look on different people. He knows the ‘easy touches’ (men in suits and young couples), but he never begs from the elderly or people with children. He knows the best ‘pitches’ around Waterloo and the West End.
Jason doesn’t make a fortune, but a regular £20 every couple of hours a day can keep the habit going nicely. Some people earn over £100 a day.
For agencies working with the homeless, so much of what they do is about maximising the push factors and reducing the pull factors. Employing high quality support staff, helping people off the street into decent hostels and offering access to drug treatment and rehabilitation are all ways of getting people off the streets.
Those working on the street know that most people who beg spend the money on hard drugs. A conservative estimate from Thames Reach street teams is that 75% of begging money is spent in this way. They are also well aware that most of those begging do not sleep rough, though may well be in temporary housing or living in flats on a low income.
In order to help those who beg on the streets, the amount of money they make has to be reduced. The next time someone approaches you begging for money, think how the money might be spent and give your contribution to charity instead – somewhere you know your donation will make a difference.