Illness and homelessness

I had a fluff piece that I intended to post, but homelessness has very much been on my mind these last few weeks. Whilst in London I spotted homeless people on virtually every street that I walked down, sitting out in the freezing cold.

I want to talk about someone I know, who I will call Patient. Patient is really ill. They have terrible pains every day, and the doctors have no idea what is causing the pain. This has been going on for a few years now.

Recently they became so ill that they lost their job. So, like I did last year, they turned to the government to help them pay their rent. Only the government said no. Patient had not paid enough taxes, and so they were not eligible for any help.

So now patient has no job, and no money. Only through their support network are they are to keep their home.

Patient is one step away from being homeless, and the government is OK with that.

People make assumptions about the homeless. They choose to be homeless. They choose to not work. Sounds great doesn't it? Not being able to go and buy food, or change your clothes, or wash. Of course they want to be homeless! They assume it started with the person making bad choices. Taking drugs, dropping out of school.

But some of them got ill. And they had to pay to go to the doctor. And they couldn't afford treatment. And they got sicker. They lost their job. They lost their home.

This is not an exaggeration. This is happening in countries all over the world right now.

Next time you see a homeless person, think about how many steps away from homelessness YOU are. What if tomorrow, you lost your job? What savings do you have? What if you had no family? It's probably closer than you think.