Peter Cripps Photography

I don’t normally take pictures like the one above. I think it’s cheap and too easy to capture images of rough sleepers and, quite rightly, feel I could be accused of exploiting other people’s misfortune.

I’ll be honest, I took the above image in a hurry as I was going into the station. I’d been taking a few more ‘conventional’ street images in the area and was rushing to catch a train. As I approached the station I was troubled by the number of people coming out who were either ignoring this guy altogether or giving him dismissive looks as, I fear, many of us do, like the man coming out of the station. I did not think I would do anything with this image but wished I had made the time to speak to this person, maybe see if I could have got him a hot drink or sandwich.

It was only when I got back home and looked at the image and realised how I had, completely by accident, captured the two men looking at each other I thought it was making a statement about how we treat, and take for granted, rough sleepers and homeless people in our society. I know railway stations are often places where such people gather but, as I walk around Birmingham, which is where this is taken, I am aware of the increase in the amount of people sitting or lying in the street depending on the time of day or night.

Bur what to do?

For many of us we prefer to turn our eyes away, hurry on past or even give them a wide berth. Whether you should give money directly is a point of some debate. Whilst giving money to such individuals may address immediate needs for food, clothing, and even shelter it may also lead to a risk that the money given may be misused for harmful purposes, such as substance abuse, which may perpetuate homelessness.

We all need to make our own decisions on how we can help rough sleepers and homeless people. Providing a hot drink or food may alleviate an immediate need but is obviously not a long term fix. For that we need a societal change that tries to prevent, or at least reduce, the number of people rough sleeping.

One thing we can all do is to give money to charities that support the homeless and rough sleepers. Here are a few that, particularly at this time of year, can help.

• Streetlink connects people rough sleeping in England and Wales to support provided by local authorities and charities. The platform relies on alerts submitted by members of the public who spot people that are sleeping rough.
• Crisis work directly with people experiencing or at risk of homelessness in England, Scotland and Wales. They provide practical one-to-one support to help people access benefits, healthcare services, employment opportunities, and more.
• Shelter provide advice and support services and offer one-to-one, personalised help with housing issues and homelessness.
• Let’s Feed Brum is a homeless charity in Birmingham that aims to bridge the gap between commissioned services and people on the street through “the power of befriending”. Their volunteers connect with people who are homeless and at risk of homelessness, to try and understand what they need then supporting them to access the relevant services that may be able to help.

Postscript

Looking through some very old (circa 1977 – 79) black and white negatives that I have been scanning recently I came across the below two images, also taken in my home city of Birmingham. These are coming up to 50 years old and show how back then homeless and rough sleeping people were then, as now, looked down on by passers by.

It’s so sad that so little seems to have changed in the intervening years.