One in 10 Brits Think Homeless People are Beyond Help According to New End Youth Homelessness Survey
LONDON, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
World Homelessness Day
Tuesday Oct 10th
- World Homeless Day is on October 10th and new survey data looks at the nation's attitudes towards helping homeless people.
- 17% admit they do not know the best way to help the homeless with 8% thinking they can't be helped.
- A quarter of Brits feel incredibly guilty when they walk past anyone homeless and don't stop to do anything.
- When it comes to helping the homeless there are a number of alternatives to giving money including offering your time, food and warm clothing.
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/570093/Homeless_Youth.jpg )
Almost one in five Brits (17%) admitted they did not know the best way to help homeless people and shockingly one in 10 (8%) of those surveyed said they do not think there is a way to help homeless people at all, according to new survey released today.
End Youth Homelessness has released the survey findings ahead of World Homeless Day on the 10th October. It is highlighting the importance of supporting local youth homelessness charities and giving young people the dedicated support they need to tackle the problems that made them homeless in the first place, in order to provide a long-term solution to the problem.
The survey looks at the nation's attitude to helping the homeless and reveals that there is still a lot that needs to be done in order to tackle the issue - despite the fact that one in five (18%) say they give their loose change to homeless people they see, a third of Brits are skeptical to give money to homeless people because they don't know how it will be used.
Over one in 10 (13%) also admit to making negative assumptions about homeless people when they see them on the street and 16% even avoid eye contact, ignore, or give homeless people a wide berth.
Almost a fifth (19%) say they have no idea what to do to help the homeless people they see and 13% say they rarely give money to homeless people as they believe there is something more valuable they can offer, but are not sure what that is.
The survey does show that some Brits are aware of this - almost half (45%) say they have donated items of food, clothing or furniture to a homeless person, nearly a fifth (19%) say they would rather buy homeless people food and drink than give them money.
Over half of Brits (53%) have donated money to a charity and one in 10 (12%) have volunteered their time. There are still those who feel like they could be doing more, with a third (32%) having thought about volunteering their time or saying they would like to do so, and a quarter admitting to feeling incredibly guilty when they walk past anyone homeless without stopping to do anything.
To help end youth homelessness you can join over 2,300 people in 15 locations across the country taking up the Sleep Out challenge this winter.
"Young people have their whole lives ahead of them, they just need the opportunity to turn their lives around. We need to give young people the dedicated support they need to tackle the problems that made them homeless in the first place. Rough sleeping is just the tip of the iceberg. By supporting your local youth homelessness charity and signing up to Sleep Out, you can help provide long-term solutions to the problem."
Nick Connolly, Managing Director, End Youth Homelessness.
About End Youth Homelessness:
End Youth Homelessness (EYH) is a national movement to end youth homelessness in the UK. EYH brings together local charities to tackle youth homelessness on a national scale.
Each EYH charity works in its own way to meet the needs of local young people; all sharing a belief in giving homeless young people the opportunity to turn their lives around; build high aspirations and move on to successful and independent lives.
Members:
The charities supported through End Youth Homelessness are: 1625 Independent People (Bristol), Aberdeen Foyer (Aberdeen), The Amber Foundation (Surrey, Wiltshire, and Devon), St. Basils (West Midlands), The Benjamin Foundation (Norfolk), Centrepoint (Barnsley, Bradford, London, Manchester, and Sunderland), Llamau (Wales), The Rock Trust (Edinburgh), and Roundabout (Sheffield).
EYH works with over 26,000 young people who are amongst the most deprived in the UK.
About Sleepout:
Sleep Out is End Youth Homelessness' flagship fundraising event.
There are 15 Sleep Out events UK-wide, 9 charities taking part and over 2,300 participants expected.
The event aims to raise £1,000,000 for homeless and vulnerable young people across the UK.
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