Homeless charities retaliate

A national homelessness charity boss rejected accusations that
there are too many agencies working in the sector today,
writes Simeon Brody.

Crisis chief executive Shaks Gosh told the Homeless Link conference
in Nottingham that the homeless sector needed to offer a wider
variety of services. Gosh was responding to comments reportedly
made by The Big Issue founder John Bird earlier this week.

Bird was reported as saying there were to many homelessness
agencies which mollycoddled homeless people. Gosh said that
agencies have to be careful about looking after homeless people for
too long but that the housing shortage made it difficult to move
people on.

She warned that the tone of Bird’s alleged comments could
turn public opinion and government policy against homeless
people.

Thames Reach Bondway chief executive, Jeremy Swain, told delegates:
“There’s too much of a range of organisations that all
do the same thing and you do see a fair amount of
duplication.”