19,000 homeless people go off streets in London

London, Apr 16 (UNI) About 19,000 homeless people in London moved off the streets while Britain achieved a phenomenal success in tackling rough sleeping.

What used to be a usual sight in the city has now changed due to the relentless efforts of Charities, government, and local authorities.

Street homelessness numbers are now a mere one-fourth of what they were in all regions, except London.

However, people faced with mental health problems or addiction, those who entered the UK to work and have ended up destitute; small-time offenders running around the criminal justice system are still to be helped.

Homelessness has gone down but the phenomenon has stalled for quite some time now.

There is a shortage of affordable homes in is one of the problems which is being handled by homelessness charities and housing associations.

The right support to the homeless people to get on and get going is also an issue.

The third problem, and the toughest to fight is preventing more people from coming on to the streets. There is a constant flow of new arrivals on to the street, Jenny Edwards, chief executive of the charity Homeless Link was reported as saying by the Guardian.

People who sink into homelessness are petty offenders shuttling between prison and streets without any provision to start life afresh.

Most of the times it so happens that people left on streets move to other parts of the city from where they are sent back for lack of accomodation or necessary services.

The migrants from central and eastern Europe, who have come to the UK to work form a major part of the street population.

While immigration was not a problem 10 years ago, in the current age, the solution lies in finding these people some work demanding key players to come together on some national action plan.

According to Jenny the stitch lies not in pushing the problem out of the area concerned by pushing homeless people out of the territory but by providing the right prevention and support for the people most at risk of homelessness.

Meanwhile, Britain's success in the sphere has inspired many a countries and the European parliament looks set to call for an end to rough sleeping in Europe by 2015.

UNI XC AKJ GC1934