Max Hammer
Across many sectors, the British government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has failed to inspire confidence. The problems reach far beyond the government’s initial “herd immunity” strategy, an approach that it dropped only after a report revealed that the policy would lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths (Kelly, 2020). They can, in fact, be traced years back: The Conservatives’ repeated cuts to the NHS has led to a situation in which the understaffed, underfunded healthcare system threatens to reach its breaking point, even as retired doctors are called upon to return to work (Foster, 2020). And, though the situation has improved somewhat as Johnson’s administration moves towards a far more wide-reaching policy, the past decade of fiscal policy can’t simply be waved away. As a fragile state grapples with the virus, the economy teeters on the brink of collapse, and large swathes of the population have resorted to self-isolating at home to flatten the curve, one of the groups most vulnerable to the virus – the nearly 200 thousand homeless people in London – may once again be failed by their government (Mancini, 2018).
The issues that rough sleepers face in London include assault, poor hygiene conditions, and vulnerability to substance abuse, but perhaps most devastatingly, London’s homeless and rough sleeper population faces extremely poor health conditions. The average age of the more than 600 rough sleepers that die every year in England is just 44 years, and a large proportion of homeless people have some sort of underlying health condition (Greenfield, 2018). The dangers of rough sleeping, especially, make poor health conditions a near certainty – not only do the mental health issues that come with the uncertainty and trauma of rough sleeping lead many to drug and alcohol abuse, but the likelihood of falling victim to assault and the danger of sleeping rough in poor weather conditions ensure that most rough sleepers face a combination of health conditions that place them in A&E seven times more often than the general population (Brodie et al, 2013). Under these conditions, it is no wonder that charities have warned that COVID-19 is a “ticking time bomb” for London’s homeless (Topping, 2020).
The vulnerable situation of London’s massive homeless population which, thanks to government welfare cuts and failure to combat surging rent prices, has surged in the past decade, now threatens to spiral out of control lest this group receives the urgent care it deserves. COVID-19 is particularly dangerous to individuals with underlying health conditions, placing particularly London’s rough sleepers in an extremely vulnerable situation and threatening to spread quickly and devastatingly among a population with little access to urgent care or preventative methods. During a time where the fate of large swathes of the population hinges on our ability to flatten the curve by self-isolating, practicing good hygiene, and staying at home, one would think that authorities would be doing everything they can to ensure that everyone is able to follow these basic guidelines. But after 10 years of policies that have seen tens of thousands sleeping out in the open, sharing limited washing facilities, and struggling to access basic medical services, London’s failure to meet its responsibility to the vulnerable has rendered homeless people among the most exposed to the virus.
With many homeless people being dependent on the charity and goodwill of volunteers and activists filling in where the government has failed, the pandemic adds a further layer of complication to the difficult situation of London’s rough sleepers. Despite the heartening emergence of mutual aid groups across the United Kingdom, many volunteers in food banks across the UK have been forced into self-isolation (McGee, 2020). With countless homeless people being dependent on food banks and on the volunteers who staff them, this self-isolation, as well as the struggle for food banks to keep themselves stocked amidst the panic-buying that has ensued across the country’s grocery stores and supermarkets, threatens to shut down one of their lifelines. Even street donations have come to a grinding halt, as central London – the area in which many homeless people tend to ask for donations – finds itself close to empty due to the pandemic. When social programs fail homeless people, they become dependent on public action, charities and volunteers – an ultimately unreliable and volatile safety net, as COVID-19 has convincingly demonstrated.
COVID-19 may be an unavoidable pandemic, but the fact that it now stands to ravage London’s most vulnerable is a crisis of the government’s own doing. London’s homeless population, as well as its population of “rough sleepers” – people sleeping in open areas or areas not designed for habitation – has surged in the past decade, with an 18% increase in the past year alone (Butler, 2019). London mayor Sadiq Khan has called these numbers a “disgrace”, and has doubled the city’s budget to support rough sleepers, but the surging homeless population – an issue which the government’s welfare cuts and lack of investment into social housing, as well as the lack of barriers to surging rent prices in Europe’s most expensive city, has only served to augment – shows no sign of dropping anytime soon. When the situation is so dire that a significant portion of the homeless population is unable to access benefits, and when homeless people are turned down from social housing due to being “too poor” (Butler, 2019), the city and country’s failures to protect its most vulnerable population make it directly responsible for the danger that COVID-19 poses to London’s homeless.
There are some bright spots. To its credit, the Mayor’s office has worked with hotel groups and homelessness charities in the city to make rooms available to these at-risk individuals, and black cab drivers have volunteered to bring rough sleepers to these locations free of charge (Brady, 2020). As mentioned earlier, many citizens have assumed the responsibility for the government’s failures by setting up mutual aid groups and buying groceries and other essentials for individuals who were unable to, and some food banks are still running. These band-aid solutions, however, are not enough to fully protect London’s homeless population during the pandemic, nor are they enough to undo the ten years of austerity that have led to a surge in the homeless population and to a worsening of the already harsh conditions they are forced to endure. As the pandemic is now accompanied by major economic uncertainty and a looming financial collapse, more tenants find themselves in uncertain situations – an NHS paramedic was evicted from his home due to a landlord’s fear he could spread the virus (Mays, 2020) – and urgent measures must be enacted immediately to prevent the homeless population from rising further and to protect those already homeless. The government’s proposed three-month ban on evictions, which has been criticized for its brevity amidst a crisis that could take much longer and fails to protect those already served with eviction notices (Apps, 2020) – is not enough. In the short term, London must suspend rental payments, provide at least temporary housing to all homeless individuals (including both rough and precarious sleepers), and ensure cash transfers to ensure that everyone is able to access food and basic hygiene during the crisis. That is the least the government can do considering their decade of neglected responsibility to the homeless population. In the long term, however, only a reversal of austerity politics – the policies which have preyed on, and increased the number of, vulnerable people susceptible to a crisis like this pandemic – will be enough to ensure that London meets its duty to the homeless.
Works Cited
Apps, P., 2020. Anger Over Evictions ‘Ban’ Which ‘Fails To Protect Tenants’. [online] Inside Housing. Available at: <https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/anger-over-evictions-ban-which-fails-to-protect-tenants-65746> [Accessed 24 March 2020].
Brady, D., 2020. London Mayor Block-Books 300 Hotel Rooms For Rough Sleepers To Self-Isolate. [online] Inside Housing. Available at: <https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/london-mayor-block-books-300-hotel-rooms-for-rough-sleepers-to-self-isolate-65735> [Accessed 24 March 2020].
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Mancini, D., 2020. One In 200 Are Homeless In England, Charity Reveals. [online] Financial Times. Available at: <https://www.ft.com/content/092ab022-20de-11ea-b8a1-584213ee7b2b> [Accessed 24 March 2020].
Mays, H., 2020. NHS Paramedic Evicted From Home For Fear He Would Spread Covid-19. [online] The Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/22/nhs-paramedic-evicted-from-home-for-fear-he-would-spread-covid-19> [Accessed 24 March 2020].
McGee, L., 2020. Coronavirus Is Revealing How Badly The UK Has Failed Its Most Vulnerable. [online] CNN. Available at: <https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/22/uk/coronavirus-homeless-intl-gbr/index.html> [Accessed 24 March 2020].
Topping, A., 2020. Coronavirus: Homeless Face Race Against Time To Self-Isolate. [online] The Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/22/coronavirus-homeless-face-race-against-time-to-self-isolate> [Accessed 24 March 2020].
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