In the classic movie musical My Fair Lady cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle summed up in song her deepest wish in the famous line ‘all I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air’. In the best Hollywood tradition, her wish came true, but sadly, for many modern-day Britons such supposedly basic necessities as a room over their head and enough food to eat are fantasies.
Reasons for being homeless are legion – drug addiction, alcohol abuse, mental illness, long term unemployment, the death of the family breadwinner – and so on. Homelessness and poverty are often inextricably linked, with poor people frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income, which is first conceded. Being poor means living an illness, an accident, or a wage away from living on the streets. And once the cycle of homelessness begins it’s more often than not incredibly difficult for those affected to break the chain and get back on their feet.
