A friend who contacted me is angry. I’m angry.
A man has camped out between the Library and Tesco for a while. He has permission from the landowner to be there. But this afternoon young people attacked the tent in an act of wanton vandalism.
The tent may not be wrecked. Examination will have to wait until the morning. There were probably no valuables in the tent. The owner is currently in a hotel sheltering from the plunging temperatures.
But this vandalism is unacceptable. It’s the guy’s home. He has been there for months and may be there for while longer. How would those young people if their home had been attacked?
We have long made rough sleepers welcome in our town. They get more local support than in many larger towns and cities. People befriend them. They don’t vandalise the homes of the homeless. Until today.
We have two rough sleepers in Ludlow at the moment. It is not good living out in tents in this weather. Shropshire Council implemented the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) earlier this week. It comes into effect whenever temperatures drop below freezing. We expect SWEP to be in place for another four or five days at least.
After that, the rough sleepers are out in the cold again. The continual struggle to get people on the streets in from the cold, to find them accomodation, to get them to accept accomodation, to give them a pathway towards the life we think of as normal will continue.
As far as I know there were no personal items in the tent which was provided by a local businessman. I met the rough sleeper on the Budgens bench yesterday and we talked through his move to a hotel. I said I thought it was okay to leave his tent behind as Ludlow is safe. I was wrong on that. He left town with as much as he could carry (and thanks to W who took him to his hotel). It didn’t seem necessary for him to take the tent.
Many of us just go camping once a year, or just when young and then give it up for greater comforts. For many rough sleepers, a tent is their home. Their only home. It is a very personal space. To have that home attacked is unacceptable.
Absolutely Disgraceful.On a wider point we house illegal immigrants in Hotels at a cost to the Public purse of at least £7,000,000 a day. All the time we cannot home our own homeless millions of our own go to Foodbanks etc etc.
We must have public funded buildings sitting open ?
Better than dossing out in a Tent surely.
We are Surely back in Victorian times.
Shameful Britain nothing Great about Britain unless ur Minted..
I totally agree! This wanton vandalism is unacceptable.