Being homeless for so long was really depressing and stressful, said Ayeasha, 47 and from London. For the first couple of years, I didn't realise how much it was affecting my son. Now 14, Ayeasha's son spent 12 years of his life across five different temporary accommodation properties. Many of these were riddled with disrepair, the mother said, with the ceiling collapsing in one.
Solomon Smith said he founded the charity with money from his job as a youth worker after being unable to secure funding for the project. He began helping others after witnessing poverty among his peers as a child. He said: "We got cooked meals every day. It's not until I was actually going to my friend's house, when I realised poverty. I realised that if they didn't go out and steal, they were not eating."
Many people in Germany have had little or no access to medical care, according to a report released by the aid group Doctors of the World. Christian Stegmuller, who heads the organization's domestic programs, said Germany was failing to guarantee the right to medical care for everyone living in the country, pointing to a rising number of uninsured people and gaps in care for those with health insurance debt.
We want to end the use of B&Bs, apart from in a really dire emergency situation. We want to end the use of B&Bs by the end of the parliament. It will take people having access to better temporary accommodation, increased social housing and so on. But I think we can do it. If we don't manage it, no one will judge me as harshly as I'll judge myself.
Shabana Mahmood's radical plans to overhaul the asylum system could cause unintended consequences such as increased homelessness among people seeking refuge and growing case backlogs, Whitehall's spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, has concluded. Rajeev Syal has the story. Here is the NAO's report. And here is its eight-page summary. Share Good morning. It is PMQs today, but Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is also facing intense scrutiny in the Commons today.
Barcelona's El Prat Airport has started restricting access to its terminals to anyone without proof of a boarding pass, as authorities aim to control the problems of homelessness and petty crime at Spain's second busiest airport. Spanish airport operator Aena has changed access rules to Barcelona El Prat in a bid to improve security at the Catalan capital's main airport.
San Francisco General Hospital's Ward 86 derived its name by being sited on the sixth floor of Building 80, an aging red brick tower on the north end of the sprawling hospital campus. It was the first HIV/AIDS outpatient clinic in the nation, opening its doors on Jan. 1, 1983. Until its abrupt closure after last week's stabbing of social worker Alberto Rangel, allegedly by one of the clinic's patients, it hosted a drop-in clinic five days a week.
When I began work as Dublin city's night-time adviser 18 months ago, the city was weighed down by a negative narrative. It wasn't long after the November riots, a low point that left many wondering what had happened to our capital after dark.
According to prosecutors, Elliott and Avalos got into a confrontation on Sept. 29, 2023, when Elliott, who was out for a jog, encountered Avalos sleeping on the sidewalk. Elliott, who was also pushing a cart holding his two pet dogs, allegedly nudged Avalos with the cart, prompting Avalos to wake up and yell at Elliott to get away. Prosecutors alleged Elliott began to record the confrontation and, when Avalos threw a shoe, Elliott pulled out a gun he had in the cart and fired multiple rounds, killing Avalos.
Many give much of themselves to help the homeless. Take Mike Jellison. He knows about drug addiction, familial estrangement, prison, and recovery and brings it all to bear on his work as a recovery coach. And Katherine Koh. The Harvard Medical School assistant professor of psychiatry works with Jellison to help unhoused clients as part of the street team at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program.
They really gave us no choice on it at the end of the day, it was either a tiny home or get out," Robert, who declined to give his last name for privacy reasons, told San José Spotlight.
HUD's proposed Continuum of Care Program (Notice of Funding Opportunity) represents a destructive departure from decades of homelessness policy and will put an estimated 170,000 additional households into homelessness, said NLIHC President and CEO Renee Willis. These actions will destabilize communities across the country. CoC funding must prioritize evidence-based housing practices, housing stability and local decision-making rather than undermine them. The harm to families and individuals who rely on these programs will be irreversible and felt for generations to come.
Bright yellow sweatshirts emblazoned with I TIM KELLER are being handed out to city residents experiencing homelessness, but no one seems to know who is behind them. Tim Keller running for re-election as mayor says it isn't him, and his campaign called it a disgraceful stunt. Some people said they got the hooded sweatshirts at shelters; others said they were handed out on the street. Pebblez, who is unhoused, said the people distributing them did not reveal who they were: They didn't identify themselves. They had no tags. They weren't wearing anything. They just asked if we wanted sweaters.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.
Homelessness in Germany has reached alarming levels, with over half a million people lacking permanent accommodation as of early 2025. The crisis affects men and women of all ages, with families and young people increasingly at risk. As winter intensifies the dangers faced by those without shelter, we look at how residents in Germany can support some of the social welfare organisations working to alleviate homelessness.
One thing that has always fascinated me is how an innocent, dispassionate analysis can still reinforce biases and exacerbate societal problems. Looking at crime rates by district, for example, shows which area has the highest rate. Nothing wrong with that. The issue emerges when that data leads to reallocating police resources from the lowest-crime district to the highest or changing enforcement emphasis in the higher-crime district.
Only about 56% of people on council housing registers in boroughs like Islington and Lambeth are rehoused each year Councils are removing thousands from waiting lists due to having no realistic chance of being housed Council housing now overwhelmingly goes to those in the most severe need Only about five per cent of Londoners on the waiting list for a council home have any chance of being rehoused, a City Hall inquiry has been told.
From relative stability in an established community, to being repeatedly swept on the streets of Multnomah County, unhoused residents formerly living in the Sandy River Delta highlight a breakdown in the fight to address homelessness. A community of over 30 people was swept out of what's known as the Thousand Acres recreation zone on October 1, after a previous attempt in June included an incident of Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL) contractors pepper spraying multiple people, including a bystander.
Schools, service providers and the county have come together to ensure that thousands of families and children have access to housing and stability. The Heading Home Campaign, created through a referral by Ellenberg, whose District 4 includes Campbell, and former Supervisor Cindy Chavez, launched in 2021 in collaboration with the Office of Supportive Housing (OSH). Since then, the campaign has helped 2,543 families, including more than 5,000 children age 5 or younger, secure permanent housing.
