Homelessness

It's 136,000 homeless young people now.

UPDATE: 

Government "Levelling Up" responded:

Government is committed to tackling homelessness and ending rough sleeping for good. Our strategy is backed by over £2bn over 3 years. Tackling youth homelessness is critical to this strategy.

Every child and young person deserves a roof over their head and a safe place to call home. 

The Government is firmly committed to tackling all forms of homelessness including youth homelessness. The Government’s Ending Rough Sleeping for Good strategy, published in 2022 and backed by over £2 billion, recognises the particular challenges facing young people experiencing homelessness.

The strategy puts prevention at its heart. The Government has committed over £1 billion to councils in England through the Homelessness Prevention Grant to help them prevent homelessness over three years, including youth homelessness. Councils can use the funding flexibly – for example, to offer financial support for people to find a new home, to work with landlords to prevent evictions or to provide temporary accommodation. 

In addition, in his Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced Government is increasing the Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of market rents from April. This will mean 1.6m low-income households will be around £800 a year better off on average in 2024-25, and will make it more affordable for young people on benefits to rent properties in the private rented sector.

Government support for housing-led solutions includes the Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme (SHAP), which aims to provide longer term supported housing, Housing First and other housing-led accommodation with accompanying support, including for young people at risk of or experiencing homelessness or rough sleeping.

So far, £150 million has been allocated to adult and young people’s projects through SHAP in 46 local authority areas to deliver 1,230 homes and accompanying support services.

The Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25 includes £2.5 million of funding at youth-specific services in 8 local authorities across England. This funding develops specialist youth support such as outreach workers, prevention officers and specialist housing for those under 25.

Up to £3 million funding is available in 2023/24 to provide targeted support to young people leaving care, those most at risk of homelessness and rough sleeping. This funding is targeted across 56 local authorities in England, those with the highest need and will provide financial support to children’s services and housing teams to encourage improved partnership working through the introduction of joint protocols. 

A proportion of the Local Authority Housing Fund worth over £1 billion also goes towards temporary accommodation, helping to alleviate homelessness.

We have also put in place bespoke support for local authorities through our Homelessness Advice and Support Team, which includes dedicated youth homelessness advisor roles that have a commitment to work with local authorities to proactively promote positive joint working across housing authorities and children’s services, offering training, advice and support to all local authorities.   

Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities

Don't turn off your computer, it says? How many days should I wait?

I know, it's a predictable post.

I had to use a Windows computer again. It said it wanted to check a few things first. I thought 'here we go again'. Yes it's been BSOD-ing ever since. 

What a waste of time. Still I can write this post on my trusty Mac.

entitled sheds

I've been driving up and down the country over the last few days. It's interesting to notice certain types of other driver and their attempted manoeuvres. 

One of the most commonplace is with someone in a brown, or grey SUV shed on the inside lane who wants to go as fast as possible and will find the smallest gap in front of me to pull across into lane 3. The time spent in front of me is minimal, but it is also at an unsafe braking distance and causes my car's auto sensing to dab the brakes. 

I'd predicted that drivers will 'game' the new convoy lorries, but it seems it is already happening with holistic cruise control.

vroom vroom

Outside the front of our house there's a protected wildlife corridor. The other side of it is a building site with a temporary through road whilst a new bridge is being finalised. The builders have added red and white chevrons to the edges of the temporary road, akin to the ones used in Scalextric car racing.

Sometimes these barriers blow across the road, but most of the time they invite speeding traffic.

What is striking is how similar all the cars look. No, it's not an eye test, but the shapes without the badges are remarkably similar amongst these speeding hatchback cars and grey, black or white mobile sheds.

termites holding hands

They say that Vǫluspá  follows Ragnarök. A kind of rebirth after the twilight of the Gods. List everything news-topping right now. 

The Edda poems reference it. Poems first passed by song and then written down in the 14th century.Wagner wrote a Cycle about it and Bowie made a searing song. And some movie studios still make franchises.

Where all were minds in uni-thought
Power weird by mystics taught
No pain, no joy, no power too great
Colossal strength to grasp a fate

Where sad-eyed mermen tossed in slumbers
Nightmare dreams no mortal mind could hold
A man would tear his brother's flesh
A chance to die
To turn to mould

Far out in the red-sky
Far out from the sad eyes
Strange, mad celebration
So softly a supergod cries

Its easier to remember Bowie than Edda, but the point is the same.

And the termites hold the wooden bridge together.

basic face kick elemental

I just got sent the BFI listing for 2024. Featured movie? 

The KLF: 23 Seconds to Eternity

Sample city through Trancentral
Basic face kick elemental
Swings brings new technology
The 'K' the 'L' the 'F' and the ology
Da Force coming down with mayhem
Looking at my watch time 3 A.M.
Got to see that everywhere I turn
Will point to the fact that time is eternal

It's 3 A.M., 3 A.M.
It's 3 A.M. Eternal (eternal)

A-ha, a-ha, a-ha, a-ha 
Eternal

I can't do a link because it's all restricted. 

I have that book 2023. I watched it being a future artefact to becoming part of history.

And there's still images from the original footage being re-invented on modern television.

Another dimension.

fast track it to the meatballs

 

I've just read an an interesting post from a friend, about the nature of existentialism and determinism. It cunningly packs the question into a discussion about turning corners, as if in a deterministic state. 

A contrasting divergent thought could have free-will based existential agency. 

It reminds me of queueing in Disney. Follow the beaten path, or walk through walls? Maybe a question for Nietsche.* 

In Disney terms, you get a Fast Pass on your digital watch, to make it about strategy. 

Travel at 100 times the speed of everyone else, but know when to pause. Some of the best queues make it a part of the ride "To travel hopefully etc." 

Like the sadly suspended Rock 'n Roller coaster, there's a pre-queue a trip to the studio, watch the band mix down, and get invited into a stretched limo. All before the ride itself, across SoCal at 0-60 in 3 seconds.

Three minutes at insane cross town traffic speed is an unforgettable experience. Or waiting for that that space flight where you go through space preparation before getting into the rocket and blast off on a mission to Mars. Worth the wait to have felt those G-forces at launch.

My point is we are making it up. This life. This story. It's unique. To each of us. 

 *And still knowing in IKEA to 'look behind you' to get out of the pantomime of queueing and fast track it to the meatballs.