[Leica] photographing the homeless "smug Europeans"

[Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com (Frank Dernie)]

My daughter worked with homeless people for some years. She now works  
with the mentally ill. She knows most of the homeless in Oxford and  
can tell their stories.
Apparently the largest single group of homeless people are mentally  
ill who are not considered dangerous. They were released onto the  
streets in what was euphemistically called the "care in the  
community" programme by Maggie Thatcher's government in the '80s. It  
was one of the ways she paid for the tax cuts. The second largest  
group are ex-services personnel, long termers are often  
institutionalised and lost any family life they had by the time their  
term ends. Older long term unemployed, divorced men expelled from the  
family home and people with drug problems  are there too.
There is some aggressive begging, but not often. People sell "the Big  
Issue" on the street, they keep 50p on each sale I think. I buy lots  
of them.
Frank


On 20 Jan, 2007, at 14:13, Douglas Sharp wrote:

> larry.k@rcn.com wrote:
>>
>>   So, what do the smug Europeans say on this subject? Do they have  
>> any answers to the plight of the homeless?