Homelessness - Speech

Homelessness - Speech

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin by telling you a little

story. Everyday, on my way to work, I come across this smart and neat

young man selling the Big Issue. I never pay much attention to him and

in fact would rather he wasn’t there at all making me think about all

those people in the UK who, like him, are homeless. How many of you

have ever felt that same way? Most of us try to ignore these people

living in the streets who are forced to beg for money as if that

solved the problem and made them disappear. But it doesn’t.

So thinking about this, one day, I decided to help this young man and

buy the Big Issue from him. That day I arrived late to work because I

had spent so much time speaking with Matt who turned out to have been

at college with me, we were in the same class! His story after

college, however, was quite different to mine. He told me he had been

living in the streets for five years now and that he had an ex-wife

and 8-year-old son in Wales, where he had been living. He had been

sacked from his job as administrator in a well-known business due to

his frequent hourly absences to find gear. He had found it impossible

to find a job – “nobody wanted a junkie as an employee, even though I

had excellent qualifications” he told me. His wife ended up divorcing

him claiming she was ashamed and felt he would never be able to find a

job and take care of his family.

Matt left home and came to London to find work, detox and start a new

life. However, life in London was much more expensive than he had

thought and Matt found he couldn’t even afford a bed and breakfast. He

didn’t know anyone who...

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... to solve these problems that affect so many

people in our country. Donate some of your time and money. It just

takes a little goodwill to make things better for these people who,

for some reason or another, have found themselves living in inhuman

conditions that nobody should ever have to suffer.

These problems could affect anyone of us anytime. Each and every one

of us could become Matt if we don’t take action. Cities such as Leeds

or London where money is in the air have their own Cardboard Cities

where misery is in the air. The only thing we need to do to make them

disappear is stop ignoring them, pretending they are invisible and

that we can’t see them. We need to take action, build households for

people on low incomes and create jobs for all those qualified people

out there who are living under a cardboard box.