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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/17/cashless-society-homeless-change-technology-card-donations-dehumanise
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| In a cashless society, mobile payments are the change homeless people need | In a cashless society, mobile payments are the change homeless people need |
| (4 months later) | |
| By recent estimates, more than two-thirds of all retail transactions in Britain are now being made on debit and credit cards. With significantly less cash in use, people have less spare change – and that is hitting the homeless hard. Now there is a scramble to make up the difference. | By recent estimates, more than two-thirds of all retail transactions in Britain are now being made on debit and credit cards. With significantly less cash in use, people have less spare change – and that is hitting the homeless hard. Now there is a scramble to make up the difference. |
| May urged to go further in plan to end rough sleeping by 2027 | |
| Greater Change, a social enterprise in partnership with Oxford University, has come up with one such solution: homeless people sign up to a service that provides them with a QR code that cashless givers can scan with their phones to transfer money. All donations feed into the homeless person’s account, which is managed by a caseworker to ensure the money helps them reach an agreed target, such as saving for a rental deposit. | Greater Change, a social enterprise in partnership with Oxford University, has come up with one such solution: homeless people sign up to a service that provides them with a QR code that cashless givers can scan with their phones to transfer money. All donations feed into the homeless person’s account, which is managed by a caseworker to ensure the money helps them reach an agreed target, such as saving for a rental deposit. |
| Some will argue that assigning people a code, as if they are consumer goods, is dehumanising and dystopian, but with unremitting government apathy towards the homelessness crisis, Greater Change is attempting to make the best of a terrible situation. | Some will argue that assigning people a code, as if they are consumer goods, is dehumanising and dystopian, but with unremitting government apathy towards the homelessness crisis, Greater Change is attempting to make the best of a terrible situation. |
| To those critical of Greater Change’s efforts, there is a simple proposition: what is more degrading to the homeless, that technology is being used to create a practical solution to a very real issue, or that swathes of homeless people have become a fixture on our high streets, their presence so normalised most onlookers are unmoved by their suffering? These are people who have been reduced to mere statistics in studies. Scanning the code provides a short biography of the person in need, detailing how they ended up on the streets and what they’re saving for. This can allow them to reclaim their identity in a society where they are often ignored. | To those critical of Greater Change’s efforts, there is a simple proposition: what is more degrading to the homeless, that technology is being used to create a practical solution to a very real issue, or that swathes of homeless people have become a fixture on our high streets, their presence so normalised most onlookers are unmoved by their suffering? These are people who have been reduced to mere statistics in studies. Scanning the code provides a short biography of the person in need, detailing how they ended up on the streets and what they’re saving for. This can allow them to reclaim their identity in a society where they are often ignored. |
| The absence of an official record of the amount of rough sleepers dying on our streets is a huge issue, as a Manchester Evening News story underlined this week. Government research from late 2017 estimates there were 4,751 people sleeping rough on a given night. The homelessness charity Crisis believes the actual figure is in excess of 8,000. Theresa May declares this to be an issue of “national shame”, yet her government is unwilling to take account of the full scope of the crisis. | The absence of an official record of the amount of rough sleepers dying on our streets is a huge issue, as a Manchester Evening News story underlined this week. Government research from late 2017 estimates there were 4,751 people sleeping rough on a given night. The homelessness charity Crisis believes the actual figure is in excess of 8,000. Theresa May declares this to be an issue of “national shame”, yet her government is unwilling to take account of the full scope of the crisis. |
| The rollout of universal credit, calamitous cuts to mental health and addiction services, and a mammoth shortfall in affordable housing have caused misery across the country. With 80% of rough sleepers suffering from a mental illness and two-thirds citing drug and alcohol abuse as the reason they ended up on the streets, it’s clear that the Tories’ austerity measures have had a direct impact on the dramatic increase in homelessness since they came to power in 2010. | The rollout of universal credit, calamitous cuts to mental health and addiction services, and a mammoth shortfall in affordable housing have caused misery across the country. With 80% of rough sleepers suffering from a mental illness and two-thirds citing drug and alcohol abuse as the reason they ended up on the streets, it’s clear that the Tories’ austerity measures have had a direct impact on the dramatic increase in homelessness since they came to power in 2010. |
| The cashless society is a con – and big finance is behind it | Brett Scott | |
| This week the prime minister unveiled a £100m pledge to eradicate rough sleeping by 2027, but it was a hollow promise. Not long after the announcement the communities secretary, James Brokenshire, conceded that half of this money had already been allocated to homelessness, and the other half had been “reprioritised” from elsewhere in the housing budget. It seems clear that the homelessness epidemic isn’t quite the priority that the government claims it to be. | This week the prime minister unveiled a £100m pledge to eradicate rough sleeping by 2027, but it was a hollow promise. Not long after the announcement the communities secretary, James Brokenshire, conceded that half of this money had already been allocated to homelessness, and the other half had been “reprioritised” from elsewhere in the housing budget. It seems clear that the homelessness epidemic isn’t quite the priority that the government claims it to be. |
| There is scepticism about whether schemes such as Greater Change will make a difference, but where the state is failing society’s most vulnerable, it’s left to charities and the goodwill of the public to help. To meet the overwhelming need of the homeless, ingenuity is a necessity – and that includes finding ways to adapt to our cashless society. | There is scepticism about whether schemes such as Greater Change will make a difference, but where the state is failing society’s most vulnerable, it’s left to charities and the goodwill of the public to help. To meet the overwhelming need of the homeless, ingenuity is a necessity – and that includes finding ways to adapt to our cashless society. |
| • Eloise Millard is a freelance journalist and film-maker specialising in poverty and inequality | • Eloise Millard is a freelance journalist and film-maker specialising in poverty and inequality |
| Homelessness | Homelessness |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| Charitable giving | Charitable giving |
| Social exclusion | Social exclusion |
| Housing | Housing |
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