{"id":17142,"date":"2019-02-01T11:59:42","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T11:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=17142"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:57:45","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:57:45","slug":"theyre-virtually-invisible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=17142","title":{"rendered":"‘They’re virtually invisible’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As sub-zero temperatures continued into last night (January 31) amid the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s latest cold snap, battering towns and cities with snow, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s headquarters opened its doors to rough sleepers for the second consecutive night at a time when shelters are at maximum capacity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s central office is now serving as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098pop-up shelter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 as part of the London Mayor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s severe weather emergency protocol for people who are homeless, and is being staffed by housing charity St Mungo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workers and supported by Unite maintenance staff who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worked tirelessly to aid some of society\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite maintenance technician Bill Bailey, who lent a hand on Wednesday night (January 30) into Thursday morning (January 31) hailed the operation, noting that \u00e2\u20ac\u015beverything went smoothly like clockwork\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 as he praised St Mungo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s staff and Unite for providing the space.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bill noted the great diversity of people who sought shelter at Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s headquarters, including Romani, Eastern Europeans, and English people among others \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a fact that highlights that homelessness knows no borders.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And, in a grim indictment of Tory Britain, Bill said that in his conversations with those who stayed overnight at Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s central office, many of them do in fact work \u00e2\u20ac\u201c mainly in construction \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but still cannot afford a roof over their heads.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany of the people who stayed with us sleep in the streets in the area \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in front of shop doors, or some might seek shelter on night buses, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re gone very early in the morning, many off to work, so most of us don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even notice them,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Bill said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re virtually invisible.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This was a point echoed by Paul Noblet, head of public affairs for Centrepoint, a homeless youth charity, who told the Morning Star<\/em> that we should be wary of the latest homeless statistics published yesterday (January 31) because there are \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmany more hidden homeless people\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and that the figures were \u00e2\u20ac\u015bonly the tip of the iceberg\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bill went on to say that the rough sleepers he spoke to all voiced a great appreciation for Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s help, and that many took an interest in learning more about the trade union movement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Above all, Bill said that his experience highlighted the fact that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhomelessness could happen to any one of us\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnder this Tory government, especially with policies such as Universal Credit, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re only two pay packets away from sleeping on the streets with nowhere to go. The government has got it in for people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c under them it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no longer a caring country.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bill added that while he was very proud of his employer Unite for stepping up to lend a helping hand, it should come as no surprise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is what Unite and the wider trade union movement is all about \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we look after people,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a caring union.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite executive council chair Tony Woodhouse agreed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all about caring in the community,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a national scandal that in the sixth richest economy in the world we are desperately searching for places for people to stay. In London, 47 per cent of office space lies empty while we have vulnerable people sleeping on the streets \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a disgrace.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSpeaking of office space,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Bill added with a wry smile. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI know a place down Matthew Parker Street, the Tory Party headquarters \u00e2\u20ac\u201c maybe we should ask them if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll open their doors and help out?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As sub-zero temperatures continued into last night (January 31) amid the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s latest cold snap, battering towns and cities with snow, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s headquarters opened its doors to rough sleepers for the second consecutive night at a time when shelters are at maximum capacity.   Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s central office is now serving as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098pop-up shelter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[179,1093],"wps_subtitle":"Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s staff lend a hand with Holborn office pop-up shelter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17142"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25583,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17142\/revisions\/25583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}