[Maru]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

Interesting, do you not have the landlords who all charge damage deposits, month rent in advance and that? Seems all our private landlords do that (I understand why, don't get me wrong) so it would be pretty impossible for someone who is on the streets to even get a property without a job as they just would not have a spare 1k+ lying around, else they wouldn't be on the streets to start with really Kind of ****ed up chicken and egg scenario. Need a home to get a job, but need a job to get a home.

Not necessarily if it's a homeowner with a dettached extension that doesn't have plumbing or a kitchen, etc, and is just an extension of the the main property (common enough), then it's maybe not a large enough expense to them to just let someone live there for a bit. There's usually a separate light bill, but if it's just one person and they are not a huge resource drain, then it may be worth letting them stay a few months to get themselves situated. I guess it is called a shed there? When it's been insulated, drywalled and had electric connected, we usually call it an extension?

Yeah this is definitely an issue too. I could have had him refuse to leave, rob my house, cause a lot of trouble, even maybe attack me tbh. But as a 17 year old in her first house on her own I didn't really think too much about it. I had a spare room, seemed to get on fairly well with him, and it genuinely did seem like he was just down on his luck rather than had caused it for himself (something I believe is true of most homeless people, I think only a few are there through their own actions tbh) and I am generally really good at spotting liars and that.

So in a way, your naivety paid off because you received a positive experience from it. I think if our culture was different, it would easier I think to provide that kind of charity. I feel like part of the reason is, 1) there is a reinforcement of this behavior to some degree societally (not in a positive way), but there's also 2) the general paranoia we all have for each other... is really quite high actually. and 3) There is a lot of reinforcement of that paranoia in the local media here... never leave your doors unlocked, never do this, never do that... warnings of scams, etc. Everyone is out to get us, etc...

You know, I worked in a fair few food places. I have worked in Burger King, Peters Bakery, a sandwich place, a cafe and a chip shop. Every one of these places point blank refused to do anything except throw their leftovers from the day in the bin. Peters was the worst, I questioned why on earth such a rich chain (well, seems they weren't as rich as they seemed as they got taken over by someone else a few years later, I guess ) did this when there were homeless people/poor people who needed fed...it just seems so wasteful. Anyway, turns out apparently Peters head office or whatever actually send random inspectors out to check the BINS to make sure that all the stock left at the end of the day is actually thrown out. In addition to this, the bins were locked well away from everyone, and padlocked and such I got quite irate at the manager about this actually, (I am not sure that this is actually a real thing, about the inspectors or if he just made up crap on the spot to shut me up...either way, they do write down whats left at the end of the night on a checklist thing, then throw it in the bin though) it possibly contributed to me being sacked for being 'not a good fit and 'causing trouble'

Yeah, it's astonishing the amount of waste that can come out of a single restaurant. It's infuriating. Not only in food, but in product waste in general, just the general production/running of a restaurant is pretty wasteful... the local businesses though seem to have a choice to donate or throw, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not in certain company's policy to avoid this for health reasons Even if it's not directly to the homeless from the front/back of their shop, the shelters that will pick up bulk food on their behalf if the restaurant tells them it is available. We have natural disasters often enough that there always seems to be loads of non-profits and local restaurants ready and willing to step up at a moments notice and come to the shelters with food when they open... so that could be somewhat of a local custom... we all need a little bit of extra help sometimes I feel though.