Nottingham Council’s Latest Ad Campaign Implies All Homeless People Are Frauds

You don't have to look very hard to find examples of councils being dicks to the homeless.

In Manchester last year, the Labour-led council decided to smash-in a shelter the homeless people had built for themselves. While in London, Hackney Council has tried to ban homelessness through public space protection orders.

Figures have revealed the number of homeless has risen by 14,720 since the Conservatives came to power, and an FOI found that more than one in 10 local authorities want to criminalise homelessness.

You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to work out that making it illegal won't stop the problem - if you're homeless you're homeless, illegal or not.

With all this in mind, lets take a look at Nottingham Council's latest ad campaign to tackle begging:

Ad campaigns like this imply all homeless people are criminals and frauds. It creates a distrust of citizens who are in a very shitty situation, and works to victimise the people who are already at the very bottom of society.

In short, they kick people when they are down.

On launching the campaign, Councillor Jon Collins, Leader of Nottingham Council said: "Community Protection and the Police are continually taking action against a small number of persistent beggars who can sometimes be aggressive. Many of these individuals appear to be 'rough sleeping' when they have already been provided with accommodation and use the money to feed their lifestyle.

"These professional beggars can make up to £800 a day and have in the past waved notes in front of officers...The Council spends over £8 million per year on commissioning specialist treatment services for alcohol and drug addiction."

If you're a Nottingham Council council tax-payer funding this campaign, or maybe you just have some feedback to pass onto Jon, then you can email him here.

Words by James Dawson

Featured image: Kev Grainger via Facebook

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Topics: Homeless

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