The Truth About Stanley...

First off, I used the search function and didn't see this anywhere and mods if this is in the wrong forum please feel free to move it to the appropriate one.

The Truth About Stanley;

No home, no belongings, plenty of baggage. A short film about a man, his stories and the boy who listened, by award-winning director Lucy Tcherniak. The film tells the story of an unlikely friendship between an old Congolese man and a young runaway, living rough on the streets.

The Truth About Stanley is a story about friendship, loss, and the way in which we choose to deal with personal trauma. For Stanley, what he lacks in material possessions, he makes up for with his vivid imagination and an insatiable desire to tell stories.



The Truth About Stanley was released online with the aim of highlighting the issue of homelessness in the UK.

The whole thing was done on a shoestring budget, no-one got paid and they managed to get Radiohead and Mumford and Sons to let them use tracks on it for free because they liked it so much.

For more information visit thetruthaboutstanley.com...

England has seen a 23% increase in rough sleeping in just 12 months. In London alone, nearly 4,000 people were reported sleeping rough during 2010 and 2011.

I wanted to know the ATS community's thoughts, opinions, experiences and potential solutions as they relate to either the film or the homeless ?

Homelessness is awful and often preys on people who are down on their luck. There are the homeless who warrant their homelessness with addictions and awful spending habits, but there are also many homeless people who become homeless for reasons entirely out of their control. Many women, for example, who leave abusive relationships may find themselves in a homeless situation temporarily, especially if said women were financially dependent on their husbands/boyfriends. People whose homes are foreclosed on face homelessness as well; it can really happen to anyone, especially when the economy is suffering.

I've done some work with the homeless, it's tragic, what they go through, especially those who have kids to feed and raise. Try explaining to a child why he or she doesn't have a home anymore.

This is a very good topic and I want to thank you for putting this up, OP.

I will be sure to watch the video.

Homless people have their own codes of honor and ways of life. Strange friendships form on the street out of necessity.

I was hoping that more members would contribute to this thread as I feel it's an important topic to discuss but at the very least, think about. Having said that, I do realize that my initial post only highlights what's happening in the UK. In order to bring more members of ATS into the conversation, I have decide to add more information to the thread (specifically America). If you have information on other areas around the world, feel free to add as well.

Homelessness

Using the most recently available national data on homelessness, the 2009 and 2011 point-in-time counts as reported by jurisdictions to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the report chronicles the changes in overall homelessness and in homelessness among subpopulations between 2009 and 2011. Point-in-time count methodologies vary and are imperfect and as such the aggregated numbers do not represent a precise count of homeless people. The counts, however, when compared over time, provide a way to assess whether the homeless population has increased or decreased.

The nation’s homeless population decreased 1 percent, or by about 7,000 people; it went from 643,067 in 2009 to 636,017 in 2011. There were a decreased number of people experiencing homelessness in most of the subpopulations examined in this report: families, individuals in families, chronic, and individuals. The only increase was among those unsheltered.
The largest decrease was among homeless veterans, whose population declined 11 percent. The number of homeless veterans went from 75,609 in 2009 to 67,495 in 2011, a reduction of about 8,000.
The national rate of homelessness was 21 homeless people per 10,000 people in the general population. The rate for veterans was 31 homeless veterans per 10,000 veterans in the general population.
Chronic homelessness decreased by 3 percent from 110,911 in 2009 to 107,148 in 2011. The chronically homeless population has decreased by 13 percent since 2007. The decrease is associated with an increase in the number of permanent supportive housing beds from 188,636 in 2007 to 266,968 in 2011. Permanent supportive housing ends chronic homelessness.
A majority of homeless people counted were in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs, but nearly 4 in 10 were unsheltered, living on the streets, or in cars, abandoned buildings, or other places not intended for human habitation. The unsheltered population increased by 2 percent from 239,759 in 2009 to 243,701 in 2011, the only subpopulation to increase.
The number of individuals in homeless families decreased by 1 percent nationally, but increased by 20 percent or more in 11 states.
While the homeless population decreased nationally, it increased in 24 states and the District of Columbia.

Economic Factors

Homelessness is basically caused by the inability of people to pay for housing; thus it is impacted by both income and the affordability of available housing. In recognition of this, this report examines certain economic indicators that affect people who are homeless or at risk of being so. These factors are examined for the years 2009 to 2010, the latest for which data is available from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files, the U.S. Department of Labor, and RealtyTrac, a private real estate research group. Conditions worsened from 2009 to 2010 among three of the four economic factors examined: housing cost, unemployment, and foreclosure.

The number of poor households that spent more than 50 percent of their incomes on rent – defined by HUD as households that are “severely housing cost burdened” – increased by 6 percent from 5.9 million in 2009 to 6.2 million in 2010. Three-quarters of all poor renter households had severe housing cost burdens.
The number of unemployed people increased by 4 percent from 14.3 million in 2009 to 14.8 million in 2010. The unemployed population increased in 32 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Unemployment rose by 10 percent or more in 11 states.
The average real income of working poor people increased by less than one percent, from about $9,300 in 2009 to about $9,400 in 2010. There was not a single county in the nation where a family with an average annual income of $9,400 could afford fair market rent for a one-bedroom unit.
Foreclosure activity continued to increase with nearly 50,000 more homes in foreclosure in 2010 than in 2009. Foreclosures increased from 2.83 million units in 2009 to 2.88 million units in 2010, a 2 percent increase. Nationally, 1 out of every 45 housing units was in foreclosure in 2010. In Nevada, 1 out of every 11 housing units had a foreclosure.

Demographic information and source available in the next post

Demographic Factors

While homelessness affects people of all ages, races, ethnicities and geographies, there are groups of people at increased risk. This report examines four populations at increased risk of homelessness: people living in “doubled up” situations, people discharged from prison, young adults leaving foster care, and people without health insurance. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this report chronicles changes in some of the demographic drivers of homelessness between 2009 and 2010.

The “doubled up” population (people who live with friends, family or other nonrelatives for economic reasons) increased by 13 percent from 6 million in 2009 to 6.8 million in 2010. The doubled up population increased by more than 50 percent from 2005 to 2010.
In addition to people living doubled up, people recently released from prison and young adults who have recently been emancipated from the foster care system (aged out) are also at increased risk of homelessness. The odds for a person in the general U.S. population of experiencing homelessness in the course of a year are 1 in 194.
For an individual living doubled up the odds are 1 in 12.
For a released prisoner they are 1 in 13.
For a young adult who has aged out of foster care they are 1 in 11.
The number of people without health insurance increased by 4 percent from 47.2 million in 2009 to 48.8 million in 2010. Nationally, 1 out of every 6 people is uninsured.

Source; www.endhomelessness.org...