Penzance has been in the news (BBC Spotlight) 3 nights in a
row with linked reports on the new Breadline night shelter. The irritating factor is the BBC’s continuous
attempt to conflate rough sleeping with ASB.
Whilst there are ASB offenders who are rough sleepers, the majority of
rough sleepers keep a low profile in Penzance.
The ASB issue is driven by street drinking and aggressive begging by
addicts – most of these offenders have homes.
The rough sleeping problem is a national scandal that needs changes to
Government policies and more resources in key areas (mental services for
one). We all want a solution to reduce
the misery of homelessness. But solving
the rough sleeping problem will not solve Penzance’s ASB problem! The media
does not do anybody any favours conflating the two issues – it just demonizes
the homeless and raises false expectations that dealing with rough sleeping
will solve the ASB problem.
Cornwall Council has recently issued a statement to this
effect on behalf of the Safer Cornwall/Safer Penzance partnership. You can read
it here .