Captain Haddock wrote:Firstly homelessness is not 'just' a British problem, Germany for example having a higher homelessness rate.
Having worked at a homelessness charity 'dealing' with rough sleepers the question I seriously ask is whether a 'soup kitchen' does anything to solve the problem or merely allows it to continue.
In my experience most of the clients had some sort of 'issue'. Most had some mental health problem, many a problem with either drug or alcohol abuse, far too many were ex-forces and unable to cope with getting through the day without being told what to do and when to do it.
These problems need a multi-agency approach such as that from Porchlight or the Conection at St Martins in the Fields. I suggest that money spent by charities such as these provides much better use of any charitable funds, a soup kitchen merely allowing the problem to perpetuate and actually (which we all suspect but few dare say) attracting needy persons to Dover from outside the district to the detriment of the town.
I can echo most of that based on my voluntary experience with the charity "Crisis", ideally there would be more charities like Emmaus that take people in to work, usually collecting/delivering/shifting furniture and/or restoring contributed items of furniture. Much easier getting off substances when one is busy and that a good dinner, bed and hot shower awaits at the end of the day. That said many simply have no interest in getting off booze or drugs so for them and people just unfortunate enough to fall on hard times soup kitchens are a lifeline.