Thought for the Week: Standing up
Alison Gelder asks Friends to be prepared to stand up for a truly fair society
Are you working towards the removal of social injustices? Have you attempted to examine their causes objectively, and are you ready to abandon old prejudices and think again? Do you, as disciples of Christ, take a living interest in the social conditions of the district in which you live? Do you seek to promote the welfare of those in any kind of need and a just distribution of the resources of the world? Quaker faith & practice 23.19
I hope that as you read this you are somewhere warm and comfortable and where you feel secure – or that at least you have somewhere like that to return to. Tens of thousands of our fellow citizens do not have this luxury. Rough sleeping, the visible iceberg tip of homelessness, has been increasing month on month for more than a year now. The first victims of the coalition government’s benefit cuts, people between twenty-six and thirty-four in age whose housing benefit no longer covers the cost of independent accommodation, have begun to turn up homeless at church-run drop ins. The night shelters that Housing Justice supports have opened for the new winter season. They are quickly filling up with street homeless people and with those who have run out of friends’ floors to sleep on.
And all this before the worst of the planned cuts in benefits have begun. All around our country there are families where a cloud has been cast over Christmas by the receipt of a letter informing them that from 1 April the money they receive will be cut by the overall benefit cap. Whatever the size, ages and particular needs of the family, they will be limited to £500 per week to pay for all their wants. People who were already making hard decisions about whether to heat their home or have sufficient to eat are now faced with the additional worry of whether to scrimp further to pay the rent or try to find somewhere else (somewhere smaller and cheaper) to live. This is the backdrop for the announcement by the chancellor that benefit increases will no longer be linked to inflation but, instead, will be fixed at one per cent for the next three years. If we really believe, as the Psalmist says, that the Lord hears the cry of the poor, then a thunderous roar must be rising up from Britain as so many poor and marginalised people are made to bear the brunt of cuts to reduce our national deficit.
But what are we to do? How should we respond? First, with practical help and hospitality: we can give food, clothes and a warm welcome to the homeless, hungry and needy people who turn to our churches and charities for help and support. Second, with prayer, mindfulness and attention: be aware of the people around you at work, in the shops, in the street – recognise the dignity, the troubles and the peace in them. Finally, be prepared to stand up for those who are labelled as scroungers and shirkers – a truly fair society is one where poor and homeless people are the last to be scapegoated and penalised.
Alison Gelder
Director, Housing Justice
Suggestions for practical help and support can be found at www.housingjustice.org.uk
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