Are Homeless People Turning To Tents For Shelter?

The mounting homelessness crisis in Cambridge appears to be forcing more people than ever to live in tents across the city. There has been a spike in cases of so-called "illegal camping" across Cambridge, according to fresh figures from the city council. Enforcement teams have been called to 33 such incidents on public spaces in the city so far this calendar year. The previous two years saw just 19 and 14 cases respectively. Read more on the Cambridge News website.

Homeless? Here, Have A Tent...

It all sounds pretty desperate: but there's a Coalition-era logic to Isle of Wight council's decision to offer a homeless 62 year old pensioner a voucher to enable her to buy a tent, by way of helping to find her somewhere to live.

The council made its unusual offer after rejecting Dawn Martin's application for help with emergency housing. Martin was deemed not vulnerable enough to be formally accepted as homeless, so she was directed to the council's local welfare assistance scheme.  At this point, officials offered Martin a food voucher and a voucher to buy a tent. The council said in a statement:

‘During our discussions with her we did - as a last resort which we accept is far from ideal - offer her vouchers with which she could, at the very least, buy a tent as a temporary shelter but she declined this.’  Read more on the Guardian website.