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.
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