Be sure to make all the right moves
Appeal as Renfrewshire helps homeless charity
Bosses at a homeless charity unveiled a giant snakes and ladders game to show Buddies that one unlucky step can lead to life on the streets.
Shelter Scotland chiefs wanted the popular board game to illustrate that “chance not choice” can determine if you have a roof over your head.
Campaigners urged members of the public, councillors and politicians to join their fight to support destitute people in the community.
Research by YouGov showed 75 per cent of people in Scotland agree that homelessness is a problem and that 54 per cent agree the Scottish Government could do more to tackle it.
Charity campaigners were joined by local politicians at the Cenotaph in Paisley Town Centre to drive the message home.
Debbie King, campaigns manager for Shelter Scotland, said: “We’ve had a fantastic response from people in Paisley.
“We’d like to thank everyone for their warm welcome. It was really positive, especially meeting people who had experience of homelessness and agreed with us that Scotland needs to tackle the stigma of losing your home.
“Homelessness can happen to anyone and all too often it is a matter of chance and not choice that leads to someone losing their home.”
She added: “We also appreciate the support we received from councillors and MSPs who turned out today to support our Far From Fixed campaign which calls for a new national homelessness strategy to tackle and prevent homelessness.”
Councillor Tommy Williams, convener of Renfrewshire Council’s Housing and Community Safety Policy Board, also had a roll of the dice yesterday.
He said: “Renfrewshire Council and our partners have a comprehensive range of measures in place to help prevent people becoming homeless or having to sleep rough, respond quickly to those in housing needs, provide housing support to anyone threatened with homelessness and increase the supply of affordable housing through multi- million pound investment in over 1,000 new high quality homes.
“This has all helped to reduce the annual number of people who are homeless here in Renfrewshire.
“Several years ago we stopped placing those who were homeless in bed and breakfast accommodation .
“And the average length of time to deal with homeless applications in Renfrewshire is also well below the Scottish average.”
For more information visit www. shelterscotland.org or call 0808 800 4444.