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in Cardiff City centre. Absolutely shocking. Cardiff Council need to get a serious grip, especially St Mary Street. Sitting in doorsteps is one thing but gangs of undesireables hunting in packs accosting and intimidating people for money. Men and women. My youngest daughter was walking a little in front of us and some bird asked her for 20p. I told her to sling her ****ing hook, if she had 20p she could put it towards a pint for dad not a bag of spice for them lot.
As horrible as it is, my view is always give to homeless charities and not direct to them.
How young is your daughter? Pretty scary!
I used to work in a bookies while I was in uni. There were around 2-3 ‘homeless’ that would come and change their money from coins to notes. Pretty much never under £100 and always buggered off at the end of the night to some sofa.
The truly destitute are the ones that generally don’t pester. They’re just sleeping on park benches.
Apparently, they've made a horrendous mess in St John's churchyard. Piss and shit everywhere.
Originally Posted by WJ99mobile
When in London, one morning I saw a limo stop by one of the bridges, out came about 6 or 7 women of arab appearance, plus one or two tiny kids/babies each. They then positioned themselves arounf the steps, making it impossible to avoid them, and started begging "for the children".
Why is it down to Cardiff Council to sort out? And what is the answer?
I mentioned this happening a while back , and got slagged off , like everything in life weaknesses gets exploited by criminals .
Because it’s a problem on their streets.
Ban them from the city centre. We did it up here in Merthyr. They are only allowed into town centre between 9am to 10am to a pharmacy to get their scripts.
She’s 11. It wasn’t a nice experience.
I’d rather give to a food bank. Not a fan of giving money to charity to keep people on eye watering salaries.
It's hard to know who needs it and who doesn't these days, I always find the ones that just sit there and don't ask for anything just sat there looking really ****ing depressed are probably in need. Not sure why I came to that conclusion and I can't explain it.. Me and my daughter notice a few as we walk around and on the walk back to the station we'll grab a bit of food and bottles water and give it to them (not every trip) I won't give money any more.
There's a bloke down by showcase Nantgarw, he'll be 50 stone soon all the McDonald's he's getting..
Like anything else there are genuine vulnerable people who beg for money for food , drugs , booze and those that are career parasites
It can be very intimidating when an aggressive beggar hassles people , especially women and kids ff sake
The services that are out there for the homeless will never be enough and street begging will always take place and always will
The homeless almost always have a multitude of problems ....nowhere to live , very little money , mental health problems , drug and alcohol addiction
The solution to this problem is to accept it will never be totally eradicated but to put resources into housing , healthcare , addiction services etc
For those that are aggressive full time beggars I am surprised that the cctv in cardiff does not identify regular offenders and they are dealt with , instead of just moving them on
I have problem giving a couple of quid to someone I think is genuinely in need but I am a 6 foot bloke , not a woman or a young child
I never give to mind except my local branch
Basically mind nationally makes a mint and the big wigs are loaded
At the local level , for example cardiff mind or mind in the Vale of Glamorgan, when they appeal the money you give goes to the local branch
Work near Kings Cross, and despite their best efforts of doing the area up, that too is also an absolute state. Had the misfortune of hearing two homeless/drug addict looking women talking 'tactics', which people to target, mainly younger women and even one saying to the other at one point 'don't let that bitch get away, she said she'd give us money, follow her'. Was quite the eye opening 10 minutes.
Sadly, nothing will get done to any real avail. Not in this country anyway.
What needs to get done is more resources put into housing for single people, most homeless people are single , give them support to deal with their substance misuse and mental health problems , support them into work etc
Not everyone is going to be helped though and many will fall through the net .
But as a society we have to try or that means more beggars
Violent , anti social aggressive beggars on the other hand need to be targeted, banned and if necessary put before the courts
It’s been getting worse for 2 years or more and the bigger groups of them can be intimidating for many. During lockdown and with hardly any people in town a few were taking begging to another level, bordering on robbery. Guy I know who is oldish, mid 50’s, surrounded and asked for cash. He’s a generous soul and gave them it. The council want people to sit outside, eat and drink but not being pestered by this lot, it just won’t work. Haven’t newport council banned being homeless to, whatever that means? A lot of them then came to Cardiff I heard....
It has sadly got so much worse over the past 3/4 years. I did used to give a few quid but there are so many now it’s got to the point I just ignore / look the other way. I haven’t been into town since before lockdown but before if we were In shopping we park in John Lewis and shop in st davids and the other arcades, which pretty much takes care of our needs anyway.
My daughter attends the new cardiff college on dumballs road and to my shock there is some sort of halfway house at the top which she and other students have to walk past if coming from the station direction. Some of the states that hang around there is horrendous clearly on drugs and acting very intimidating. Why put an establishment like that so close to a youths college is unacceptable in my view so in the evenings I or my wife pick her up.
It’s horrible to see.
The Huggard Centre has been located there in various forms for 30+ years. It’s been in its present form for at least 10 and provides accommodation and support in an attempt to keep people from begging.
Well however long it’s been there - every single time I pick my daughter up from college there is some sort of disturbance or intimidating people hanging around at the top of dumballs hence why I don’t want her walking past there to get the train
I used to go in there frequently (work) and will agree that some of the client group can be challenging and I’m used to those situations.
Some of the individuals offered advice and support at the centre don’t help themselves is the reality. I’d take all beggars off the streets personally. For some they view the begging as a necessity, it isn’t. For others they have a motivated reason for undertaking it e.g. money.
In regards to your daughter, I’d do exactly the same.
It must be very frightening for kids , women etc and parents of young children to be intimidated by people, some of whom are genuine beggars and some of whom are career criminals
With regard to the problem of homelessness , drug and alcohol abuse and the link to begging then we as a society have to decide wether or not we are going to tackle head on these problems or not . They are never going to go away as a lot of homelessness and drug and alcohol abuse is caused by marital breakup , unemployment, sexual abuse and exploitation , the obvious lack of housing etc
If we help those than can be helped or want to be helped and provide detox programmes , support , training , housing and employment then we are left with those that either cannot be helped , dont want to be helped or are professional criminal beggars
To deal with all of this requires money
Cardiff is a regional magnet for South wales and parts of the west country . Housing and homeless services are based here . Its a lot easier to control begging in merthyr or pontypridd or newport than it is in cardiff .
OK
This has been happening all over Europe .I think the first i time i saw it on the scale it is was 2016.
Most sit outside of busy stores and are quite polite. ( here anyway)
Some points made. Give to a charity, never to the person. Unless they are hungry and you can give them food , never ever cash.
Plenty avoid it due to drugs, assault etc.
Before Covid I worked in town and it was disgusting. I feel for genuine homeless people but these professional beggers really annoy me. A lot of girls in work didn't want to walk into town anymore.
One guy asked me for change outside greggs which I refused... I then watched how he went and sold drugs in the middle of the street to two people (not homeless).
That’s true. The sad truth of it is some access the services provided as it maintains their lifestyle rather than wishing to address it.
Sludge is correct in saying most individuals suffer multi complex issues that have contributed to their situation but whatever the situation if they’re motivated, the services are there to address their issues.
As I’ve previously said, I’d stop all forms of begging as it maintains poor lifestyle choices. Easier said than done in a city like Cardiff. In Merthyr they addressed the situation by handing out Criminal Behaviour Orders to persistent offenders.
A friend of mine has recently been ordained and he spent 3 years in a few parishes around Cardiff as part of his training. He felt a desire to try and help homeless people and did a lot of good work. He reckoned that the vast majority of homeless people would have preferred to try their luck on the street than the Huggard Centre.
Unfortunately that’s true. It’s a place that you’ve gotta be on your toes at times when you’re in there. It’s the main hub of outreach services and emergency accommodation for a Cardiff and as such will attract or receive referrals from all agencies which lead to the individuals you find there. Referrals from probation, social services, homelessness departments, drug agencies etc.
I’ll comment on the fact you find more people homeless now who you wouldn’t have associated with the problem 10 years ago.
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