The up and down world of homelessness - Ewan Aitken
Sunday May 10 will be an interesting day for me. In the morning I am booked to go on a Balloon flight – a birthday gift from my wife - and in the afternoon I am doing a sponsored abseil down the 131 ft Port of Leith distillery to mark my departure from Cyrenians after 12 happy years as CEO.
To say it will be an up and down day is a bit of an exaggeration, especially as I suffer from vertigo.
I am doing the abseil because I wanted to mark my leaving a job I love, but one which I desperately wish was not necessary.
Homelessness is not inevitable, but we will not end homelessness by getting better at managing the crisis once it has happened. We do need many more homes which are available to rent or buy at prices people can afford.
It’s good to see all the parties in the current election have committed to building more social housing, but we cannot build our way out of homelessness.
Half the people who present as homeless have a support need. We know which groups are more likely to end up making one of those presentations, those living with the consequences of experiences of poverty and/or trauma in their lives being the greatest in number, often in relationship breakdown.
It is why a constant theme from Cyrenians over the past 12 years has been the need for political bravery and money being spent on prevention of homelessness. It’s why Cyrenians have argued for a public health approach to homelessness prevention and will do so long after I have left my post.
A public health approach means intervening upstream, before problems arise. It means getting people the help they need, when they need it, from people they feel comfortable asking for help from.
Like the woman I met recently who told me our mediation team had worked with her family when their situation meant her son was close to leaving home.
“You gave me my son back” were her words. In reality, we created a safe place for the two of them to have the conversation they needed. They did the work, we just walked with them on the journey.
Or the man who’d lost his job of 25 years and was on the edge of eviction after lots of rejections. Our employment programme meant he got into a new job before it was too late.
He told me, “I lost all my confidence when I lost my job, but you built a community around me and now I believe in myself again, have a new start”. Truth is, he did the work, we just walked with him on the journey.
May 10 might be a day of ups and downs for me, but for many others the daily ups and downs are far worse. But the right help early enough means the cycle can be broken.
If you’d like to sponsor me so we can help more folk get the help when they need it, you can do so here www.justgiving.com/page/ewan-aitken-4 - thank you.