Homelessness

Did anyone roll their eyes when I mentioned my fear of baglady-hood?  Impossible - right? Reverse hubris - right?

I tell you its not impossible.  This world is great and beautiful, but its also really heartless and ruthless.

Check out this lovely young homeless couple who have made themselves an underground home.  Its really dark and depressing, and must have taken a huge amount of courage and energy.  But there is the feeling at least of a huge achievement together.  Imagine doing that kind of thing if you didn't have a partner.  Thousands, probably millions, do of course.  This is a CNN report from 23 October, and thanks to Shoutback for letting me know, and the financial blog Digerati Life  for writing it up.

It can happen to anyone, and yet even if you are not lovely or young, everyone is entitled to a decent home.  It's a globally agreed human right. Check the list here, and see how many other rights have been broken for this young couple, and what the  government is supposed to do about it haha. The right to housing is the very least we should expect in even a semi-decent society, not to mention the super-rich global north democracies.  

I'm lucky enough to be in the business of reminding governments of their obligations, so I do that as often as I can.  I also buy and support the Big Issue, which I think is a fabulous organisation and a really interesting little magazine, while I think Habitat for Humanity does good work, and the very lovely, probably young and certainly not homeless Digerati Life suggests programmes like Help USA. Thanks Digerati Life, (check out her home renovation pages too - they're great).