Sheffield Poverty Update 2010

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SHEFFIELD Poverty Update no.15

The General Election is a great opportunity to ensure that politicians take account ofthe real issues that affect ordinary people. That, after all, is why we elect them! One

of the keys to restoring faith in democracy is ensuring that the MPs we elect at the

General Election are held to account for what they do on our behalf in Parliament.

Churches can play a key role in this task. Many already organise parliamentary

hustings with candidates during the Election campaign but holding MPs to account

is not something to be done only once every five years. Go to National CAPs

webpage for more details of:

Hold your MP to Account Campaign

THE POLITICAL THREAT TO VULNERABLE PEOPLEIn this article, our Chair, David Price, gives personal views on the risks to poor and

vulnerable people created by the current need to cut public expenditure.

After the election on 6 May, we expect massive cuts in public expenditure over the next few years.

There is a great danger that these cuts will fall disproportionately on the more vulnerable people in our

society. Political rhetoric about the great ignored the hard working people in the middle really

means favouring middle England and sacrificing those at the bottom of the pile. Claims of scope for

tens of billions ofpounds of efficiency savings are fictitious and will lead to a scramble for

alternative cuts, particularly at the expense of those who are less likely to kick up a fuss.

We can see already examples of policies which may damage vulnerable people. In order both to reduce

welfare spending and to help disabled people back to work, the present Government has introducedtests for benefits which may set too high a threshold.David Harker, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice,

says that the new Employment and Support Allowanceincorrectly assesses seriously ill and disabled

people as fit for work (Guardian 7 April 2010). At our recent Civic Breakfast, Jimmy Atkinson ofTurning Point argued that people with mental health problems are becoming more marginalised owing

to this policy. While the underlying concepts are sound, they may be implemented in a way which is

damaging for disabled people.

Another more local example is the way in which Sheffield City Council has abandoned its grant to

OFFER, our local empowerment network. For the last few years, OFFER has helped people from the

voluntary, community and faith sectoroften from poor and marginalised communities - to get

involved in the strategic direction of the City through Sheffield First. The Council blame the loss ofsome grant funding from Government and have promised a review of voluntary sector infrastructure

support. We wait to see what will emerge.

A third example is the cut made in the meagre benefit afforded to refused asylum seekers from

countries like Eritrea or Zimbabwe who cannot be sent home because even the Home Office

acknowledges that this would be too dangerous. Last autumn, despite vigorous protests from refugeeorganisations, the benefit for single people was reduced to 5 a day.

These examples show that, even before the full magnitude of cuts is felt, politicians have been willing

to reduce support to vulnerable people. How much greater will be the temptation to do this when cuts

bigger than those under Mrs Thatcher have to be introduced . As a Christian campaigning

organisation we will need to be vigilant and ready to carry out high profile campaigns to preventvulnerable people from being victimised.


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Another world is possible: inspiring hope and organising for change in an unequal

worldThis was the optimistic title for the talk given by Niall Cooper, National Co-ordinator of CAP onMarch 15 2010 to Sheffield CAP.

Niall maintained that change is possible, but did outline some of the problems facing us.

One major problem is economic. The past ten years of growth and prosperity has been builton credit, with the UK one of the worst offenders. This is true both of individuals andcountries. It is unsustainable. Also unsustainable is the concept that the current recessioncan be resolved by growing our way out of trouble.

Niall then referred to Richard Wilkinsons work. Wilkinson argues that the UK is one of themost unequal of the developed societies in the world, and the boom over the past forty

years has led to greater inequality. The well-being of all is affected in such unequal societies

Bishop Steven Croft of the Diocese of Sheffield addressed the Sheffield ChurchesHomelessness Service during Poverty and Homelessness week, an extract from hissermon follows.

The Bishop opened his sermon for theservice by likening the problems ofhomelessness to the many-headedHydra that Hercules had to do battlewith. Like the Hydra, homelessness is amany-headed problem. He said that

there were different causes, including alack of affordable housing, poverty anddebt, domestic violence, disability andillness and many others. So there cannotbe one single solution to homelessness -from direct action to alleviate specificproblems, to the broader battles againstpoverty and inequality.There were many ways in which peoplecan help from direct work with thehomeless, to fund-raising or campaigning.The Bishop asked from where can wedraw our strength to do this?

When the prophet, Jeremiah, despaired ofthe tasks ahead of him, the Lord said: Foryou shall go to whom I shall send you andyou shall speak whatever I command you.Do not be afraid for I am with you todeliver you.He emphasised that Christians in Sheffieldand this region are playing their part in thebattle against homelessness and oftenleading the way. Each of us should besustained in our work by a vision and acall to serve those who are poor, in thename of Christ.

The spirit of the Lord is upon meBecause he has anointed me to bringgood news to the poorHe has sent me to proclaim release to

captivesAnd recovery of sight to the blindTo let the oppressed go freeHe concluded by reminding us thatthere are many different ways to sharein Gods great mission but that we areall called in our different ways to fighthomelessness and to care for the poorin the name of Christ. We should drawencouragement from all that is beingachieved in our community and ask forstrength from God to continue the callHe has given us.

------------------------------------------------------Enough for all (Theme of the week)Enough! Weve had enough greed andselfishness.There is Enough for all!Wealth is not just in material things.We are wealthier together than on ourown.Lets use what we have. Lets share whatwe have.

There was not a needy person amongthem, for as many owned lands or

houses sold them and brought theproceeds of what was sold: Acts 4;35


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POVERTY AND

INEQUALITY ON

DISPLAY in SHEFFIELDAn abiding challenge for CAP is how to get

our message about poverty to a wideraudience? How about an exhibition? Wecontacted the Central Library and they agreed

that we could have space in their entrance

lobby from 29 November.

We decided on the theme: Poverty and

Inequality in Sheffield and the UK. The

Equality Trust let us have two large graphsbased on Wilkinson and Picketts

groundbreaking book The Spirit LevelDavid Price developed ideas for the other

displays drawing on the Council website, CAP

literature and other sources. Kay Hudson,

former Committee member, kindly did thedesign work. Shaun Smith let us use the

publishing facilities at his Presbytery.

On 2 November, a group of us installed the

displays in the Central Library. We left post-its

for members of the public to record theircomments.

We showed the exhibition next at the CAP

National Conference on 14 November at St

Marys Bramall Lane.

Then we persuaded Sheffield Cathedral to

display the exhibition for two weeks includingPoverty and Homelessness Week. We had a

public launch on 29 January by Kate Plant,Anglican Director of Faith and Justice, who

said This is a brilliant exhibition. I really hope

people will come and see it. It shows clearly

the poverty and inequality in this city of ours

and in the UK but also it offers hope. There

are ways to work for a better society.

The exhibition in the CathedralSubsequently the exhibition moved to St

Marks Church Broomhill and we hope to

show it at Victoria Hall Methodist Church.

The post-its showed that it had made peoplethink. Here are some examples:

Until we commit ourselves to

tackling these shocking inequalities,

we cannot fulfil our mission.

And still the rich get richer and the

poor get poorer. Thats why I am a

communist

What a striking exhibition. It has

taught me a lot

These are highly relevant matters for theElection. We should lobby the candidates

He raises the poor from the dust and liftsthe needy from the ash heap; he seatsthem with princes and has them inherit athrone of honour. 1 Samuel 2:8

PILGRIMAGE AGAINST POVERTY INSHEFFIELD (Organised by SheffieldCAP)We had about 50 pilgrims, including theBishop of Sheffield, Rt Rev Steven Croftwho joined us half way. We started with aservice in at the Anglican Cathedral,prayed outside the Catholic Cathedral,

proceeded up to the Cholera Memorial.We stopped for prayer and reflected onthe improvements in medicine. Wewalked on up Norfolk Park to Arbourthorneand to Holy Family RC Church, whereSister Eileen Keating carries out aremarkable ministry in support of asylumseekers and other vulnerable people. Weprayed then Sister Eileen gave us lunchand some asylum seekers sang to us. Wecontinued downhill to pray at St Wilfrid'sday centre for vulnerable people andfinally to St Marys Bramall lane, Here we

had a short final service in the openair and the Bishop gave the final blessing.Pilgrims at the Anglican Cathedral


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The Sheffield CAP Civic Breakfast

Theme A Report from Sheffield Stop

GAP Night Shelter and Homeless Issues

(Facilitated and organised by SheffieldCAP)

Guests included the two Sheffield

Bishops, other clergy from the city

centre Churches, The Lord Mayor

Council leaders, the Chief Constable

and reps from projects and the

Salvation Army,

You don't have to be living onthe street to be homeless. You may be legally

classed as homeless if you are sleeping on a

friend's sofa, staying in a hostel, or suffering

from overcrowding or other housing bad

conditions.

Unfortunately there are estimated to be 1

million people in Britain that are homeless by

this definition.

As the Lord Mayor said this situation should not

exist at the beginning of the 21 st. century.Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, andbring the homeless poor into your house; When you

see the naked, to cover them, and not to hideyourself from your own kin?"Isaiah 58;7

In Sheffield there are many wonderful day projectsworking with people who are homeless and

vulnerable but it was always felt that what was

lacking was provision for emergency over night

accommodation. (at the breakfast, Richard Webb

,Executive Director, communities at the council

suggested a joint initiative with the voluntary

sector)

In the winter of 2008/9 the Sheffield Churches soup

runs were extended to 7 nights of the week and

there were concerns being expressed on the number

of guests coming to the Soup Runs, usuallybetween 15 and 25 people a night and particularlyfor those who declared themselves to be rough

sleeping. The only solution in many cases that the

soup run could offer was a sleeping bag for the

night but it was felt that more could be done.

Under the auspices of SAVE (Sheffield Agencies

for the Vulnerable and Excluded ) a small steeringgroup was formed to take forward this concern and

in the winter just gone (2009/10) the group

organised a night shelter available on 39 nights out

of a possible 40 nights for rough sleepers during

the coldest winter months.

The shelter offered a warm place for the night in asecure, friendly environment using church premises

offered for the night by four city churches hostedby volunteers for those needing the service.

Guests have been signposted the next morning to

day projects after the night shelter for a breakfast

and to be able to access other services.

To enable the shelter to function, day projects andsoup runs were able to refer guests to the shelter

that they came across who had need.

In total 30 guests were offered the facilities of the

shelter and 11 people took up the offer.

After this initial provision the steering group are

now looking at what went well, what could be

improved upon and whether the shelter will operateagain in 2010/11

If many little people, in many little places

Do many little deeds

They can change the face of the Earth

African Proverb

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-Members! Supporters!As always we rely on you to advise us onwhere we should be directing our efforts and

on helping us to do this. We are also totallyreliant on church and individual members subscriptions for all the expenses involved inraising awareness of poverty in our area.Subscriptions for 2010-2011 are now due andwe should particularly encourage churches aswell as individual members to show theirsupport by subscribing. Please ask yourchurch to support us. Information aboutsubscriptions (which range from 0 -25) canbe requested from the Treasurer, BernardGreenwood, on 0114 2872991 [email protected].

Please contact us if you wish to have moredetails about any of the items in thisnewsletter, have suggestions about what weshould be doing, or can offer any help.

Enquiries to:Chair: David Price 01142960806

[email protected]

Secretary: Sarah Baker 01142309552

[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Documents

Sheffield Poverty Update 2010