rough sleepers

by HOMELESS PEOPLE'S NETWORK

LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Shelter, Britain's best-known charity for the
homeless, hit out on Monday at a government drive against begging.

A publicity campaign asks Good Samaritans not to hand out their spare
change to the estimated 1,600 people who sleep rough on British streets
every night.

The government's Change a Life campaign says people who want to help should
instead volunteer at their local soup kitchen, or give money to the
charities that help those forced to make their bed in a cardboard box.

Shelter said the campaign could make life worse for beggars.

``However carefully communicated, this initiative could increase the stigma
of homelessness and make life even worse for people who are already subject
to high levels of abuse and violence,'' Shelter Director Chris Holmes said
in a statement.

The government's Rough Sleepers Unit, set up to get people off the streets,
courted controversy by suggesting that giving money to beggars only fuelled
drug and alcohol addiction.

The unit's chief, Louise Casey, last year dubbed handouts to beggars as
``misplaced goodwill.''

But her unit said on Monday Change a Life was not an anti-begging campaign.

``Few human beings can walk past their fellow man in the street and not be
moved by a desire to help.

``This campaign is part of a government's responsibility to inform the
public of the best ways they can help make a real difference. It is not an
anti-begging campaign.''

Government figures show that some 1,600 people sleep on the streets every
night. Shelter says the figure is probably higher.

Social policy experts last week attacked the campaign ahead of Monday's
launch, British newspaper the Independent reported.

The experts said in an open letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair that the
advertising campaign was ``potentially harmful'' and could force people
into crime and prostitution.

Shelter said the best way to fight begging was to look at why people were
on the streets and to find alternatives.

``The priority must be to find alternatives for those on the streets,
whether homeless or not,'' Holmes said.