Einstien once said “insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. I have a client, Ed, who is homeless and broke. He steals to get food and alcohol to get drunk; he gets caught and arrested; he goes to court; he then goes to prison. Ed is then released onto …
Permanent link to this article: http://davidford.co/archives/421
Aug 31
It’s the behaviour, not the person, that needs changing.
I recently spent the day in court supporting one of my clients. He’d been arrested (again) for shoplifting (again) and was expecting to receive a custodial sentence (again). I work with this client because he is challenging and has very challenging behaviour. His behaviour though does not mean that he is rotten or a bad person, nor …
Permanent link to this article: http://davidford.co/archives/417
Aug 28
What will it take to End Homelessness in 21st Century Brtian?
This post first appeared in Homeless Link’s Connect magazine in their main article “What will it take to end homelessness in 21st century Britain?” of issue 46. This question was put to 21 people from across the sector, from services, local authorities, government and those with experience. We didn’t all agree, but we had a …
Permanent link to this article: http://davidford.co/archives/408
Apr 14
Sell Not Tell
This article was published in Homeless Link’s spring edition of their Connect Magazine David Ford, chair of Homeless Link’s Expert Panel, argues that many organisations and government bodies could do far more to include current and former service users in their work and their decision making. On 24th February, a colleague and I attended a …
Permanent link to this article: http://davidford.co/archives/394
Mar 14
Internet Access
So this is my first blog for quite awhile. For the last two and a half months I have struggled with my internet access…. Three years ago this month I became homeless, not out of choice, but because of a relationship breakdown and having no income. As you can probably imagine, my credit rating is lower than …
Permanent link to this article: http://davidford.co/archives/376
Dec 13
Outside the Box
“Thinking outside the box”, “Innovation”, “Creativity” and “Blue Sky thinking” are words and phrases that I love and the things that we should all be doing. It’s when we start to think outside the box that we come up with some of our best ideas. In Tom Mabe’s awesome video, he uses his comedy to …
Permanent link to this article: http://davidford.co/archives/353
Dec 09
DCLG releases latest homeless figures.
The DCLG releases latest homeless figures. Department of Communities and Local Government’s Quarterly Homeless Figures. The figures from the DCLG for Statutory Homelessness, July to September Quarter 2011 show that there has been an increase of 6% in the applicants accepted as owed a main homeless duty than during the same quarter last year. (Between …
Permanent link to this article: http://davidford.co/archives/334
Dec 08
Property Scandal
I have been watching the Channel Four series on property scandals this week, and what a great series it has been so far. George Clarke in the “Great British Property Scandal“is doing a fantastic job at raising awareness on the amount of unused property within the country, over 1 million with 350,000 for longer than six months. He …
Permanent link to this article: http://davidford.co/archives/328
Dec 06
Service users, an undervalued resource?
At a recent meeting of the Homeless Link Expert Advisory Panel I was reminded once again of the value that service and ex-service users can bring to the sector. Too often I am heard to be expressing my opinion that the biggest resource that we have within the sector are the service users and ex-service …
Permanent link to this article: http://davidford.co/archives/310
Nov 02
Squatting: The true costs of changing the law
This week the Government is pushing through measures to criminalise squatting in its Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. It will become an offence to squat in any residential property regardless of condition with punishment being up to one year in prison and/or up to £5000 fine for offenders. Today the bill gets it’s …
Permanent link to this article: http://davidford.co/archives/293
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