The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have published a new report, Destitution in the UK 2023.

https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/destitution-uk-2023 (full report)

Socialism Or Your Money Back has many posts about JRF poverty reports.

Here’s one from 2009.

‘The Guardian has an article on new Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on UK poverty and the media and its findings that there isn’t much popular concern over UK poverty and places much of the blame on the media, saying there is little appetite to address themes of poverty. In newspapers, the subject is “worthy, not newsworthy”, and journalists found it was often “difficult to give poverty a focus, since it is ongoing and amorphous rather than a specific ‘event'”. In other words , to paraphrase the Bible , the poor are always with us

Why don’t we have celebrities singing “Let them know it’s Christmas time” to raise money for the 3 million or so children in this country living below the poverty line? Why is there no Bono or Bob Geldof marshalling the campaign to end child poverty? Why can’t campaign groups rouse sufficient outrage to get the public marching on the streets.



“The voices of people with experience of poverty…are severely under-represented in media coverage,” says the report. On television, there is a danger of poverty turning into a “spectator sport” that entrenches an “us and them” mentality, the report also warns.



“There is very little sympathetic portrayal of poor people. And people are looking for reassuring images, that things are OK, things are fair and that people at the bottom are there because it’s their fault and therefore we’ve all earned on merit our position.” (Political commentator)



As a result of this information shortage, many doubt whether there is“real” poverty in the UK and are unconvinced by the concept of relative poverty – the measure by which the government measures deprivation here. The public is either “harshly judgmental” towards people living in poverty or views poverty and inequality as inevitable. The trend of judging individuals as creators of their own poverty seems to be increasing. Journalists quite often used stereotypical pictures and words to refer to people living in poverty. Public awareness of the extent and reality of UK poverty is limited. People often see it as the individual’s responsibility to get out of poverty because they are not aware of the obstacles to achieving this. However,those suffering from poverty and being in receipt of benefits are stigmatised, so people are reluctant to speak out.



While the nature of poverty is very different from 50 years ago in the UK and from absolute poverty in developing countries, not having what most people take for granted is what many find difficult. Perhaps the starkest examples are the cases of parents going without or falling into debt so their children can have what others have, or their children being bullied at school for not having the latest trend. This may not be the poverty of material destitution. But if the measure of a human being consists in the accumulation of material possessions to which he or she may claim then , by that token, we are demeaned. And, ultimately, it is in this devaluation of our human worth — not simply in the fact of material inequality but in the meaning this society attaches to it.

The JRF calls for a debate that goes beyond building awareness of poverty. This needs the presentation of narratives exploring the causes of poverty and inequality. Over the decades the answer to the cause of poverty has been staring all those NGOs and charities and researchers in the face . It is capitalism .



Are all reforms doomed to failure and do not really make a difference to workers’ lives? Of course not – there are many examples of ‘successful’ reforms in such fields as education, housing, child employment, conditions of work and social security. But while there has been some ‘successful’ reforms, none of them have ever done more than keep workers and their families in efficient working order and, while reforms have sometimes taken the edge off a problem, they have very rarely managed to remove that problem completely. There have been some marginal improvements, but the social problems that the reformers such as JRF have set out to deal with have generally not been solved – hence the need for an uncompromising socialist party to pursue revolutionary change.

Nobody would deny today that poverty exists in the UK as many JRF reports provide ample evidence of . But does it make sense to argue that because we don’t have socialism yet , we should, in the meantime, fight for reforms to at least reduce the worst effects of poverty. This argument has been voiced by so many for so long that `in the meantime’ has become forever. The time is long past and too many people have suffered, are suffering, and will continue suffering until we attack the cause itself.



There is one way, and one way only, to abolish poverty, and that is to establish a socialist society in which the tools of production will be commonly owned and administered by the population as a whole in their own interests. In such a world, not only poverty but all the social evils created by the profit system will be abolished.’

https://soymb.com/2009/09/reporting-poverty.htm

Fourteen years on, ‘The Guardian has an article on new Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on UK poverty…’The more things change the more they stay the same?

Main Stream Media all seemed to find it headline worthy that people are having to try and save the costs of electricity by turning off their fridges and freezers. Unsurprisingly, they are capitalist supporters after all, the solution to the ills of capitalism were not propounded.

From the 2023 Guardian report ‘a government spokesman said, ‘A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “The cost of living payments have provided a significant financial boost to millions of households – just one part of the record £94bn support package we have provided to help with the rising cost of bills. This includes a 10.1% rise to benefits earlier this year, and we’re investing £3.5bn to help thousands into jobs – the best way to secure their financial security in the long term. Ultimately, the best way we can help families is to reduce inflation, and we’re sticking to our plan to halve it this year, taking the long-term decisions that will secure the country’s financial future.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/14/millions-of-uk-households-forced-to-unplug-fridge-to-cope-with-rising-bills

The conclusion of the 2009 blog post is even more relevant than ever: There is one way, and one way only, to abolish poverty, and that is to establish a socialist society in which the tools of production will be commonly owned and administered by the population as a whole in their own interests. In such a world, not only poverty but all the social evils created by the profit system will be abolished.’

l

Appealing

An afternoon of snooker on TV,

With every frame winning followed by

A commercial break, adverts that try,

Through poignant entreaty, to persuade me

To pick up my phone or just send a text

And donate month on month, as if charities

Can correct all the gross disparities

Of capitalism. First, war zones, next

The homeless, food banks, then forced marriage

Of young girls, the latest famine, immense

Problems of diseases drugs costing pence

Could treat, chronic loneliness of old age.

Each and every one a worthy mission,

But none will cure the ills of competition.

D. A.

Hamas doesn’t represent Palestinians, President Sergio Mattarella said Friday. “It must be reiterated, in the Palestinians’ interest, that Hams does not represent the Palestinian people,” he said while meeting Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent. “What Hams did on October 7 slitting the throats of children, raping women, taking children and elderly people hostage, and marking the scenes of violence is an insult to humanity,” the president added.

 Presidential loser Hillary Clinton was slammed online Wednesday after once again lazily claiming that Donald Trump is like Hitler.    Clinton cackled along with the women on The View like a coven of witches, before turning her attention to Trump, who it seems still lives rent free inside her head.    “Hitler was duly elected, right?” Hillary declared, adding “And so all of a sudden, somebody with those tendencies, the dictatorial, the authoritarian tendencies would be like, ok, we’re gonna shut this down, we’re gonna throw these people in jail and they usually don’t telegraph that.”

Fascism was — and is – an authoritarian, nationalistic and anti-socialist political ideology that preaches the need for a strong state ruled by a single political party led by a charismatic leader. Hitler and the Nazis came to power with the support of more than ten million workers. Further, that very month, March 1933, the first camp was opened – for the incarceration of officials of the Communist and Social Democratic Parties. And on May 10 1933 in Berlin banned books were burnt openly and watched by some 70,000 people. Trump ticks those three ideological boxes and like Hitler was elected — his supporters include millions of workers, whilst millions of others are disenfranchised.

In April 2018 his administration began enforcing a zero-tolerance immigration policy that resulted in thousands of children being separated from their families.    Under Trump gas was used on migrants wishing to enter the US, an Obama-era policy,   What next? More camps in 2024 surrounded by ‘beautiful barbed wire’? Further, given that apparently Trump does not read books, and there is already a list of banned books, one wonders if he will object to them being burned …

The only side The Socialist Party takes, in the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza, as in other capitalist conflicts, is the side of the working class who are caught up in the horrendous effects that modern weapons inflict upon the innocent and their dire consequences. Those who choose to support, shill for, march or wave flags and banners in support of either participants, whether in this conflict or others, need to be aware that there is a solution, and only one which would prevent such military actions ever happening again. The solution is the replacement of capitalism by socialism.

In 1937 the Hindenburg airship caught fire when coming into land in New Jersey. There were thirty six fatalities. A tearful radio commentator upon witnessing the disaster and seeing passengers and crew burning to death cried, ‘Oh, the humanity!’ An utterance even more relevant today.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia has issued two reports on the economic and social effects on Gaza of the current war.

One report was issued in October and another in November.

From the November report: ‘The shock to Palestinian economic activity has been severe as a result of the total siege of Gaza, destruction of capital, forced displacement, restrictions on movement of people and goods in the West Bank. While around 390,000 jobs have already been lost since the start of the war, early estimates indicate that the gross domestic product (GDP) loss in 2023 could range between 4 and 12 per cent, and between 4 and 9 per cent of GDP in 2024, compared with pre-war estimates, depending on the duration of the war. Poverty is also expected to rise sharply by between 20 and 45 per cent, depending on the duration of the war. A sharp decline is expected in the Human Development Index (HDI), setting the State of Palestine back by between 11 and 16 years, depending on the intensity of the conflict.’

The report further states: ‘The blockade imposed on Gaza since June 2007 is one of the most severe manifestations of Israeli long-standing policies of restricting the mobility of Palestinians in what amounts to collective punishment. In addition to obstructing reconstruction and recovery efforts after recurrent Israeli military offensives, the blockade has affected all aspects of Palestinians’ lives in Gaza. The combined effects of the blockade and recurrent military escalations have led to social and economic de-development, and created a perpetual human made humanitarian crisis.’

It concludes: ‘To underscore the calamity reflected in these statistics, if hostilities were to end completely today, humanitarian relief and foreign assistance were allowed entry, education activities were resumed, unemployment and income poverty were reduced owing to the resumption of economic and reconstruction activities , and access to water and health services were improved, more than 69 per cent of the Gazan population would still be living in multidimensional poverty, and the average intensity of deprivation would be 49 per cent.

The reason for this is that, many critical indicators of the national MPI will not immediately bounce back to their pre-war levels. However, the moment the war ends, there will be a significant reduction in deprivation across many key indicators, notably school enrolment (deprivation reduced from 100 to 50 per cent), access to frequent water supplies (from 90 to 40 per cent), access to health services (90 to 30 per cent) and unrestricted movement (from 90 to 20 per cent). In short, the current war will have a prolonged impact on human capabilities in Gaza for years to come, but a swift ceasefire and flow of humanitarian assistance would produce a tangible immediate reduction in the deprivation level for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian families.’

The October report noted: ‘The scale of death and destruction during the first 18 days of the current war has already surpassed that of all previous military escalations combined. As at day 18, 41 per cent of the casualties were children (2,704), which exceeds three times the combined total of previous escalations.’

https://www.unescwa.org/sites/default/files/pubs/pdf/war-gaza-expected-socioeconomic-impact-palestine-english_3.pdf

https://www.unescwa.org/sites/default/files/pubs/pdf/war-gaza-unprecedented-devastating-impact-english_2.pdf

THE SOCIALIST PARTY: AGAINST ALL CAPITALIST WARS!

It is Armistice night. I have just come home through London along with a portion of the joyful crowds who are going to celebrate. But what are they celebrating? It cannot be the end of wars since expenditure on armaments still grows, and the “East” and the “West” harries the imaginations of diplomats. Is it a victory they would celebrate? But here a million unemployed, and the miners are marching on London to remind legislators that hunger is abroad in the coalfields.

As I travelled on ‘bus and tube my mind wandered over the events of the war and since. The petty squabbles of war “leaders,” military, naval, and political, who each tried to keep a grip on the shoddy coat of glory; the nobleness of purpose with which each saddled the other with incapacity. I tried to think of a leader who possessed the military virtues we were taught to revere when we were children—and I failed to think of one. Even the modesty of Lawrence is lost in a crowd of full-dress photographs taken in the waste places of Arabia. A few short years have stripped the idols, one by one, of the gilding a venal Press and a hypocritical platform painted on with such a lavish hand.

The enemies of wartime have again become the joint partners in the plunder of peacetime. German, Austrian, Italian, French, American and English shareholders are indiscriminately mixed in the giant companies and trusts that take from the workman of different lands all that he produces above the pittance that pretends to keep him.

While the crowds passed before the Cenotaph to-day those who had grown wealthier out of war and peace swept in their luxurious cars to the palaces built out of the blood and toil of slaves. Behind all the mockery and cynicism lie the devastated homes, the cheerless hearths, of millions of the poor. The hollow shams at the top and the bitter misery at the bottom; the trickery and the illusions; the romance and the reality.

The tragedies of the war existed not only in the deaths, the mutilations, and the sorrows of the bereaved, but also in what lay behind much of it. Imagine the feelings of those forced, by fear of a white feather or by conscription, who went to battle without enthusiasm but with much dread. They had to endure the manifold hardships without the inner fire of a cause worth while to sustain them. Of such were many who are buried in nameless graves.



Most of us, particularly the more imaginative, when not drunk with enthusiasm or liquor, suffer the nameless dread of mutilations or death. Thousands, nay millions, went through this agony during those terrible years. Of the young and the old of many countries eight and a half millions were killed , twenty-one million wounded. This country alone had a million dead to mourn for and two millions wounded.



But what are the celebrations for? What have the millions died for? Why do many an old couple sit by the fire dreaming sadly of what might have been? Oh, sordid reality! Oh, cold, comfortless truth! Because one group of money bugs wanted more profit than another! For this the flower of youth was trampled and destroyed by the iron heel of war. And even now, while the horror and dread of those days still stirs restlessly in the mind, like the remnants of the spell of a nightmare, the nations of the earth are still hotly pursuing each other in a headlong race to more terrible wars still, though the wiser ones foresee that the end is not worth the price, in wealth and prestige, that will have to be paid.



And those who so easily sent our loved ones to their graves are niggardly in payment to the mutilated and the dependants. They groan of the height of the taxes, and tell fairy tales of the wealth of the pensioners. They would have us believe, as they orate at their many-coursed dinners, that they are really too poor to stand the strain. When unemployment was widespread before the war it was said that the country was too poor to maintain the human scrap heap of industry. Yet, on the war alone, this country was able to throw away wealth to the amount of over six thousand million pounds in four years! And this while millions of the population were entirely withdrawn from productive work.



And to-day those who might ponder over these things and be dangerous to the powers that prey have their emotions diverted into safe channels. They are given a few cenotaphs, a few processions, a turgid mass of hypocritical sentiments. They mourn by cold monuments and return to work sad, but satisfied.



What a civilisation! What a tragedy!

Gilmac.

From the Socialist Standard December 1927

https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1920s/1927/no-280-december-1927/

THE SOCIALIST PARTY: AGAINST ALL CAPITALIST WARS!

Editorial from the December 1918 issue of the Socialist Standard

With a suddenness only equalled by that of its starting the vast slaughter machine of the capitalist world has come to a standstill as far, at least, as the chief opponents are concerned.

While the strain imposed upon Germany became apparent to all when it was seen that she was unable to spare men or material to help Bulgaria, the strict censorship, combined with the skilfully conducted retreat of her armies on the Western front, prevented outsiders from realising how near the breaking-point had been approached internally.

Innumerable rumours are flying about concerning the conditions in Germany, but the amount of reliable information is small possibly due as much to the English censor as to the lack of correspondents on the spot.

In some aspects the experience of Russia in 1917 is seemingly being repeated in Germany. A so-called Socialist cabinet has been formed consisting of three members of the Social-Democratic Party—Ebert, Scheidemann, and Landsberg—and three from the Independent Socialist Party—Haase, Dittman, and Barth. The last is claimed by some papers to be a member of the “Spartacus” group of the “Independents,” but other papers deny this.

It would appear that a conflict is already raging as to whether a Constituent Assembly shall be called or a Soviet Parliament on the model of Russia shall be set up.

That the Scheidemann group should have seized the opportunity to take office is quite in line with their previous actions. In outlook and conception of social forces and developments they stand on about the same level as the Labour Party of this country, who have always been ready to assist the capitalist parties and hope for offices in return. Thus the Scheidemann “Socialists” gave their whole-hearted support to the prosecution of the war by the German capitalists, just as the Labour Party here placed its “whole services and party organisation” at the disposal of the English capitalists for the prosecution of the war by them.

The position of the “Independents” is not quite so easy to follow. That Bernstein and Kautsky should have “wobbled” on this question of taking office in such a Cabinet is not surprising, though it completely stultifies their action in withdrawing from the Social-Democratic Party during the war. But it certainly seems strange that Franz Mehring, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, and the like should have agreed, as they appear to have done, to this step being taken.

As far as can be judged from the information to hand, the only grounds upon which Socialists in Germany could take office at the present juncture would be for the purpose of arranging for a general election to be taken as soon as possible, based upon adult suffrage without property qualifications. In such an election the Socialists would, of course, stand solely for the establishment of Socialism and so would apply a real test as to whether the working class desired to establish Socialism.

If they desired to do so then a majority of Socialists would be returned. Failing this it would be quite clear that, due either to apathy or ignorance, the majority desired to retain capitalism. It would show the need for further Socialist propaganda being carried on until a sufficient number became convinced of the need for, and set to work to establish, the Socialist Commonwealth.

Socialism, that is a system of society based on the social ownership of the means of life, cannot be established till those who produce and distribute the wealth of society decide that it shall be produced and distributed socially for the benefit of all. Any attempt on the part of a so-called Socialist Cabinet to use the positions the peculiar circumstances of the moment have placed in their hands, for the purpose of establishing “Socialism” from above must end in a fiasco.

And greater than this internal question stands the huge powers outside. It would be the height of folly to suppose that the two greatest capitalist countries in the world, America and Great Britain, entered into this gigantic struggle to abolish capitalism. On the contrary, it was to maintain and extend that system that the unparalleled slaughter has taken place, and these nations will take all the steps necessary still to be taken for the achievement of that object. Let the working class attempt to take possession of the means of production, even in the indeterminate manner that they have done in Russia and as soon as they can be spared armed forces will be sent to ”restore order” and “establish peace.”

The significant terms of the Armistices granted to Austria, Turkey, and Germany show clearly the end in view. Turkey is to be allowed to retain sufficient forces to “preserve order” in Armenia. The cold-blooded cynicism of this arrangement after all the howling of the capitalist Press about “Armenian massacres by the Turks,” shows to what depths of foul hypocrisy the capitalist class can descend.

Austria is to retain twenty divisions under arms, While we are not told the number of men assigned to a division, a moderate estimate would give over 300,000 men under this clause. The people of Austria have thrown over their royal family and its relations, and the Allies are afraid that in the confusion existing there the working class may fail to appreciate properly the beauty and benefit of fully-developed capitalism. So the 300,000 are left for the purpose of persuading them to adopt a right view. In the case of Germany, while the Allies have demanded the surrender of sufficient guns and munitions to render the reopening of the war by the German army against the Allies quite hopeless, that army is allowed to retain as much of the war material remaining as they can carry across the Rhine inside the period of the Armistice. Here again the need for “preserving order” and “safeguarding property” is the reason behind the “concession.”

The formation of Soldiers’ Councils by the men stationed in various parts of the country is already arousing anxiety among the master class. The capitalist Press calls upon these councils to exercise a “moderating” influence upon the extremists, who are said to be “Bolshevist agents.” Doubtless we shall soon hear of Russian gold being used to corrupt the Germans!

According to the correspondent of the “Daily News” (25.11.1918)—

“Order may be preserved in Germany if the troops can be got to their homes quickly and disarmed, and if the respective federated Governments have courage and energy to master  the Soldiers’ and Workmen’s Councils.”

The idea behind this suggestion is not difficult to discover. Evidently the capitalist class is hoping that a sufficient number of officers and soldiers may be found still holding “patriotic” and “nationalist” views, who can be persuaded to take orders from the master class for the purpose of “saving society.” If these “loyal” troops can be selected quickly, and if— as the “Daily News” correspondent suggests—the others can be rapidly returned home and disarmed before serious conflicts arise, the capitalist class of Germany may hope to steer through the troublesome times ahead without disaster to themselves. And if they fail ?

The answer can be seen in Russia. Allied troops have entered both on the Eastern and the North-Western frontiers. Further detachments are now being sent to the latter district from the Western Allies, while according to the “Daily Telegraph” (25.11.1918) the Japanese are claiming “recognition of the Japanese necessity to preserve order in Siberia to protect the integrity of Japan.” In August 1914 the Socialist Party of Great Britain issued its War Manifesto, which was published in the September issue of the Socialist Standard. Therein we stated :

“The capitalists of Europe have quarrelled over the question of the control of trade routes  and the world’s markets, and are endeavouring to exploit the political ignorance and blind passions of the working class of their respective countries in order to induce the said workers to take up arms in what is solely their masters’ quarrel.

“These armed forces, therefore, will only be set in motion to further the interests of the class  who control them—the master class—and as the workers’ interests are not bound up in the  struggle for markets wherein their masters may dispose of the wealth they have stolen from  them (the workers), but in the struggle to end the system under which they are robbed, they  are not concerned with the present European struggle, which is already known as the  BUSINESS war, for it is their masters’ interests that are involved, and not their own.”

The S.P.G.B was the only party in Great Britain who laid down the Socialist position when the war began and told the working class the truth about the situation. We have been the only party to maintain that position through the four and a quarter years of slaughter.

Overwhelming proof of the correctness of our attitude is now available in the terms of the “secret treaties” that have been published, quite apart from those known to exist but whose terms are still secret, in the action of the Allies in seizing the German colonies, in the various peace terms that have been formulated, in the declarations of “economic war after the war,” and in the claims now being made by the various countries of the Allied group upon territories and “spheres of influence.” Deceived by the delusion so sedulously spread by the master class that their “national existence was in danger,” that “civilisation trembled in the balance,” and so on, the workers have slaughtered each other by millions—and for what ? That the chains of wage slavery may be more firmly rivetted upon themselves the world over.

This applies as much to the victors as to the vanquished. While the capitalists have made huge fortunes out of war contracts the workers, despite “bonuses,” “allowances,” and increased rates, have been worked longer hours driven harder, and exploited to a greater degree than in the time of “peace” preceding August 1914. Speeding up of machinery, improved methods of organisation, greater “hustle” in the works and factories, further sub-division and “dilution” of labour processes, premium bonus schemes and extension of piecework, have resulted in a greatly increased output during the war.

On the return of “peace” conditions these methods will be extended and elaborated, resulting in still greater “driving” and intensification of toil with its consequent increased profits for the master class and greater misery for the workers. The urge of “patriotism” and “helping the boys in the trenches,” will be replaced by the more deadly, if more stealthy, whip of hunger. Schemes have been prepared and discussed for this purpose, and one set of such schemes has been critically examined and analysed in the Socialist Standard for April and May, 1917, under the heading “Promises and Pie Crust.”

The vast army of demobilised workers—from both military service and munition works—will supply a staggering number of unemployed which the masters can use to beat down wages and to impose stricter conditions of employment. The reconstruction of industry and the re-building of shell-shattered towns in the war area will afford but a relatively short, and by no means complete, respite from the operation of these conditions. Their application will be world-wide, affecting “new” as well as “old” countries where capitalism rules.

The contradiction and antagonism between the increasing powers of wealth production faced with a relatively decreasing capacity, under private ownership of the means of life, on the part of the majority of society to absorb the products, will grow greater year by year. This growing antagonism, coupled with the inability of the capitalist class to control the effects of this vicious system, will drive the workers to realise that not national boundaries but class barriers are the matters for them to study. Then they will see the sound and impregnable truth of the closing lines of our War Manifesto, where we say—

“Having no quarrel with the working class of any country, we extend to our fellow workers of all lands the expression of our good will and Socialist fraternity, and pledge ourselves to work for the overthrow of capitalism and the triumph of Socialism.”

Make no mistake about it; the capitalist nations of the globe will unite to form a solid phalanx in defence of their properties and interests the world over. The huge war just finishing is rapidly being overshadowed by the vaster CLASS war, moving into the last phases of the greatest of all struggles the world has ever, seen—the war over the ownership of the means of life ; the war to decide whether the producers shall be SLAVES OR FREEMEN.

In the great war now closing various races— black and brown, white and yellow—were marshalled against each other by the master class. In the final phases which we are approaching, of the greater war between the classes, race, colour, and sex barriers will be swept aside, and humanity as a whole will line up for the last great struggle of the human race—the struggle for the emancipation from Capitalism—for the establishment of the Socialist system.

Editorial Committee

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2020/06/armistice-and-after-1918.html

THE SOCIALIST PARTY: AGAINST ALL CAPITALIST WARS!

‘The Irish government is considering whether to limit the time Ukrainian refugees can remain in public housing, proposing a three-month cut-off amid a chronic national housing crisis, according to the Irish Examiner. Asylum-seekers would be required to cover their own costs after that period.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been permitted to remain indefinitely in hotels and hostels in the country at taxpayers’ expense, at a cost of some €1.5 billion per year. The reported policy change would force refugees to provide for themselves after three months in state-funded accommodation, the Examiner reported.

Should the measure be implemented, asylum-seekers would be required to look to the crisis-hit private rental market for housing, or go through the “offer-a-home” scheme, under which the government pays landlords €800 per month in order to use one of their properties specifically for Ukrainians who have fled their country.

According to the Examiner, the government will sell the upcoming change as a way to encourage Ukrainians to “integrate into society quickly,” though the outlet suggested it may be a tactic to “discourage more Ukrainians from seeking accommodation in Ireland as officials continue to struggle on a weekly basis to find adequate accommodation.”

The new restrictions would “bring Ireland’s offering in line with other EU countries,” a government source told the newspaper. A number of states in the bloc currently offer between 90 and 180 days of state-funded accommodation, requiring payment after that point.

However, some critics have already pushed back against the proposal, with another unnamed official voicing concern that it could “add to the homelessness figures” in Ireland, according to the Examiner. Kate Durrant of the Community Response Forum, a group representing Ukrainians living in the country, also stated the plan is “not at all feasible,” adding “it’s completely utopian as far as I can see.”

A spokesperson for Ireland’s department of integration later told Reuters that no final decision had been made, and that the move remains under review, but stressed the need to find a sustainable approach that was more in line with those of other EU members.

The Irish government says it has taken in nearly 100,000 Ukrainians since the conflict with Russia erupted in February 2022, constituting about 1.6% of all Ukrainian refugees in the EU, and has placed some 72,000 in state-funded accommodations. The total cost for housing the displaced people is expected to soar to €2.5 billion by next year, topping the current figure by nearly €1 billion.’

THE SOCIALIST PARTY: AGAINST ALL CAPITALIST WARS!

‘A sharp rise in the number of asylum seekers arriving in Germany has contributed to a more-than-50% rise in homelessness in the EU state in the past 12 months, according to a report by an emergency housing assistance organization.

Increased rents, a lack of social housing and soaring costs of living have limited accommodation options for about one million refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine, The Times newspaper reported, citing just-released data from the Federal Association for Aid to the Homeless (Bag W). Additionally, about 148,000 non-Ukrainians applied for asylum in the EU state in 2022, further compounding the country’s scarcity of available housing.

“Inflation, elevated costs and rising rents are bearing down heavily on households in Germany with weak incomes,” Bag W’s director Werena Rosenke told The Times. The most vulnerable, Rosenke added, are “low-income single-person households, single parents and couples with many children.”

Last year, about 607,000 people were at least temporarily homeless in Germany, Bag W said, compared to 383,000 in 2021. This was the highest count since 2018, with asylum seekers making up 411,000 of the figure (71%). While the homeless statistics were not broken down by nationality, January data from the country’s Federal Statistics Office said that Ukrainian nationals accounted for just under a third of the homeless population.

About 50,000 of Germany’s homeless were forced to sleep on the streets, according to Bag W’s analysis. The rest were able to find temporary accommodation, such as shelters or at the residences of friends or acquaintances.

Last weekend, a poll conducted by Der Spiegel concluded that about 40% of 125 local authorities in the ‘safe haven towns’ alliance –sometimes known as ‘Sanctuary Cities’– are close to reaching their immigrant-reception limits. Another survey, this one by Hildesheim University, found that about 40% of the 600 districts polled were “overwhelmed” or “in emergency mode.”

Bag W’s report also noted that a large drop in the social housing sector has exacerbated Germany’s homelessness problems, particularly as the amount of publicly-funded accommodation has halved to just over one million in the past two decades.

“The lack of affordable accommodation remains the main cause for the housing shortage in Germany,” Rosenke said. “For this reason German and non-German homeless people alike cannot be adequately provided with accommodation that is suited to their needs.”

The number of people expected to seek asylum in Germany in 2023 is expected to pass 300,000, The Times said.’

THE SOCIALIST PARTY: AGAINST ALL CAPITALIST WARS!

WHAT IS MATERIALISM? (Zoom)

 Event Details

 Date: November 10, 2023 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

 To join the meeting click https://zoom.us/j/7421974305

THE SOCIALIST PARTY: AGAINST ALL CAPITALIST WARS!