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Homeless Poles too ashamed to leave UKRising number who fail to find work are forced to live on the streets
Amelia Hill, society and culture correspondent The Observer, Sunday September 10 2006 Article historyAbout this articleClose This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday September 10 2006 on p24 of the News section. It was last updated at 08:43 on September 11 2006. Two weeks ago Jozef Bubak, a trained chef and family man, found himself sleeping on the streets. Just seven months earlier he had left his home in Poland determined to earn enough money to return to his wife and children and set up a family restaurant.
Contrary to the stories told back home, however, there was no job waiting for him here. Nor was there accommodation or any support system to help him when his temporary job on a building site ended six weeks ago.
'In Poland, we are told Britain is a country of high wages and plentiful work,' said the 31-year-old Pole. 'But since I arrived I realise that is not necessarily true. When I came to the streets, I was amazed to find so many Polish people already sleeping here, but every night I see more and more new faces.'
An estimated 400,000 Poles are living in Britain, which opened its labour markets to workers from the accession countries of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia when they joined the European Union in May 2004.
But instead of finding the opportunities that they heard of back home, thousands of Poles have ended up on the streets. One London council is so concerned by the increase that it has paid for more than 250 Poles to return home.
Alarmed by the increasingly common sight of homeless Poles in Britain and fearful that they will turn to drugs, prostitution and crime, the Polish Embassy last week invited a delegation to London to persuade their compatriots to return home. 'Our government has been alerted to the critical situation suffered by our countrymen in Britain and is acutely concerned,' said Ewa Sadowska, from the Barka Foundation, a non-governmental charity based in Poznan, western Poland, who arrived in London last week.
'They come here without any money or contacts, they don't speak the language, yet they think Britain is going to be paradise,' she said. 'It is not easy to persuade them to return home though. The problem is that once they are on the streets, they are too ashamed to come home to Poland. We need to find a way of convincing them to come back home with their dignity intact.'
An increasing number of men end up in modern slavery, says Tim Nicholls, director of the Simon Community, a London homelessness charity.
'These men often arrive with little money, poor English skills and no contacts,' said Nicholls, who estimates up to 35 per cent of the people it encounters on its daily soup runs in the capital are from Poland.
'With no support network, they fall into the hands of unscrupulous people who force them into slave labour: pay them a pittance and force them to live in poor-quality, overcrowded accommodation. We are seeing an increasing number of Poles who end up on the street after fleeing situations like this.'
Once on the streets, however, they find themselves caught in another trap: accession country members have no right to public funds, which means that unless they have worked for 16 months in Britain and paid all their national insurance contributions, they cannot claim benefits or sleep in state-funded hostels.
'We are impressed by the kindness of the British people towards the increasing number of Polish people on their streets,' said Sadowska. 'But you are prevented by law from helping them in the way they need to be helped, with places to sleep and money to set themselves up in situations where they have a chance of finding work.'
Angela Harvey, the cabinet member for housing at Westminster city council, is so concerned by the continued growth in numbers of homeless Poles on the streets of the borough that she travelled to Poland recently to address the Polish parliament on the problem.
'There has been such a relentless rise in numbers of homeless people on our streets that we have hired an interpreter and two Metropolitan police officers to target Polish people,' she said. 'We are acutely aware that it takes just two weeks for someone to become entrenched as a rough sleeper, and so we are battling against the clock to reach them as soon as possible and start working to persuade them to go home. So far we have paid for 265 Poles to return home, but the numbers of those continuing to arrive in Britain is deeply worrying.'
Persuading Poles to return home, however, is not easy. Despite his harsh experiences, for example, Bubak still hopes that his luck will improve. 'London is a city of so many opportunities that something good will have to happen eventually,' he insisted.
'Anyway, how can I go home? All my neighbours saw me leave and my family are relying on me. How can I go back and admit I have been homeless?' he said. 'I would rather stay here, sleep in the gutter and continue to hope and fight for work
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Homeless Poles too ashamed to leave UKRising number who fail to find work are forced to live on the streets
Amelia Hill, society and culture correspondent The Observer, Sunday September 10 2006 Article historyAbout this articleClose This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday September 10 2006 on p24 of the News section. It was last updated at 08:43 on September 11 2006. Two weeks ago Jozef Bubak, a trained chef and family man, found himself sleeping on the streets. Just seven months earlier he had left his home in Poland determined to earn enough money to return to his wife and children and set up a family restaurant.
Contrary to the stories told back home, however, there was no job waiting for him here. Nor was there accommodation or any support system to help him when his temporary job on a building site ended six weeks ago.
'In Poland, we are told Britain is a country of high wages and plentiful work,' said the 31-year-old Pole. 'But since I arrived I realise that is not necessarily true. When I came to the streets, I was amazed to find so many Polish people already sleeping here, but every night I see more and more new faces.'
An estimated 400,000 Poles are living in Britain, which opened its labour markets to workers from the accession countries of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia when they joined the European Union in May 2004.
But instead of finding the opportunities that they heard of back home, thousands of Poles have ended up on the streets. One London council is so concerned by the increase that it has paid for more than 250 Poles to return home.
Alarmed by the increasingly common sight of homeless Poles in Britain and fearful that they will turn to drugs, prostitution and crime, the Polish Embassy last week invited a delegation to London to persuade their compatriots to return home. 'Our government has been alerted to the critical situation suffered by our countrymen in Britain and is acutely concerned,' said Ewa Sadowska, from the Barka Foundation, a non-governmental charity based in Poznan, western Poland, who arrived in London last week.
'They come here without any money or contacts, they don't speak the language, yet they think Britain is going to be paradise,' she said. 'It is not easy to persuade them to return home though. The problem is that once they are on the streets, they are too ashamed to come home to Poland. We need to find a way of convincing them to come back home with their dignity intact.'
An increasing number of men end up in modern slavery, says Tim Nicholls, director of the Simon Community, a London homelessness charity.
'These men often arrive with little money, poor English skills and no contacts,' said Nicholls, who estimates up to 35 per cent of the people it encounters on its daily soup runs in the capital are from Poland.
'With no support network, they fall into the hands of unscrupulous people who force them into slave labour: pay them a pittance and force them to live in poor-quality, overcrowded accommodation. We are seeing an increasing number of Poles who end up on the street after fleeing situations like this.'
Once on the streets, however, they find themselves caught in another trap: accession country members have no right to public funds, which means that unless they have worked for 16 months in Britain and paid all their national insurance contributions, they cannot claim benefits or sleep in state-funded hostels.
'We are impressed by the kindness of the British people towards the increasing number of Polish people on their streets,' said Sadowska. 'But you are prevented by law from helping them in the way they need to be helped, with places to sleep and money to set themselves up in situations where they have a chance of finding work.'
Angela Harvey, the cabinet member for housing at Westminster city council, is so concerned by the continued growth in numbers of homeless Poles on the streets of the borough that she travelled to Poland recently to address the Polish parliament on the problem.
'There has been such a relentless rise in numbers of homeless people on our streets that we have hired an interpreter and two Metropolitan police officers to target Polish people,' she said. 'We are acutely aware that it takes just two weeks for someone to become entrenched as a rough sleeper, and so we are battling against the clock to reach them as soon as possible and start working to persuade them to go home. So far we have paid for 265 Poles to return home, but the numbers of those continuing to arrive in Britain is deeply worrying.'
Persuading Poles to return home, however, is not easy. Despite his harsh experiences, for example, Bubak still hopes that his luck will improve. 'London is a city of so many opportunities that something good will have to happen eventually,' he insisted.
'Anyway, how can I go home? All my neighbours saw me leave and my family are relying on me. How can I go back and admit I have been homeless?' he said. 'I would rather stay here, sleep in the gutter and continue to hope and fight for work
