THE story of a homeless man who took his own life, as reported in the Malvern Gazette this week, will strike any humane person as unbearably sad.
Remigiusz Boczarski, who was known in Malvern Wells for sleeping in a bus shelter, was found dead last October, having suffered from anxiety, stress and physical health problems.
A number of agencies had been called in to assist Mr Boczarski, but to no avail.
The whole issue, along with the death of Joby Sparrey, raises the question of whether society is doing enough to help such people .
Although coroner David Reid made no criticism of the agencies involved in Mr Boczarski’s case, we can legitimately ask if society as a whole is really pulling out all the stops to help the homeless.
The homeless, in the main, are not on the streets because of a lack of accommodation in the country as a whole, but because of the lack of resources to address the various issues they face, which overwhelmingly include mental health issues and problems with substance abuse.
Without tackling these problems, simply providing beds in hostels won’t provide a solution.
In the old days, people in that position were frequently housed in asylums, such as the one that used to exist at Powick.
“Care in the Community” was presented as a humane alternative to mental hospitals, but as time goes on, people have wondered if it was an attempt to pass the buck from the NHS to social services and private charity.
It’s not a problem that can be solved at any small cost.
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