'Not giving money to Brighton beggars will lead to crime'

Jim Deans, from Sussex Homeless Support, spoke out over the idea to move to a cashless donation scheme in place of handing over money to people on Brighton and Hove’s streets.

The scheme, suggested by Conservative councillor Dawn Barnett, would work similarly to projects in Ascot, Eton, Maidenhead and Windsor.

In those schemes, the cashless donations raised fund individual support programmes for rough sleepers to help them make “real-life changes”.

However, Mr Deans, who runs the homeless buses on the seafront, said people could turn to crime to feed their addictions if the money is taken away.

Beggars may turn to crime, warns homeless campaigner Jim Deans

He said: “People are begging for addiction, if they don’t get the money for that addition, then it could cause more robbery, more shoplifting.

“We have a guide from Los Angeles – 90 per cent of all crime originates in Skid Row, but doesn’t happen in Skid Row.

“That’s because the benefits system is terrible and begging is impossible and people turn to crime for addiction.

“These crimes include mugging, robbery, theft shoplifting – exactly what would happen if we took the begging away on the street.”

There are currently about 30 people rough sleeping in the city.

The council said accommodation is available to everyone if they need it.

However, a spokesman said, some people with “complex needs can find it difficult to move from the streets”

Mr Dean’s comments come in response to question Cllr Barnett is due to ask the next full council meeting.

She will question what efforts are being made to end begging on the streets and whether the council would support a cashless donation scheme.

Speaking ahead of the hearing, Cllr Barnett said: “Begging is vagrancy, it’s against the law and not acceptable.

“It is a big issue, some of the beggars intimidate people to give them money by sitting near a cashpoint and asking for money. People feel pressurised.

“Put the cashless system in place, so that everyone receives help not just the ones sitting begging for change.

“They have somewhere to go, they’re just doing it to feed their addictions.”

Cllr Barnett said her suggestion of implementing a cashless donation system – as used elsewhere in the county – comes following comments made by Brighton Housing Trust’s Andy Winter in The Argus.

Mr Winter said that begging was the elephant in the room that needed addressing by the council and that a "great opportunity" was missed to address these problems.

Responding to Cllr Barnett’s proposal, he said: “Begging has very little to do with homelessness and rough sleeping and everything to do with addictions.

“You are more likely to be feeding someone’s addiction rather than their hunger.

“There’s no reason why anyone should be going hungry. Anybody with a sign saying they need £20 for a room that night has a good begging pitch, but it is not based in reality.

“I would support money being used to help people moved off the street by having a tailored program.

“There have been alternative schemes that have been run in Brighton and moving to a cashless location system is very much in keeping with the times – people’s cash has turned plastic.”