Sorry for the late reply. Been addicted to discord lately :)
You are bang on but not surprising if you have been through this. The gov are nothing but pirates who make money and half-hearted promises. Most homeless have so many mental issue that they also need attention along with accommodation. But if they accept the help and then relapse, they go back to the bottom of the board. A lot of the guys I spoke to said that they do not like to use the mainstream services because it surrounds them with drugs/alcohol. Its' a horrible assumption to make but there seems to be the type of homeless who couldn't care less and then those who really need help but a too messed up to access it. Misplaced help that looks good on the surface but does nothing but generate profit. The charity shops have strict instructions to only hand out a phone number so the "homeless person" can be seen to and guided to a shelter. They wouldn't even reduce the prices for me. I was shocked to be honest. What's worse is that when I saw Ben, who I mentioned in the article, he told me someone had phoned this group to come out and see him. That was at 14:00 and when I saw him at 18:00, nobody had come. It is completely down to us now. Thanks for that cracking comment. Appreciate the feedback.