EDGES MAGAZINE Issue 23

October 2000

In 1993, when The Big Issue in Scotland was set up, there were many ‘Expert’ voices predicting its failure. Homeless people, they argued, needed decent houses, not a way to make a living. Homeless people, they said, would not be interested in standing on the streets selling a newspaper. Homelessness was a housing problem, they sneered, and the solution was to make sure that the supply of housing equalled the demand for it. The experts were wrong.

The debate has moved on of course. The ‘experts’ have finally realised that while for some people, homelessness is just a matter of finding a house, for many other homeless people it is just one of many problems. Between 1993 and 2000 homelessness has increased in Scotland, and is now at a record high, despite the best efforts of the ‘experts’ over this period. And there’s never been a shortage of homeless people coming into The Big Issue asking to become vendors. The buzz phrase now is social inclusion, and the Government’s policy on this is wide ranging. It looks at housing, employment, education, health and a range of other factors as a whole. Finally the ‘experts’ seem to have realised that you can’t solve homelessness by just building houses.

The majority of Big Issue sellers do not just need a house. Of course, they’d like one. They would love to be able to go home at night an d shut the door behind them, to lie on the couch in front of the telly, to cook a meal, to lie in the bath for an hour reading a magazine, to phone up friends for a chat. In short, homeless people would love to enjoy the peace, dignity and safety that we think of when we say ‘home’. The sad truth is that many homeless people have never known a home like this.

One in three homeless people have been in social work care. One of our Glasgow vendors stayed in 19 different addresses before the age of 16, and attended three different secondary schools. At sixteen he left care and was given a flat of his own. Needless to say he had neither the maturity nor the experience to deal with this, and he soon ended up on the streets and staying in hostels. Another vendor is one of eight children, brought up in a house on a notoriously poor Glasgow housing scheme. His mother died while he was still young. His father an alcoholic. Of the eight children, the only one who is working is his older brother who is a drug dealer.

While some vendors do have a trade, or skills that they could transfer to other employment - and many do, using The Big Issue as a way to bridge a short term crisis - many vendors have no educational qualifications, no training, no way of earning a living in an increasingly skills based economy. They sleep rough or in homeless hostels, where they are preyed upon by ruthless drug dealers. Many, almost inevitably, become drug addicts. Our vendors are approached, on average, 3 or 4 times a day by people who want to sell them drugs.

Poverty is about more than just a lack of money, just as homelessness is about more than just a lack of a house.

And that’s where The Big Issue comes in. Big Issue vendors are all homeless, or have recently been homeless and are continuing to sell as they get back on their feet. We offer them the opportunity to earn an income. We produce a quality magazine and sell it to homeless people for 40p. They sell it to the public for £1 and keep their profit. They work the hours they want, or are able to.

Of course, when dealing with such a vulnerable group of people, there has to be rules, and we have a Code of Conduct for vendors, which we rigorously uphold. Vendors who, for example, sell under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or who sell aggressively will be banned from selling. We manage ‘pitches’ throughout Scotland, trying to ensure that every vendor has a designated place to sell. In short, we try to introduce some structure, and of work ethic to people who are often unfamiliar or out of practice. We believe that economic activity - work - is the key route back into society.

Selling The Big Issue is not a solution for homelessness, but it is crucial to including in society people who have been left out. We try to ensure that the magazine is interesting and a good read in its own right, and we try to help our vendors sell it through pitch management, training, etc. But we need people to buy it.

When you buy a Big Issue you are putting money directly into the pocket of someone who will use it to pay for a bed for the night, or to put some hot food in his or her stomach. They may use it for something else, but its nobody’s business how people spend the money that they earn, whether they are Big Issue vendors or chartered accountants. And better that they earn money by selling The Big Issue than by crime or prostitution - one in three homeless women sell their bodies.

But you are also contributing to an idea, and that’s the idea of social inclusion. We believe that teaching people how to work, and giving them back the dignity of earning their own living is essential if we’re really going to welcome into society the people who are living outside it. That’s why we say The Big Issue is a hand up, not a hand out.

The Big Issue is a three way partnership. There’s The Big Issue in Scotland Ltd, producing a magazine and distributing it to homeless people. There’s the vendors selling it. And finally there’s the public buying it. Without all three, there will be no Big Issue in Scotland.