Homelessness and Poverty in Brighton: research points after tutorial

After the tutorial with Mark and Leo, i have begun some research on the groups we are aiming the service part of our new brand and concept on. I wanted to look into the stats and figures of homelessness and poverty in Brighton in order to access a possible alternative for our concept other than ‘low income’ as I’m worried that this may be offensive or people will not want to associate into these categories.

I will be researching…
– homelessness in Brighton
– poverty in Brighton
– charities that are already set up in order to help these groups
– how poverty affects fashion consumption

From this research I will then rewrite the concept and explain how the change in the tone of voice and vocabulary used will benefit the service and the community it aims to work within.

Statistics:

• -One in every 78 people in Brighton is homeless
• -More than 1000 homeless children in Brighton and hove living in temporary accommodation
• -There has been a 84% increase in amount of households depending on universal credit who are unemployed in Brighton
• -The most likely people to be affected are, single parent households, households that have a disability, households that are from a minoritized ethnic background
• households in rented accommodation are more likely to face poverty
• rent has risen in Brighton between 9 and 25 percent

using these sites:

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/23254367.one-every-78-people-homeless-brighton-hove/
https://www.cabrightonhove.org/campaigns/cost-of-living-crisis-report-2022/#:~:text=Poverty%20now%20affects%20more%20households,think%20these%20figures%20are%20increasing
https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2022/04/14/brighton-and-hove-on-verge-of-poverty-bomb-charity-warns/

I grew up in Brighton, for 10 years i lived in the city before moving just outside to a smaller more affluent town. I have always been aware of homeless people in Brighton and their lives. Since moving back to the city for University, i have noticed a drastic increase into the amount of homeless people that i encounter daily. Some of them have become regular interactions due to working in the laines and seeing the same people most days. I feel as though there are possibly some opportunities in charities in Brighton as i am consistently seeing the same people asking for money, therefore something clearly must be lacking.

https://www.cabrightonhove.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Post-pandemic-poverty-summary-and-recommendations-2022.pdf

Above is a link to a summary of the report of Brighton post pandemic poverty. From this, it was made clear to me that a huge majority of this city relies on rented accommodation. However, the rates of renting in Brighton are drastically high compared to other cities in England. The minimum wage and living wage however doesn’t represent the costs of living in Brighton like it does for other expensive cities like London. Therefore, there is an exponential difference in poverty as a result of renting in Brighton compared to other cities.

In the report it is noted that this chance of poverty is further likely for minority groups such as, disabled people, black, Asian and other ethnic minorities. Therefore our service needs to be diverse, target all possible diversities in Brighton and allow for an inclusive space that caters to everyone who may need it.