Being homeless doesn’t mean you lose your vote

Emdad Rahman

Many homeless people are deterred from registering to vote because they do not have a fixed postal address, but being homeless is actually not a bar. For decades the plight of those who are homeless has been neglected by politicians, and now people experiencing homelessness are being encouraged to make their voices heard by getting themselves on the electoral register.

The homeless and housing campaigners are also organising in many parts of the country to put homelessness on the politicians’ agenda during the campaigning for the coming General Election. Glasgow’s City Mission, for example, has hosted hustings of candidates in Glasgow Central. The participants were largely made up of city residents affected by homelessness. All five candidates for the Glasgow Central seat at Westminster participated in the hustings and were informed of the strife and issues that affect homeless people in the city – including benefits and employment.

Set up in 1826, Glasgow City Mission is the world’s first city mission. The shelter and refuge provides practical care to over 200 homeless and impoverished adults every day, offering advice, food and a range of vocational workshops and courses to assist service users. [Adverts]

The Glasgow City  Mission has issued a rallying call which aims to amplify the voices of people excluded from voting and politics and hosted a straw poll of Glasweigans most affected by homelessness and poverty during the hustings session. The Labour Party (18 votes) pipped the SNP (twelve votes) to first place. The Conservatives had one vote and there were two spoilt ballot papers – while the Greens and Lib-Dems failed to muster any support from the voters.

Glasgow City Mission Chief Executive Grant Campbell said: “Treat people as equals and let them ask questions the way they want to and force politicians to spend face-to-face time with them. When you’re making decisions, remember this room. Glasgow City Mission sees about 200 people each day in the city centre, and while homelessness applications are down 5%, use of our night shelter over winter was up 10 per cent.”

Mr Campbell said the hustings, which Glasgow City Mission also held during the referendum last year, were important to give the homeless a voice. He added: “Democracy sometimes runs me up the wall. But we have a responsibility to challenge those who are in power to listen and act. We all have a responsibility to question and participate and vote.”

Anas Sarwar, Labour’s sitting MP in Glasgow Central, attacked big businesses who don’t pay taxes and the big six energy firms, as well as calling for the ending the so-called bedroom tax and setting up an anti-poverty fund in Scotland. He said: “I’m fighting for change – I’m the change candidate.”

Alison Thewliss, a Glasgow City councillor who is standing for the SNP, added: “A vote for the SNP is a vote to change the cosy Westminster system. We want to see a fairer Scotland and a more progressive Scotland.”

The Conservatives’ Simon Bone added: “Yes, the last five years have been pretty bad. Yes, there’s been cuts. But now, hopefully, things will get better.”

Scottish Green candidate Cass MacGregor said: “If you don’t vote, you don’t get a say in what’s going on.”

Chris Young of the Lib-Dems said: “There’s no magic wand – money doesn’t grow on trees. There are practical things we can do. I really believe you should be compassionate and listen and make policies that work.”

VOTING
The General Election will take place on Thursday, 7th May 2015. To check that you are on the electoral register, and to find out how to register if you are not, phone the electoral registration department in your local town hall. You’ll need to fill out a form and give information including your name, date of birth and National Insurance number (if you don’t have one, you will need to provide other material, such as your passport).

To register, you must be resident in the UK and 16 years or over and you must be a British or Irish citizen. You also qualify to register if you are a citizen of a country of the EU or Commonwealth and you either don’t need permission to stay or have leave to enter or remain in the UK.

You can register to vote if you have no fixed address. This could be because you are homeless, staying in a hostel or night shelter, in prison on remand or a patient in a mental health hospital. You must make “declaration of local connection”. This is a statement that you make to a local electoral office to say where you spend most of your time.

A polling card can be sent to an address you name. A day centre, hostel or friend may be willing to receive post for you. If you don’t have a postal address you can use, your local electoral office can tell you which polling station to attend to vote.

•For more information, go to the About My Vote website: www.aboutmyvote.co.uk.
•To register, go to: http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/register-to-vote/how-to-register-to-vote