Bush hostel: drug infested & crazy

Panorama featured a W12 homeless hostel which an inhabitant described as "drug infested, with all of the paraphernalia that goes with it" this week. Called "The Hub" it is part of the Mayor's "no second night" initiative to tackle homelessness in the capital and the documentary featured a moving story of a man who'd gone from being a successful international  business figure to a vagrant with bankruptcy and a broken marriage behind him.

The programme tracks his story from staying in a park hut in croydon to staying a few nights chez W12 before moving on to a shared flat in Streatham. At which point things seem to be a little brighter and we have to hope he continues his journey from rock bottom upwards.

Goldhawk Road

But the brief section on the Bush hostel should perhaps give us all pause for thought. Facilities like these are essential and as a Shepherd's Bush foodbank continues to feed ever growing numbers of people in dire need I'm afraid the need is set to get ever greater. But surely if we know centres such as that in the Bush are full of drugs, we should be doing something about it? I imagine the families on those streets would agree.