HOLLYWOOD heart-throb Richard Gere told an audience in Hampstead of the “insanity” of working people who become homeless when they are unable to keep pace with the soaring cost of living. Speaking after a screening of his latest film, which focuses on the plight of the homeless, he said: “It’s not mental illness, it’s not laziness. It’s a wide variety of things that [mean] people end up on the streets. “What we are seeing more and more, because of the economy, is people who have jobs and work long, long hours still can’t pay their way. That’s the insanity of the world now.” His visit comes as outreach teams in Camden try to cope with a rise in the number of people living on the streets. He told an audience at the plush Hampstead Everyman of the “solitary confinement” that rough sleepers suffer when they are ignored. For the film, the Pretty Woman star begged unnoticed on New York streets. Describing his experience on location, when he was shot using long lenses among unwitting members of the public, Gere said: “I could see people from blocks away, seeing my physicality and through very superficial cues, deciding ‘homeless guy’, then that’s all they saw. They didn’t look further. It was a profound experience in how superficially we all relate to each other.” Perhaps aware of the contrast between the film’s subject matter and its screening in a cinema off Hampstead High Street with sofa-style seating and an in-film refreshment service, Gere commented: “This is very comfortable, isn’t it? Nice chairs. So how does this work, you actually eat during the film? They bring you things during?” One audience member explained how he would normally refuse to give money to people on the street, but said the film had changed his perspective. Mr Gere said: “I give money to everyone I pass and I think, from the deepest place inside of me, I wish you happiness and make eye contact. If they want to go further with it, I do. If they don’t I leave them in peace. It’s not up to me what they do with the dollar or five dollars. It’s more important that there’s a genuine moment of generosity.” The film, Time Out of Mind, directed by Oren Moverman, is released on Friday. In Soho yesterday (Wednesday) Gere met homeless people who are being helped by charities Centrepoint and Crisis, which will receive 10 per cent of profits from the film’s UK distribution. In the last three months of 2015, 92 people were recorded as sleeping rough across Camden, a 21 per cent increase on the same period last year. There have been at least two deaths and two near- misses on the streets of Camden Town alone in the past six months. One cinemagoer, asked afterwards if the film had changed her thoughts on homelessness, said: “It was very heavy. But it was nice to see Mr Gere up close, having admired him for so many years. I’ve never given people money, because I’m always worried about what they’ll spend it on.” Seyi Obakin, chief executive of Centrepoint, said: “It is fantastic to have Richard, who is so passionate about ending homelessness wherever in the world it is happening, lend his voice in support of the vast majority of Londoners who are appalled by the current situation of homelessness in this city and want the next Mayor to take action.”