Venus Wants To Hear What You Think Of Their Project

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One of the Venus projects, Our Place, Sefton Care Leavers Centre, is being evaluated as they are coming to the end of their funding.

Sefton Care Leavers’ Centre is managed by Venus and has been funded through Big Lottery. It provides support in partnership with Sefton MBC Corporate Parenting Team and Sefton CVS to young people in care and care leavers to make the transition to independence.

The project is based in Waterloo and is the hub of a range of services. They provide independence-building activities such as parenting skills for young care leavers who are parents or pregnant, tenancy support and pre-tenancy training, confidence building and counselling. They also provide outreach support, advocacy, as well as a welcoming, inclusive place to be. And they put on lots of fun activities too, such as movie nights, cookery, music sessions and the odd trip out to do things like roller-skating and rock climbing!

They also provide opportunities to develop partnership working with agencies and organisations to better support young people in care and care leavers in their transition to independence. Personal Advisors from Sefton Council can also be accessed in the Centre, making it easier for young people to get the services they need. In addition, there are opportunities for young people to choose to have their meetings and/or reviews held at the Centre if they wish.

If you have accessed Our Place they would be grateful if you would take five minutes to complete their survey. This will help them to review the progress they have made and plan for future funding bids. Venus want all of their projects to be the best they can be, so your responses will help to do this and your input will be invaluable!

You can complete the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/D7NFPVC

Homelessness Protesters Occupy Another Bank – In Birkenhead

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A group of squatters calling themselves the “Love Activists” have taken over a disused bank in Hamilton Square, Birkenhead. Around half-a-dozen protesters occupied the former Barclay’s Bank on Monday morning saying they intend to open for the homeless.

The Love Activists took over the empty Bank of England building in Castle Street, Liverpool, for two weeks in September of 2015 before they were evicted.

On their Facebook page the activists wrote: “Coming up to two years since the love bank opened its doors. Solidarity to everyone on the streets. Birkenhead bank squatters are providing bed and breakfast for those around Liverpool Birkenhead area. Old Barclays Bank, 50 Hamilton Square, Birkenhead. Until evicted. Donations welcome I guess.”

They continued: “There’s approximately 1.1m empty commercial properties in the UK so why is there a homeless crisis. Well the homeless crisis was manufactured. There’s enough empty buildings in the UK, it’s just there’s no money to be made by people being housed.”

One of the activists, speaking from an open window, said: “We don’t support fracking in this country and I don’t think anyone else does in any other countries. So we plan to open this as a homeless shelter. Free bed and breakfast, so yeah, get the word out.”

When asked by police what their intentions were, she said: “We intend to open this as a bed and breakfast for all the rough sleepers in Birkenhead and Liverpool. The window was open so, you know, what can you do? There’s lots of empty buildings you see and too many homeless people. This is a political protest.”

Merseyside Police said: “At around 5.45pm, a small number of people entered a commercial property in Hamilton Square and are conducting a protest. Officers are currently making attempts to engage with the group and will continue to monitor the situation as the safety of the public is our main priority.”

Sex For Rent Adverts To Lure The Homeless

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Vulnerable young homeless people are being lured by unscrupulous landlords with adverts offering accommodation in exchange for sex, a BBC investigation has found.

The offers, which are completely legal, are on classified ad sites such as Craigslist. But charities have described the adverts as exploitative and MP Peter Kyle wants them made illegal. Craigslist, which on one day carried more than 100 such adverts, has not commented.

Adverts seen by BBC South East included one posted by a Maidstone man asking for a woman to move in and pretend to be his girlfriend, another offered a double room in Rochester in exchange for “services”, whilst one in Brighton was aimed at young men. One landlord in London was looking for a “naughty girl” to move in.

Landlords who posted the adverts were clear how the arrangement would work. One said: “I was thinking once a week, something like that, I’m happy as long as there’s sex involved.” Another read: “You agree sort of like a couple of times a week, pop into my room sort of thing, but as far as the apartment’s concerned, it’s like completely as if we’re flatmates. It’s all the bills, the rent, free.”

One landlord, who spoke anonymously to BBC South East, defended the deals as a “friend with benefits” type of arrangement. He said: “You can argue that high rent charged by landlords is taking advantage too. There’s no compulsion for them to do this. Everyone goes into it with their eyes wide open. I am the last type of person who’d like to take advantage. Both sides have something the other person wants. I see it as a win-win situation.”

“I can only speak for myself” he went on, “but I would prefer someone older – not someone young enough to be my daughter, ” he added. When asked about whether such arrangements were akin to sexual exploitation, he said people working in jobs they do not like was “like a form of prostitution”.

But Andrew Wallis, of the anti-slavery charity Unseen, said: “I think these adverts go as close to the edge of the law that they possibly can without breaking the law. They would argue that they have chosen voluntarily to enter that situation. The trouble is when you have a vulnerable person who then becomes exploited, the concept of choice soon disappears.”

A recent survey of over 400 homeless people, conducted by the homeless charity Centrepoint, found that a quarter (25%) said they had stayed with a stranger and 14% said they had thought about doing so. The survey did not ask whether they had sex with the person.

Paul Noblet, from Centrepoint, suggested website owners could consider a voluntary code under which they could monitor and remove such adverts. But Mr Kyle went further and said they should be compelled to deal with the issue. “If they don’t stand up to this and then accept their responsibility, I will be pushing for legislation to do it for them,” he said.

Homeless Families Being Priced Out Of London

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The number of homeless families being moved out of London and into temporary accommodation elsewhere has gone up five-fold since 2012, the BBC reports.

According to figures released by London Councils (LC), the number of placements rose from 113 between April and June 2012 to 551 between December and April 2016. Local Authorities are forced into this by rising temporary housing costs, which have also doubled since 2012. London boroughs spent £203m on housing rented on a per-night basis in the 2015 financial year, up from £90m in 2011.

Kate Webb, head of policy at housing charity Shelter, explained high London property prices mean “councils are finding it much harder to find landlords that will work with them”. Councils are struggling to secure long term leases on properties to use for temporary accommodation, so are forced into per-night rental agreements, or to look beyond the capital, she said.

The number of nights rented under these arrangements has more than tripled from 540,000 to 1.8m over the past five years, 14 London councils confirmed. “Because councils can’t find anything affordable and suitable in their own local area, then they do often have no choice but to look to cheaper areas outside of the capital,” Ms. Webb confirmed.

Some councils are looking at alternative solutions to the shortage of properties, such as converting former industrial units into temporary accommodation and building prefabricated, modular housing on council-owned land. But cost increases are forcing London boroughs to look further afield for temporary accommodation. Most of these families were sent to towns in the south-east such as Thurrock, Medway and Luton, though a number of families were housed in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. There has also been a rise in the number of families moved to another borough within London. While 2449 families were placed outside their borough between June and September in 2011, this rose to 4883 between December and March 2016, the figures show.

David Smith, policy officer at the Residential Landlords Association, said: “One of the biggest problems that councils have is that they are not addressing people being evicted from properties quickly enough.” He explained councils tend to leave people in a property to the very last minute, before looking for short term emergency housing solutions. “If that was being addressed more quickly, then these expensive temporary housing solutions could be avoided,” he said.

Sir Steve Bullock, executive lead on housing for London Councils, and Mayor of Lewisham, explained why councils were struggling: “We have more people who need housing, in this case short term temporary accommodation, than we are able to access in London, because of the London housing crisis that we all know about,” he said. “Most of us are trying to juggle both things, and to do both, but I can understand why when we are dealing with this very immediate issue of homelessness, it does look like we are fire fighting, but we are also looking at the long term,” he added.

The BBC sent freedom of information requests to all London boroughs on the costs of their nightly charged temporary accommodation. Twenty boroughs provided full information, though some responses also included nightly paid, shared accommodation.

Local Councils Targeting Rough Sleepers

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More than a third of local councils are now targeting rough sleepers with enforcement measures, research by Crisis has found.

A report in Metro says that nearly three-quarters of homeless people said they had experienced some kind of enforcement in the past year, with one in ten receiving a formal measure with legal penalties. Eight out of ten said they had not had any support or advice during their last experience of enforcement.

Crisis is now calling on local councils to make sure that legal measures are used only as a last resort for genuinely antisocial behaviour and that any rough sleepers affected are offered personalised and accessible support to escape the streets.
Jon Sparkes, Chief Executive of Crisis, said: “There is a time and place for enforcement, and as a last resort it can play an important role in helping people off the street.”

“However, if it is used against a rough sleeper for genuinely antisocial behaviour then councils and police must make sure it is accompanied by accessible, meaningful support and accommodation to help that person escape the streets and rebuild their life. Without that support, they risk further marginalising rough sleepers and making it even harder for them to get help.”

The survey found:

  • Nearly 70% of local councils use some form of enforcement to tackle antisocial behaviour.
  • Local councils want to make increased use of new powers under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. Over half intend to roll out new PSPOs, one in five intend to use CPNs (Community Protection Notices), and a fifth intend to make use of hostile architecture.
  • 10% of rough sleepers had encountered a formal enforcement measure in the last 12 months, compared to 70% who had experienced an informal measure.
  • 94% of local councils said that support and advice were always given alongside enforcement actions, but this generally referred only to legal actions. This was also reflected in a Freedom of Information request in which 21 local council reported that 374 referrals had been made to support or counselling services
  • 81% of recent rough sleepers said they received no support in relation to the last enforcement measure they experienced – despite asking for it. While the numbers of rough sleepers receiving support was limited, the take up of support was quite high when it was offered, the two most common options being help accessing emergency accommodation or signposting to other organisations.
  • While local authorities reported seeing a drop in anti-social behaviour in areas where they had measures in place, over a quarter also reported it rising in places where there was no enforcement.
  • A third of rough sleepers said that enforcement had just made them move.

Kind Cop’s Punishment Takes The Biscuit!

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A policeman has been reprimanded after paying £2 for a homeless man’s stolen biscuits.

Derbyshire PC Martin Rothwell faced a charge of gross misconduct after admitting paying for the two packets of biscuits, which the homeless man had taken from a Poundland store. The man was a prolific shoplifter and had been detained at the shop before police were called.

When PC Rothwell arrived, instead of arresting him he decided to pay for the goods and talk to the man outside, because he felt sorry for him and wanted to make sure he had eaten something that day. PC Rothwell then took him outside and pointed him in the direction of services that could help.

But, according to the Derby Telegraph, a worker at Poundland reported PC Rothwell’s actions to his bosses and a police professional standards probe began. That led to a hearing, eight months after the incident on July 6 last year, which resulted in a written warning. At the hearing, PC Rothwell admitted lying on the report of the incident because he wrote the homeless man had found £2 to pay for the biscuits and no crime had been committed. However, he openly told colleagues what he had actually done.

But the case against PC Rothwell was branded a “total waste of money” after he was described as a “credit to the force” by a disciplinary hearing chair, barrister Nahied Asjad, who said thousands of pounds had been spent on the case. She commented: “What does it say about the police force and target-driven standards when a police officer feels the need to lie to close the case?”

The hearing was told the homeless man was vulnerable, sleeps rough and is a “prolific shoplifter”. PC Rothwell told the hearing that “nobody would know if the man died tomorrow”. He admitted that he failed to investigate the shop theft, paid the money himself and stated on the crime reporting system and to a control room that the homeless man had found £2 and no crime had been committed. The actions amounted to misconduct and gross misconduct, which he accepted.

David Ring, who set out the case against PC Rothwell for the force, said the starting point for his actions “would have to be dismissal” because the officer had lied “in order to hide what he had done”.

But this was dismissed by the chair, who said his actions “did not amount to a cover-up”, because he had told other staff. Ms Asjad said PC Rothwell showed the “highest degree of compassion” but said his actions were “unorthodox”. She said: “Nobody in management spoke to him and explained what his mistake was. I have to question a lack of management in this case. This does not amount to a cover-up. He told two of his colleagues what he had done. Many thousands of pounds have been spent at this hearing.”

Before ruling that he should be given a written warning, she said: “You’re a credit to the force.”

‘Period Packs’ For Liverpool Homeless Women

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A thoughtful young woman from Liverpool has come up with a great idea to help buy ‘period packs’ for homeless women in the city.

Lauren Corkill, from Orrell Park, studies psychotherapy at the University of Central Lancashire. She came up with the idea after reading about growing homelessness as well as seeing the problem on the streets in Liverpool. To help, she has launched a web page to raise money to put together her first batch of Period Packs, which she will then deliver to women sleeping rough around town.

The 19 year-old student told the Liverpool Echo: “Just witnessing the amount of homeless people in the city at the moment, it made me think about all the ladies who are suffering through menstruation without any products to help them remain clean. Obviously menstruation is something that affects women and the access to items should be something that every woman has. I just want to provide as many women as possible with these products.”

On her Go Fund Me page, Lauren says: “I am aware of the increasing amount of homeless people in Liverpool. Affording sanitary products for that time of the month can be very difficult, if not impossible for homeless women.”

“I have decided to open this Go Fund Me page in order to raise money that will enable me to purchase ‘period bundles’ for poverty stricken females in the Liverpool area. I would like each bundle to include at least one packet of sanitary towels, one box of tampons, a packet of feminine wipes, and possibly some deodorant.”

You can donate to Lauren’s Go Fund Me page here https://www.gofundme.com/sanitary-products-for-the-homeless

Homelessness Reduction Bill Passes Through Parliament

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A new law that will require councils to provide earlier intervention to prevent homelessness has passed through parliament.

The Homelessness Reduction Bill also requires councils to provide advice and help to all affected, not just those protected under existing laws. The private member’s bill, introduced by Conservative MP Bob Blackman, has received government backing.

Mr. Blackman said: “I am immensely proud of everything that has been accomplished in this bill. It is profoundly wrong that homeless people who approach their council for help can be turned away to sleep on the street at the moment and that legislation in this area hasn’t changed for the last four decades.”

The Homelessness Reduction Bill means councils will have to start assessing those at risk of being made homeless 56 days before losing their home. Currently, the threat of homelessness is defined as starting 28 days before the person loses their home. The number of people sleeping rough went up by 16% last year, from 3,569 in 2015 to 4,134 in 2016.

According to the BBC, the government took the decision to back the private member’s bill last year, with Communities Secretary Sajid Javid saying ministers were “determined to do all we can to help those who lose their homes and provide them with the support they need to get their lives back on track”.

However, local government representatives feel that without additional funding and support for councils, the additional legal protections introduced by the bill will mean little in practice.

Lord Porter, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: “It is clear that legislative change alone will not resolve homelessness. It is crucial that the government recognise and address the wider factors that are increasing homelessness, such as the lack of affordable housing and welfare reforms. Without this, the bill will struggle to achieve its aim of reducing homelessness.”

“Councils need powers and funding to address the widening gap between incomes and rents, resume their historic role as a major builder of new affordable homes and join up all local services – such as health, justice and skills. This is the only way to deliver our collective ambition to end homelessness.”

The government has said it will provide an extra £61m to meet the costs incurred by local councils.

Latest Figures Show Increase In Homelessness

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The number of households in temporary accommodation went up by 10% annually to 75,740 in the last quarter of 2016, according to the official homelessness statistics released by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

According to analysis by Homeless Link, the number of households accepted as homeless by local authorities in the fourth quarter was 14,420, which is down 3% on the previous quarter, and a decrease of 0.4% on the same quarter in 2015. The main cause of homelessness continues to be the end of an assured short-hold tenancy, at 31%.

Of those households living in temporary accommodation, 5,990 have been housed in bed and breakfasts – an annual increase of 17%. In addition, a total of 21,910 households (29%) were living in temporary accommodation outside their local area, which represents a year-on-year increase of 17%. The majority of those households – 91% – were from London local authorities.

Rick Henderson, Homeless Link’s Chief Executive, said: “This picture of homelessness provides another stark reminder that our current systems are failing some of our most vulnerable people. Having to resort to placing households in temporary accommodation such as bed and breakfasts is extremely undesirable and costly. These properties are often of a poor standard, expensive and damaging to those who live there.”

“The Homelessness Reduction Bill cannot be implemented soon enough; its measures to prevent homelessness from occurring in the first place are urgently needed to help turn this situation around, improving people’s lives and reducing the pressure on local authorities and homelessness services.”

“However, the Bill alone won’t be enough. We once again urge the Government to implement a cross-departmental strategy to end homelessness – an essential measure that we have seen bring about positive change in the past.”

Kindlhearted Criminal Treats Homeless To Top Hotel

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A notorious Liverpool criminal paid for eight rough sleepers to spend two nights in luxury at Liverpool’s Shankly hotel.

Sam Walker, a well-known local criminal, gathered a group of homeless people from the streets of the city-centre and offered to put them up at his own expense. He paid for two executive rooms for the eight men and women and his guests checked in and stayed the night. He also treated the eight new guests to a day’s shopping to replace their wet clothes.

One of the women, Nicola from Rainhill, said she couldn’t describe how much the offer meant to her. The 37-year-old told the Liverpool Echo: “It has been like something out of a fairytale story. We would never have expected something so extravagant off anyone and I still can’t believe I got to stay at the Shankly. It’s something you always dream of but when you’re on the street you don’t think that could ever happen.“

Another guest, Stuart, has been living on the street since he was released from prison in November. The 44-year-old said: “On a normal night I would be on the street just long enough to gather money for a gas canister so I can light the fire in my tent. You’re always in fear of being robbed or not being able to shake the cold so to be able to have a hot shower and sleep in a warm bed is just amazing. What Sam has done for us is out of this world. He has such a good heart.“

Mr. Walker was himself only released from prison last week, after serving a sentence for dangerous driving. He told the Echo: “We could all find ourselves in this position at any point,” and that he wanted to give something back. He commented: “I put them up here because I can. I’m in a position where I have come out of prison and can still live a stable life. Many people don’t have that luxury.”

“Every single one of us are really only one step away from being made homeless, it could happen to any of us. I just wanted to show these people, who may have lost faith, that there are still people out there thinking of them and that we aren’t just sweeping them under the carpet.”

He continued: “We all take these things for granted. Sleeping in a warm bed, wearing clean clothes everyday, but for some people that is just not the reality.“

But opinion was divided in the Echo’s letters page. One reader, Mary Potter, wrote: “What an amazing thing to do. He obviously has a good heart and appreciates that not everyone gets the comfort of a nice warm bed to sleep in every night. This made me feel good knowing that there is still some kind-hearted people out there willing to help the less fortunate. Good on him.”

But others disagreed. For example, one reader wrote: “This guy is a drug dealer and he and his pals have been scamming people out of their money for years. He puts a few people up in a hotel for two days after making hundreds of thousands off of other people dishonestly.”

Another reader added: “This has nothing to do with giving back. This is merely a show for himself to try and establish to people that he still has power in the city.”