“Comedian” Can’t Find Any Homeless Veterans

/in /by

One-time ‘comedian’, Jim Davidson, has caused outrage after claiming he “couldn’t find any” homeless ex-soldiers in the UK while helping to close down a hostel set up for them.

Mr Davidson – who is CEO of the charity Care after Combat – has insisted there are barely any veterans without a place to live in the UK. Despite official figures reporting that 13,000 former war heroes are sleeping rough, he said he “couldn’t find any” to move into the property, opened by the organisation and comprising of 12 self-contained apartments. He also accused some of the few tenants who had been housed in the £550,000 Hampshire hostel of “sitting around playing Playstation” rather than looking for work.

“It’s very simple to say there’s 50,000 homeless veterans on the streets,” he stated, “but I don’t believe those figures, because we couldn’t find any in Hampshire. I don’t think there’s as many homeless veterans as people say. I don’t know whether it’s the charities saying that just to fill their buckets up.”

The hostel, called Simon Weston House which was opened by Care after Combat in 2016, is due to be auctioned off in the coming weeks with a guide price of £550,000. Care after Combat had rented the property for around £45,000 a year.

Speaking on BBC Radio Solent, he stated: “When a lot of [veterans] came out of prison, they had nowhere to go and were just dumped outside. We thought it be good if we could find somewhere for them to get their breath before they move on. In they went, the first couple of guys, but it never really got beyond that.”

“This is the strange thing, we couldn’t find any homeless veterans to put in there. The first couple of guys that were in there said, ‘No, no, I’m sick. I’m not working, I’m not doing anything’. They sat around playing their Playstation and sort of missed the point. We had to read them the riot act a little bit and say, ‘Look, listen mate, do you want a handout or do you want a hand up?’”

But a spokesman for another charity that houses homeless soldiers, which does not wish to be named, said: “Our charity wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t any homeless veterans. We go out and find them, or members of the public tell us, or the veterans ring us direct. Help for Heroes, British Legion, SSAFA, Combat Stress, local councils and treatment centres also pass them onto us.

We didn’t know this property existed – I don’t understand how it didn’t fill up.”

Funding Slashed For Homeless Outreach

/in /by

NHS bosses are being criticised for cutting the budget of a team of doctors and nurses who provide mental health care to one of Britain’s largest groups of homeless people.

According to a report in The Guardian, Camden NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in north London is giving the Focus Homeless Outreach team £219,866 less a year starting on 1 April, a leaked CCG document reveals. One of the team’s two psychiatrists and one of its six nurses will lose their jobs as a result.

The CCG is pressing ahead with the 42% cut to the £521,000 budget it gave the team this year despite a storm of protest from local GPs, psychiatrists, homeless charities and managers of hostels where rough sleepers sometimes stay. Camden had the third highest rate of rough sleeping in England in 2017, recent government statistics showed – more than Manchester, Bristol and Cornwall.

Focus, set up 25 years ago, helps treat the high levels of depression, psychosis and other mental health conditions found in rough sleepers, hostel dwellers and “sofa surfers”, including some asylum seekers and people who have been trafficked. Its budget is being reduced even though it is regarded as a model of good practice of how to reach the kind of group that often shuns traditional NHS services.

Family doctors at Camden Health Improvement Practice, a GP surgery near Euston station which treats homeless people’s physical health needs, have told the CCG in a letter that they are in a state of disbelief about Focus’s budget cut. It gives essential mental health support to homeless people when they are arrested or admitted to hospital as an emergency, they said.

Prof Roland Littlewood, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at University College London who used to work with Focus, said: “The proposed cuts cannot be clinically justified and I would consider them quite dangerous. When we in the future contemplate the increased number of preventable deaths in the service, it will be too late. If May and Hunt are promising increased support for mental health services, then where is it? The homeless are the most vulnerable to declining social and medical support.”

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, praised national health service leaders for giving mental health greater priority. But, she added, Camden CCG’s decision “confirms once again what mental health trust leaders have been telling us about the growing gap between the government’s welcome ambition for the care of people with mental health needs and the substantial challenges facing core mental health services.”

She commented: “Money earmarked for mental health is not consistently reaching the frontline. It is particularly important that vulnerable people such as the homeless are able to access mental health services.”

A spokesperson for Camden CCG said: “Due to significant financial challenges, the NHS is having to make difficult decisions and it has been necessary to reduce funding of the Focus homeless service. Camden CCG has worked with Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust to reconfigure the service so that it dedicates its efforts to helping those with the most complex needs. Those with less complex needs will be signposted to other suitable health and care services in Camden.”

Corbyn Comments On Kingsway House

/in /by

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has had his say on Signature Living’s controversial Kingsway House homeless shelter, according to a report in the Liverpool Echo.

Speaking about the Kingsway House project, Mr Corbyn said: “Homelessness has increased every year under this Tory Government. As a society, we simply cannot carry on walking by on the other side when thousands have no home to call their own. I welcome all efforts to help those in need. I congratulate Lawrence and his team for their efforts in Liverpool.”

Mr Corbyn’s office has also invited Mr Kenwright to visit him in Parliament later this year to talk about his experiences of working with rough sleepers and hear his ideas for supporting those people on the streets with complex needs. Mr Kenwright said he will be delighted to meet the socialist Labour leader – and has invited city mayor Joe Anderson to join him for the trip.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, he said: “The heart-breaking images of homeless people sleeping on cardboard boxes in the freezing weather conditions prompted my decision to open Kingsway House. I never promised to provide expert help but I knew the city needed support to deal with the crisis. I’ve learned a lot about the plight facing homeless people and the issues they face.”

“It is truly humbling to have the support of Jeremy Corbyn. It means the world to our volunteers and the people we’re helping at Kingsway House. The Labour leader certainly values the work we’ve done and the attempts we’ve made to improve the lives of rough sleepers in Liverpool.”

“I’m grateful to Mr Corbyn for his backing and I look forward to meeting him to discuss my experiences. I am also intending to invite Mayor Joe Anderson to the meeting so he can talk to him about the work the City Council is also doing in the face of extreme Government cuts.”

Mayor Anderson has been broadly supportive of the Kingsway House shelter – while reiterating that rough sleepers with the most complex needs should be directed to the council’s specialist centre at Labre House in Camden Street.

Kingsway House was due to close at the end of February, but Mr Kenwright has confirmed it will stay open for the foreseeable future.

Money For Housing Goes Unspent – Crisis, What Crisis?

/in /by

Housing secretary, Sajid Javid, has admitted a total of £817m of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) budget is being sent back to the Treasury as his department had failed to spend the cash.

In an ‘explanatory memo’, Javid, who had housing added to his communities and local government brief in January, said the huge sum was no longer needed in 2017/18. The unspent cash includes £65m for London and

£329m for the government’s flagship ‘starter homes’ programme for first-time buyers.

It comes amid a UK-wide housing crisis and after ministers failed to deliver any of 200,000 new starter homes pledged in 2015. At £70,000 subsidy per unit, the £72m slice could have built more than 1,000 social rented homes – double the number of government-backed social rented homes built the previous year.

Labour’s shadow housing secretary, John Healey said: “Feeble ministers are selling families short by surrendering much-needed cash for new homes. If the secretary of state can’t defend his department’s budget from the Treasury he should give the job to someone who can.”

The MHCLG has insisted the money will be spent in future years and that it is investing £9bn in housing overall, but Labour has accused ministers of ‘selling families short’ with the delay.

A government spokesman said: “We are delivering the homes our country needs and since 2010 we have built over 357,000 new affordable properties.

But we are determined to do more and we are investing a further £9bn, including £2bn to help councils and housing associations build social rent homes where they are most needed.”

Squatters Take Over Building To House The Homeless

/in /by

A small group of activists has taken over a building in central London hoping to house, feed and support up to 200 homeless people who would otherwise be forced to sleep outside in freezing conditions.

The handful of unpaid volunteers have dubbed the four-storey space the Sofia Solidarity Centre (SSC) and have appealed for donations of food, supplies and time. “There’s snow on the ground, it was -3C two nights ago. It’s windy, it’s cold and people have frozen to death on the streets,” 22-year-old Zoe told HuffPost UK.

Temperatures across the UK plummeted as the ‘Beast From The East’ struck, with no let up forecast until later this week at the earliest. On Tuesday a homeless man was found dead inside a tent in Nottinghamshire on the same day as a record 3,600 alerts were sent to the StreetLink app that helps rough sleepers find shelter.

The volunteers said they had taken over the space, at 20 Great Portland Street, to “provide shelter and refuge” for rough sleepers. They were appealing to the public to donate supplies such a mattresses, bedding, tools and food. The building is privately owned but is not currently used as a residential building, so while the group are squatting they are not committing a crime.

Another volunteer, John, said: “We’re not sure who owns the building but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. Maybe they might have a kind heart and let us keep this building. We could house 200 people here very simply, we’re not asking for a penny.” A company called W1 Developments appears to own the property but has not yet responded to requests for comment.

Councils and charity-run shelters across Britain are offering extra accommodation to rough sleepers. When temperatures fall to zero degrees or lower for three days, special measures come into action with the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP). This guidance for local authorities, homelessness providers, faith and community groups, provides responses in order to help prevent the deaths of people sleeping rough during winter.

But John pointed out that sometimes shelters are not the preferred option for some: “So many people don’t want to go into shelters for myriad reasons – there could be too much drug use there, it could be bullying. People particularly in the LGBT community get bullied in shelters and that’s often overlooked.”

“Maybe they’ve got an animal and they’re not allowed in with their pet,” he told HuffPost UK. He added that rising rates of homelessness in the UK are a sign that charities aren’t the only solution to the issue. “Homelessness has increased year on year on year on year so charity has failed. Now it’s time for solidarity, to help each other.”

Chaos At Kingsway House Claims Council

/in /by

Photographs taken by Liverpool City Council’s street cleansing team, and published in the Liverpool Echo, purport to show used syringes, mounds of rubbish and overflowing toilets at the temporary day shelter.

The pictures show countless syringes scattered across the site surrounding Kingsway House, next to other drug paraphernalia. Some of the images were taken some weeks ago, with photos of the tipping captured as recently as Thursday, February 22.

A document compiled by street cleansing boss Adrian Devers says: “Toilets are highlighted as areas where sharps boxes should be, all toilets on site were both blocked and unusable or had clear evidence of serious drug use including a crack pipe.” One image shows a toilet piled high with human waste, with a used syringe lying next to the toilet seat.

Sharp boxes, used to safely dispose of syringes, were also sealed and unusable with no needles deposited inside. Pictures taken by the street cleansing team show one of the yellow bins turned upside down and “used as a perch while injecting”. Other needle bins were upside down and empty in a sink or dumped behind the basement car park. While out removing tipping from the site around Kingsway House on Thursday, February 22, Mr Devers claims crews removed 71 needles from a nearby car park on Dale Street.

The document compiled by the street cleaning team also reveals needles were recovered underneath Kingsway house, as well as on the fire escape, from Johnson Street and a nearby hotel doorway.

But Signature Living managing director, Sue Wright, disputed claims of “prevalent drug abuse” at Kingsway House by city centre Councillor Nick Small. She told the Echo: “Councillor Nick Small is sitting on his middle class pedestal thinking that everyone on our project is sat there listening to The Archers and playing backgammon, but he needs to see what the reality of the situation is. [The residents of Kingsway House] have endemic, entrenched addictions and of course they are drug users – but the city has always had a problem with drug users.”

However, photos taken at the site show needles are not being properly disposed of and are littering the area around the shelter. Ms Wright claimed the needle issue is “not exclusive to Kingsway” and that other homeless shelters have similar issues with needles not being disposed of properly and littered or flushed down toilets.

Despite plans to close Kingsway House at the end of February, Signature boss Lawrence Kenwright confirmed the day centre will remain open, adding: “It would be foolish and a real shame to break up this amazing community. I am so proud of how we have pulled together as a family.”

Government Accused Of A “Total Lack Of Urgency” In Tackling Homelessness

/in /by

Last year the government set up a homeless task force to address the issue head-on – but it still hasn’t met because plans for that first meeting are ‘still being finalised’.

A report in 24 Housing says the Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce was announced by Philip Hammond in his Autumn Budget last November – with government claiming a commitment to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it by 2027. In response to a parliamentary question from John Healey, Labour’s shadow housing secretary, Heather Wheeler, parliamentary under secretary for housing, said: “Arrangements for the inaugural meeting are currently being finalised.” Labour accused the government of a “total lack of urgency” on the part of ministers over homelessness and rough sleeping.

The number of people declared homeless has increased 48% since the Tories came to power in 2010, while the number sleeping rough shot up 169%. Mr Healey said that homelessness is spiralling out of control. “This shames us all, and Conservative ministers most of all, he said. “Rising homelessness is a direct result of decisions made by the Conservatives: a steep drop in investment for affordable homes, crude cuts to housing benefit, reduced funding for homelessness services, and a refusal to help private renters.”

“Now my question to ministers reveals they’ve still not even fixed the first meeting of a promised taskforce on homelessness, three months after it was announced. It shows a total lack of urgency.”

Labour has pledged to end rough sleeping within its first term in office while tackling the root causes of rising homelessness. Last week, homelessness hit home with MPs when a homeless man was found dead at Westminster tube station, yards from an entrance to Parliament in an underpass through which many MPs walk on their way to work. The 35-year-old man had spent the night in sub-zero temperatures that struck the capital. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was among those to leave tributes at the scene, his card read: “This should never have happened. As a country we must stop walking by.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said a related rough sleeping advisory panel – with representation from charities and local government – met for the first time this month to help inform the ‘upcoming’ Ministerial Taskforce. The statement referenced £1bn worth of investment to tackle all forms of homelessness and reform through the Homelessness Reduction Act.

Scottish Rough Sleepers To Be Given Homes And Support

/in /by

At least 600 of Scotland’s most vulnerable rough sleepers are to be provided with homes and the continuing support they need to sustain their tenancies, says a report in The Guardian.

The Scottish social enterprise Social Bite will take a minimum of 600 people out of homelessness over the next 18 months, and provide fully funded wrap-around support for clinical issues, such as mental ill-health and addiction, and more practical concerns such as finding furniture and arranging refuse collection.

Following the death of a homeless man outside Parliament last week, Social Bite co-founder Joshua Littlejohn said it was inevitable that more rough sleepers would die if the status quo continued, adding that he hoped that the project might have “significant lessons for the rest of the UK”.

He commented: “The system at the moment doesn’t make sense in terms of compassion for individuals, like that man who died, in the most acute housing need. Nor does it make sense economically because the status quo is very expensive, and all the international evidence shows that we save money by getting these individuals into mainstream tenancies.”

Littlejohn credited the Scottish government with a “new sense of urgency” after it announced a £50m fund to tackle rough sleeping last September. Since then, he has been working to bring local councils and chief executives of the largest housing associations on board with the plan, which was welcomed by Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister.

A combined total of 500 properties have been offered in Edinburgh and Glasgow, whilst Dundee council has also pledged 100 homes. The first homes will become available this spring, with around 33 properties being added each month up to September 2019.

Mr. Littlejohn founded Social Bite in 2012, as a sandwich chain, which has formerly homeless people making up a quarter of its staff, Littlejohn has become a leading advocate for Housing First. This radical model places the most entrenched rough sleepers in permanent housing before they have dealt with their addiction, mental illness or other challenges. It works on the assumption that people make most progress when based in a stable home rather than a hostel or shared temporary accommodation.

Social Bite will invest £1.5m into funding these support costs over the first year of the project, and a further £1.5m over the second year alongside other funders. The intention is to collect sufficient evidence of positive outcomes – in terms of tenancy sustainment, mental health improvement, and cost savings – to convince the Scottish government and local authorities to mainstream the support funding after two years.

Step Together With Venus

/in /by

Our lovely friends at Venus have launched a new support package that is tailored to individual needs.

The Venus Step Together programme delivers intensive, multi-faceted support to women who have had children taken into public care.  Support is tailored to each individual and can include one to one counselling and group therapeutic activities, sexual health awareness, one to one support and group work.

Leah is our Step Together Worker.  She has worked with lots of women who have worked hard to make positive changes in their lives.  Here to tell you a bit more from her own perspective is Emma: “I started working with Leah on the ‘Step Together’ project in February 2017. My mental health was really bad at the beginning and I felt like I couldn’t leave the house on my own. I struggled to meet new people and socialise which meant that I felt isolated, lonely and really anxious.”

“I have got more confidence now to do the things I want to do which I didn’t think were possible this time last year. I have even had enough courage and confidence to take part in a presentation at Liverpool John Moores university to talk about my experiences of domestic violence to a group of students – this is something I never thought I would be able to achieve.”

“Step Together has given me confidence to go out in the community, meet new people and given me back control of my life. I have gone from being on Employment and Support allowance due to very poor mental health problems, to now being in paid employment which I would have been able to do without the support from Venus.”

“I would encourage anyone who needs this kind of support to get it from Step Together, because I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it, I am in control again!”

Amazing testimony from Emma, how powerful is that?? If you would like more information about this or any of our projects then please get in touch and we will be happy to tell you more 🙂

The Venus Centre, 215 Linacre Ln, Bootle L20 6AD, Tel: 0151 474 4744

New Jobs At New Start

/in /by

Our partners over at New Start have some exciting new jobs opportunities on offer!

  • Deputy Manager – Merseyside
  • Salary: £21,000 – £23,000 Dep on Experience
  • Service Name: Childcare
  • Date Posted: 15 February 2018
  • Closing Date: 15 March 2018

Job summary

The Deputy Manager is accountable for delivering high quality care to the children and young people resident within the home. This means that they will assist the Registered Manager in delivery of all care services, as well as the strategic planning for developments within the home, and all day to day management matters. They will demonstrate the ability to build upon the well-established principles and practice standards existing within New Start Childcare and proactively contribute to the continuous improvement of childcare standards across the company.

The Deputy Manager is responsible for delivering childcare that is focused on obtaining the best outcomes for each child and young person within the home. Consequently, they are expected to demonstrate practical leadership in childcare, as well as organise and support staff to provide the best possible care for each child and young person. This involves being personally available, the supervision and mentoring of staff, organisation of work patterns, facilitation of care focussed training, and accessing of appropriate services to support the childcare practices within the home.

As this is a vital role in the lives of children and young people cared for at New Start Childcare, it requires an active and long-term commitment. The Area Manager and Registered Manager will work closely with the Deputy Manager, assisting them to provide high quality care.

While the Deputy Manager is employed for 37.5 hours per week, the role may involve evening, weekend and sleeping-in duties. The Deputy Manager will assist the Registered Manager in ensuring an appropriate staff presence to meet the childcare needs of the children and young people in the home.

They are also looking to fill 4 Residential Childcare vacancies within their Childcare Service.

  • Residential Care Worker – Merseyside
  • Salary: Dependent Upon Experience
  • Service Name: Childcare
  • Date Posted: 15 February 2018
  • Closing Date: 15 March 2018

Job summary

New Start Childcare is an innovative provider of high-quality, therapeutic residential childcare for children and young people aged 8 to 16 years with a range of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

We currently have a number of exciting opportunities to make a real difference to the lives of young people as we seek to recruit professional and experienced Residential Childcare Worker who has expertise of working directly with vulnerable children and young people.

This post is subject to enhanced DBS criminal record disclosure and subscription with the DBS Update Service.

New Start operates within a constantly changing environment and, as such, work priorities and targets may change. New Start’s management reserves the right to make reasonable changes to the job purpose and accountabilities.

For more information or an informal conversation about the role please contact: Julie Collins E: juliecollins@newstarthomes.org.uk M: 07834 552 944