Cllr Rita Begum (Kilburn ward) asked a question LINK of Brent Council leader, Muhammed Butt, for the July 8th Brent Full Council Meeting on the plight of the homeless in the borough.
In his response Butt outlines the increasing cost of placements of the homeless in temporary private rented accommodation as well as the rise in the number of people and families presenting as homeless at the Civic Centre.
He cites the limited action that the council has been able to take and goes on to introduce a new campaign that the council will undertake called 'Find a Place You Can Afford':
In addition, the council is set to launch a new communications campaign which aims to raise awareness of the deepening homelessness emergency in Brent and the practical realities and life changing consequences this has for homeless households.
The Find a place you can afford campaign will seek to break the perceived link between homelessness and social housing. For the overwhelming majority of people, becoming homeless does not mean they have a better chance of securing a council home.
For most homeless households the most likely sustainable solution to their homelessness will be to find a place they can afford in the private rented sector in a more affordable part of the UK. The council’s communications will seek to encourage the growing number of homeless households to realise more quickly that, for the vast majority, their future housing options are all in the private rented sector in an area they can afford.
Amid all the rising tower blocks of high spec flats in Wembley, Alperton and elsewhere in the borough, the council is admitting that it cannot help those waiting for accommodation on the housing list. Their advice could be seen as ruthlessly honest in refusing to give homeless families any hope of staying near extended family, social netweeks and local schools in Brent.
It is rather similar to Norman Tebbit's advice to the workless to 'get on your bike' to find work elsewhere.
Others may see it as another step on the gentrification road.
9 comments:
People cannot expect to be entitled to live in London at the expense of the tax payer and country in these difficult times. Everybody has to compromise and modify their lifestyle accordingly. I hope this is true.
I honestly can’t say I’m disappointed to read this, as a local resident of over 50 years & although I despise the Labour run Council I’m happy to see that they are basically saying please move on & become someone else’s problem! We are already over populated & over stretched in Wembley / Brent, possibly harsh but generally very true words which the majority of long time locals will definitely agree with.
Is that the Cllr. Begum who has voted in favour of dozens of applications with little or no affordable housing at Planning Committee???
It's a horrible situation. Breaking up families and communities is bad for everyone. There should be legislation to enable to councils to use property that is privately owned but being kept empty like there is in some jurisdictions.
There is, already in force, something called an Empty Dwelling Management Order..but its powers are quite limited. Details available on-line but I cannot paste a link here.
I live in Wembley and have done for the past 6 years in Private rental 1 bed flat, I work 35 hours a week, I have 1 child who was in fulltime nursery and just secured a place at a local school in September. I earn in excess of the London living Wage of £13.15 per hour yet still have to get a top up from Universal Credit to pay my rent in full, which has just been in increased from £1250 pcm to £1550 pcm. I work in the West End, and have just had a promotion. What does Cllr think I should do if I cannot pay this as Universal Credit have not helped me since I signed new contract, I am not on Council list. If landlord evicts me I should give up my career job, take my child out of school, and move where it is cheaper rent, but have no job, no school place, and back on Universal Credit in full.
Why is the Council not ensuring all new builds have at least 33% at affordable rents?
My parents both had to move awaybfrom their parents for better paid jobs and worked all their lives.
When looking for a home we had to move away to somewhere we could afford to buy even though we were both working full time - it's nothing new!
How about the huge Brent Civic Centre - the huge atrium there is such a waste of prime development space and most council officers now work from home.
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