A young mother has been living at Brimstone House Hostel in Newham for over a year. We wrote about her predicament of being labelled with ‘intentional homelessness’ in September. 3 months on she is finding it difficult to manage this uncertainty and insecurity. These are her words:
I am a single mother living in a bedsit for the last 15 months. I have been on a emotional roller-coaster back and forth with the council with still no solution in sight. When will all the emotional stress be over? Despite showing documented evidence of my connection with the local area, the Council does not take this into account and have made me two out-of-borough offers of accommodation which I have had to refuse due to medical reasons and the need for my local connections and support.
I then realised that the council’s ‘solution’ to this was to discharge their duty of care to me, a decision which would put me and my daughter out on the streets. I was told I had the right to a suitability review, which was kinda pointless because the council had already made the decision to end their duty of care even before the suitability request was reviewed.
After a week’s consideration, the review officer sent an email saying the review was unsuccessful (no surprises there). I feel that the review officer did not follow appropriate inquiries into my reasons regarding why I needed to stay living in Newham. He then made the decision that I had to leave the property at a particular date (that didn’t exist!) so after a few emails back and forth to clarify the actually day and date I had to leave, I was finally given a date of Wednesday 28th of November…
It was so heartbreaking to have to tell my daughter we are moving but not knowing where we are going – it makes me feel so bad as a mother the fact that I can’t find a decent, suitable and affordable home for my child to live an ordinary life like any normal family …three days prior to my eviction date the manager for the building called to say my eviction is on hold and she will be in touch over the next few weeks …but what does this really mean? I’m stuck in a limbo! At the moment I’m just not sure about what is going on with my case. I am really confused as to what this all means and I am not sure if I still have to leave, I just don’t know.
This mother attends college in Newham and has her child enrolled in a local Newham school. They need to be housed in their community. Say no to social cleansing!
Come and discuss how to take this case forward at our next public meeting on Saturday 8 December at Sylvia’s Corner, 97 Aldworth Rd, E15 4DN 2.30pm.
Focus E15 Campaign 
Not much is going to change under the new administration of Newham…After the Olympics, the Royal Albert Docks area was sold off and Newham is continuing to gentrify. The mayor is welcoming big businesses, even though they are bringing increasing property prices and the locals are often misinformed/ helpless about this. Low-income people ,especially single parents on benefits are not welcome. Council budgets are shrinking ,too, which makes them even less helpful than before. They are glad NOT to rehouse people like the mother mentioned in the article. This is done in accordance with the 2011 Localism Act which makes it easier for councils to get rid of people who are part of the “undeserving poor”. I do not see any rosy future ahead in Newham, only rising property prices and the increasing dispossession of the poor …
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ahead of Newham…sorry.
Without grassroots movements such as Focus E15 and the wider engagement of the public, both politicians and property developers can decide to do whatever they please…Yes, there is need for more employment and more opportunities in Newham…no, big multinational corporations do not bring much prosperity to the locals and in their presence, property prices continue to shoot up while Newham us undergoing rapid gentrification…
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Reblogged this on Wessex Solidarity.
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