Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Lack of support and shelter for the homeless!

I have recently been witness to a neighbour being quite unfairly evicted from a property they had owned the lease on. I won't go into personal information to much but the person had lived the flat for over 30 years and had no family or friends to turn to for help and no idea of where to go. Due to the circumstances or technicalities of the eviction the council deemed this person as being made intentionally homeless, though they where not interested in the conditions under which this took place and was not offered anything more than a piece of paper with some soup kitchen addresses and told which parks sandwich vans go to! I found that there are only really two organisations in London that deal with getting the homeless off the street and don't want to name them as although what they are doing takes too long, doesn't really work and is not sufficient, they are doing the best they can on limited resources and I don't want to complain about them at all. What I have realised and want to discuss is the lack of shelter and support for such people in the area, off which there are in fact many. I have had some very valuable support and advice from cllr David Schmitz on helping this person which I am eternally thankful for and have discussed this lack with him to some extent. the good cllr has offered to support me in my endeavour to better this situation and it seems that the way forward would be to Convert a property into a short stay hostel offering support services aiding the homeless back into main stream life. I just wanted to put the feelers out there and see if anyone would be interested in this and what help we can get together from the local area and residents. Feel free to ask more as I may not have been clear and any suggestions are welcome.

Tags for Forum Posts: homelessness

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Esat Karahasan on August 6, 2013 at 15:48
My point exactly, glad to see at least one person understands.
Permalink Reply by Felicitá on August 9, 2013 at 8:43

Hi Esat I've sent you a connection request and msg as I'd like to get involved!

Permalink Reply by John D on August 6, 2013 at 17:46

It would help to know the reasons given for the eviction of your neighbour.

Permalink Reply by Esat Karahasan on August 7, 2013 at 0:42
John, the reasons for my neighbours eviction aren't really relevant to what I'm hoping achieve also as there is a legal case still going on in relation to his eviction and the fact that I share the same landlord I am unable to speak on the matter further than what was originally said. I hope that doesn't come across rude but this particular landlord has a habit of dragging people through the dirt and crying slander each time anyone speaks and I have to look out for myself. However I can say that from my point of view it was unfair and procedures seem to have not been followed to the letter though the courts awarding the order granted it on default as my neighbour never attended or responded due to illness and social anxiety problems.
Permalink Reply by John D on August 7, 2013 at 6:22

Well, due to lack of context, I find it difficult to contribute.

1ufu1enna9l0jPermalink Reply by 1ufu1enna9l0j on August 7, 2013 at 11:50

I don't see why everyone is so keen to lay in to this person for wanting to help.  

How is the neighbor's eviction relevant? They have merely used it to illustrate what brought the problem to their attention.  

Perhaps you need to add context to your need for context, as 'twere.

Permalink Reply by John D on August 7, 2013 at 12:04

Fair enough - point taken. I only asked because there can be different reasons for someone becoming homeless and a given solution may not be appropriate to all, so the context is relevant. And the OP did say " feel free to ask more ... "

Permalink Reply by Esat Karahasan on August 7, 2013 at 15:09
John I think I've made the reasons for my lack of context quite clear, and as Lou quite kindly pointed out this eviction of my neighbour was what brought to my attention a much larger scale and widespread issue of homelessness and lack of support in the area and it is that issue that I wish to tackle, so in fact the context in relation to my neighbours eviction is in fact quite irrelevant. The comment I made "feel free to ask more" was intended for those who wish to know more about the plans I have etc, nothing to do with my neighbour. If you still don't understand or find it difficult to contribute then that's fine.
Permalink Reply by John D on August 7, 2013 at 17:33

Did you miss the bit where I said " Fair enough - point taken " ?

Good luck with your plans.

 

1ufu1enna9l0jPermalink Reply by 1ufu1enna9l0j on August 7, 2013 at 17:38

Yes you're right.  I think one of the problems with homelessness is that everyone has a unique situation and what works for one person probably doesn't work for everyone else.

I'd be interested to know about the OP's ideas on some more practical aspects, such as would you accept people with a drink/drugs problem?  What about people with mental health issues?  The place I volunteer with at the moment doesn't accept people with either of the above issues as it is a health and safety risk for volunteers.

Permalink Reply by Sarah_24 on August 7, 2013 at 17:31

As a suggestion, perhaps think about changing the name of the thread?

If you posted a question, something like 'Able to help the homeless?' it might generate more attention as the name read to me like it would just be information or a discussion, not an actual request for people to get involved locally.

And if I am entirely honest, I didn't get to the end of your post the first time I read it to know you were asking for any assistance or ideas.

Richard WillmsenPermalink Reply by Richard Willmsen on August 9, 2013 at 6:53
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned HHAG ( http://haringeyhousingaction.org.uk/), they meet regularly on a Friday to help people facing or fighting eviction and also try to put pressure on the council to take measures to prevent such incidents taking place as well as putting pressure on local letting agents to accept people on housing benefit. Tragically thousands of local people find themselves in a similar situation largely because of the rent cap, the end of council tax benefit, the benefit cap, the bedroom tax, etc etc. It could happen to any of us eventually. It is clearly a good thing that David Schmidt is helping out on an individual level but how he fails to see the connection between the explosion in the number of homeless people and the policies of a government he supports is worthy of a psychological case-study in self-delusion.

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