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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

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How appalling. What kind of terrible country are we living in these days?

Absolutely disgusting. Shame on the private landlord and Harringey Council.
When your husband dies, so do his debts, unless he ran them up in your name. The wage of £1300pcm is £7.50 an hour, ummm really Haringey?
There is absolutely no way she should have been sleeping in tat garage though. It's a serious disciplinary matter and they were right to sack her. She of all people should have known to ask the council for help earlier. They have a duty to house, especially as she had her son with her. She has brought this on herself.

My computer got a virus warning when I clicked on the link.

Sarah, In practice when someone is in a vulnerable situation as this woman was people do desperate things. She was obviously in fear of being seen as a failure or something, I don't know. But to sack someone who is turning up to work is appalling. it's penalising someone who is in a vulnerable situation, and ironically sending them back down the downward spiral. Surely a better way to deal with the situation would be to give her at the most a warning and put her in temporary housing as which they did. I think the landlord could have also been more responsible and not let her run up such huge arrears and then decide to boot her out.

While I do have a lot of sympathy for her there are two issues here:

1. Her housing situation

2. Her employment situation

The housing situation could have been solved by her going to the council earlier.  They have a duty to house, and while Haringey is admittedly a bit shit I would have expected them to try to help her to sustain her tenancy.  This ultimately costs less than waiting for someone to be evicted and housing them in a B&B.  The earlier she could have gone to the council, the better.  I work in housing (not for Haringey), this is something we would have done if at all possible. And yes it sounds like her landlord was irresponsible and ought to have agreed to a payment plan - though maybe she had been in arrears before, we don't know the full details of the situation. 

Unfortunately she made a terrible decision that had consequences for her employment situation.  As her employer Homes for Haringey could not ignore her dishonesty in service.  What I worry about is that the colleague who let the garage to her was put at risk too.  

Homes for Haringey has said her colleague is also facing disciplinary action.

An update:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/23/guardian-reader-pay...

Extracts:

 -- Readers offered to donate money and one had already paid a lump sum to clear Arleen Matthews’ debts. A company had offered her 18-year-old son an internship, a supporter had set up an online donations page and another had started a petition calling for Matthews’ reinstatement.

 -- Matthews had been due to face an investigatory meeting on Friday as part of Homes For Haringey’s disciplinary process, but it did not go ahead.

 -- A Homes for Haringey spokesperson said: “When Matthews presented as homeless to us, we placed her and her son in emergency, temporary accommodation, where she is still living. We are continuing to try and help Matthews resolve her homeless situation.”

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