Continue reading »]]>

Source: The Guardian

A shortage of private accommodation in London could mean homeless people are moved as far away as Hull, where rents are cheaper, housing charities are warning. They fear there will be an exodus from the capital of people at the bottom of the housing ladder as the coalition’s Localism Act, which comes into force this spring, empowers local authorities to place homeless people in private rented accommodation.

At least one London council, Croydon, is seeking to rent private accommodation in Hull and several other Yorkshire towns. It has also rented property in St Leonards on Sea on the Sussex coast. Other councils are predicted to follow suit, according to housing experts.

Until the act comes into force, homeless people can stay in temporary housing until social housing becomes available. However, this choice is being removed at a critical time. The local housing allowance, money paid by local authorities to those on housing benefit in the private rented sector, has been cut. In addition, the mortgage drought has meant many people trying to get on to the housing ladder have been forced into the rental sector, inflating rents.

The result, according to housing experts, is that the private sector is becoming increasingly unaffordable for local authorities, resulting in a ripple effect as homeless people and those on benefits are rehoused in areas where rents are cheaper.

Shelter, the housing charity, said new regulations, to be published soon, would set out councils’ obligations to homeless people placed in private rented accommodation. Shelter expressed concerns that the regulations would allow councils to house homeless people outside their boroughs. It said Croydon council was considering moving some people in temporary accommodation to Hull, 230 miles away. “The fact that councils may be considering making use of these powers to offer people homes away from their local areas – potentially having to uproot families from schools, communities and jobs – is testament to the scale of our housing crisis,” Campbell Robb, the chief executive of Shelter, said.

“This upheaval could have a devastating impact on children’s education and a family’s wellbeing. Taking families away from their support networks at the time when they need them most is not going to help them back on their feet.”

Southwark council is predicting a rise in homelessness this year after the number of people on its housing waiting list grew for the first time in five years. Jon Dalton, a housing manager for Harrow council, said it had already helped more than a dozen households to move out of London. Dalton said: “Because of the welfare reforms, many non-working households that are dependent on benefits will not be able to afford to live in the local private rented sector.”

Grant Shapps, the housing minister, said there was an urgent need to tackle the rising cost of welfare. “Under Labour, housing benefit soared out of control and rents for those on housing benefit rose by far more than market rents,” he said. “As a result, the Labour government ended up spending £192bn a year of taxpayers’ money on welfare payments, which was more than the combined spending on defence, education and health. We need welfare reform to tackle Labour’s budget deficit, and a series of measures to tackle that soaring benefits bill.”

A £190m pot of additional funding has been made available to help local authorities provide support for families on benefits in the aftermath of the reforms, but councils fear this will be dwarfed by the cost of accommodation in the private sector. A survey by Environmental Health News, the in-house magazine for environmental health officers, found that London councils were anticipating having to place more homeless people into private rented accommodation. Nearly half warned they would not be able to find enough suitable accommodation because there was too much competition for affordable lets.

Islington council said it had “become significantly harder to procure properties in the private rented sector this year”. Lewisham, Barking, Dagenham and Brent also expressed difficulties.

Ian Dick, an environmental health officer in London, told the magazine that homeless people would end up being moved to outer London and then potentially to “declining northern towns”. “Families will go from Kensington and Chelsea to the outer London fringes, and once they get fuller they will start pushing them out to areas where there is housing,” Dick said.

“Not enough thought has been given to the impact of the welfare reforms on outer London boroughs like Sutton,” said Ruth Dombey, deputy leader of Sutton council. “We fear there’s going to be an exodus to the suburbs, with families being forced out of central London and into more affordable areas of Greater London.”

Continue reading »]]> Source: Hackey Citizen

A new initiative is seeking Hackney homeowners or tenants willing to rent a spare room to single people who are vulnerably housed or sofa surfing.

The idea, called Homelink, has been launched by the Quaker Social Action (QSA) housing team, aims to show people in the borough how they can help change a life by renting out their spare room to someone in need, and giving them the chance to earn some extra household income too.

Leon’s story

Leon’s landlord served notice on all the tenants in his building and started major rebuilding work, just as his job contract came to an end. Without a deposit and facing high rents, he found himself sofa surfing with ‘a friend of a friend’.

“Becoming homeless wasn’t my fault, but it makes you feel very vulnerable. It’s demeaning and there is lots of pressure. I was also afraid what employers would think as I couldn’t even put an address on application forms,” Leon said.

He recently found a new room in a home in Stoke Newington through Homelink, who provided the domestic essentials to get him started. He is volunteering in a community organisation and looking for work in the supported housing sector.

Earn tax free income and make a difference locally

Any homeowner or tenant with space in their property could earn up to £4,250 per year tax free through renting a room through Homelink. All potential sharers will be people aged between 18 and 35 who want the benefit of living in a home, and will have been carefully assessed and reference checked. Homelink’s support to landlords is provided absolutely free.

Project manager Marike van Harskamp explains: “Renting out a room is a very practical and also sociable way of getting some extra income. Apart from the obvious financial benefit, people often also like the security and company of someone living in the house”.

“When times and money are tough, it doesn’t take much for housing and homes to become at risk. Because of the rental income, taking in a lodger is an effective solution to secure the financial positions of homeowners, and tenants too.”

Tim is a local public sector worker and homeowner who decided to take up the scheme: “I started to rent out a room to a lodger in my two bedroom flat, getting some extra income. I was a bit worried at first, but now I find it actually really nice to have someone around in the house.”

A meet-and-greet event will be held on Saturday 4 February to invite prospective participants and those interested in taking on a lodger to get free advice on the legal and practical issues around lodging, and hear some past success stories.

Quaker Social Action has a long waiting list of young people who need homes, some of whom are living under church roofs or are forced into vulnerable situations while staying with friends or ‘sofa surfing’.

Hackney housing is the fifth most expensive in the country as the price of a home in the borough soared to more than double the national average last year.

The cost of renting a property in Hackney has also increased by more than 25% in 2011, making the borough officially “unaffordable” according to a report by bank and mortgage broker Halifax.

Single homeless people are often deemed as “non-priority” by the council and are placed at the bottom of long waiting lists for social housing. The issue will reach crisis point this month as those between 25 and 35 will no longer qualify for housing benefit on a self-contained property in the private rented sector.

The QSA scheme helps people in housing need on low incomes to access rooms in affordable, shared accommodation.

Advisors help youngsters raise a deposit, or offer landlords a rent fund in it place. By doing this, QSA give people a fresh start alongside other young adults.

Quaker Social Action invites you for tea, cakes, and the chance to find out how to get involved with the project. Advisors will be on hand to answer any questions.

Rent a Room Information Event
Saturday 4 February 2012, 11am-12pm
Quaker Social Action offices, 17 Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green E2 9PJ

For more information contact Marike on 020 8983 5060 or email: homelink@qsa.org.uk

Continue reading »]]> Patchwork Preserves is a collaboration between Growing Communities and North London Action for the Homeless (NLAH). Growing Communities donate their surplus veg to the NLAH kitchen. What isn’t used is then turned into lovely organic chutneys and pickles by Patchwork Farmers, staff and service users of NLAH. Recently we’ve even used beetroots from our own garden! So far we have made Spicy Beetroot and Orange Chutney, Spicy Carrot, Lemon preserve, Crunchy Courgette Pickle, Spicy Tomato Relish, Red cabbage and Ginger Chutney.
For Christmas we sold chutney at Stoke Newington Farmer’s Market as well as at Growing Communities Urban Farm Shop. Since the project started we have sold well over 200 jars and all profits go to North London Action for the Homeless.

Continue reading »]]> There is an unknown number of people ‘sofa surfing’ in London. That’s people sleeping on the sofas of friends, relatives or even strangers. And this is a form of homelessness that’s hidden from the official figures. It’s impossible to know how many people are living like this and the instability can affect their health, education and the chances of getting and keeping a job.

Off Centre is a charity supporting young people in Hackney, and through their initiative The Right Track a short film has been produced to highlight the issue of sofa surfing and the experiences of young people living in this way. Sofa Surfer tells the story of a young woman from Hackney, JRC, who spent years staying on friends’ and relatives’ sofas and, once again, has nowhere to go. You can view the trailer for the film here:

Sofa Surfer Trailer from Gaelle Tavernier on Vimeo.

Visit the Sofa Surfer website to find out more about the campaign.

Continue reading »]]> Over Christmas and New Year, North London Action for the Homeless will be closed. Our last day will be Wednesday 21st December and then we will be closed until Wednesday 4th January.

Hackney Winter Night Shelter will remain open. Based in churches across Hackney, the charity supplies food and beds to the homeless throughout the year. But they need extra hands on deck over the New Year when many similar projects take a break, leading to extra demand. Helpers will be asked to assist preparing beds, cooking food, serving meals and spending time with guests.

If you can help, please contact them directly by email at volunteer@hwns.org.uk or visit www.hwns.org.uk. NLAH will be closed over Xmas, but donations of warm clothing, food and assistance by anyone with their own transport will be gratefully received at any time. Visit our how you can help page for more information.

Continue reading »]]> Over the second Bank Holiday back in May 2011, a group of nine experienced cyclists and friends of NLAH set off on their third (and now seemingly annual) cycling challenge. With their pedigree established and battle scars proudly worn from previous tours – the group set off to cycle from Windsor to Cardiff with a feeling of quiet confidence …

… but what followed was the best part of 200 hilly miles along National Cycle Route 4 struggling against wind, rain and cold!! OK let’s not paint too dour a picture here (unless it raises more money for NLAH!) – a group of friends embarking on a cycle tour isn’t the grimmest thing in the world – but it’d be a fair assessment to say at times we danced merrily over the line from leisure to masochism and back again during the trip. Our saddle-connecting muscles still grimace at the thought!!

The trip

Day 1 involved a short train journey to Windsor, and a cycle along the canal to Newbury. It was uneventful but successful cycling along relatively flat terrain with good weather. We pitched our tents in the evening content that we’d made good progress. We then found a pub to patronise before turning in for the night, and at this stage all was about right with our cycling world.

Day 2 involved a lengthier cycle from Newbury to the outskirts of Bath. Hilly terrain and pretty villages characterised the day’s cycling. The temperature was dropping and the windspeed increasing, but none of us minded as we gently rolled through the Wiltshere countryside and places like Pewsey. We also wheeled past the canal locks of Devizes  – an amazing feat of engineering which at this stage we were still cheerful enough to appreciate. We pitched up at Bradford-on-Avon (near Bath) and mentally prepared for Day 3 and our ride into Cardiff.

Day 3 was our nemesis. Yep that’s right – approx 80 miles of hills, rain, Severn Bridge crossings, directional issues and even 300m of cycling on a motorway hard shoulder. It was billed as cycling from Bath to Cardiff. But perhaps with the benefit of hindsight (and a small tendency to exaggerate) a sound assessment of the day was that it was an earthly replica of a cycle through hell. As we passed through Bristol and Newport, we were jeered by youths with nothing better to do and white van drivers with blaring horns and throaty diesel engines. We pushed on through, past Newport – only to have 15 miles of uphill into Cardiff interspersed with a wrong turn onto a motorway hard shoulder. Despite leaving early in the morning, we arrived at our Cardiff hostel at 10PM drenched, exhausted and possibly never wanting to cycle again. But we know really that talk like that is heresy, and within a week we were back on our bikes!

The conclusion

As ever, group spirit on the trip was good throughout and we were proud of ourselves for completing what was a gruelling but memorable challenge. More importantly though, we had a subtext to the masochism and that was raising money for NLAH. Visit the donation page if you would like to make a contribution to what is a fantastic cause. In fact, make a donation anyway – not just because you read our story and thought we were a bunch of self-indulgent idiots (which we were) – but because your contribution will genuinely do some good for the drop-in centre clients at a time when funding is as scarce as ever.

Continue reading »]]> Source: london24.com

A man found lying unconscious in a north London street died from head injuries.

The 48-year-old homeless Pole national was found in Manse Road, Stoke Newington, on October 12.

He died last week in Royal London Hospital. Police are treating his death as unexplained.

“It is unclear how Mr Krupa received his injuries and we need the public’s help to trace his steps before he collapsed in Manse Road,” said a Met spokesperson.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives on 020 8345 1570. Call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Continue reading »]]> Some 80 years after George Orwell chronicled the lives of the hard-up and destitute in his book Down and Out in Paris and London, what has changed? Retracing the writer’s footsteps, Emma Jane Kirby finds the hallmarks of poverty identified by Orwell – addiction, exhaustion and, often, a quiet dignity – are as apparent now as they were then.

The podcast was partly recorded at NLAH and can be downloaded from the BBC website.

Download 15MB (right click & “save target as”)

Duration: 31 minutes

Continue reading »]]> A small group (of 7) Londoners made a silly decision to attempt one not so silly challenge. The great 3 Peaks Challenge! They will be attempting to climb the three highest peaks in the UK in 24 hours. It involves about 42 kilometres (26 mi) of ascent and descent and 765 kilometres (475 mi) of total travel!

Sam Cooke, Brianne Page, Richard Osbourne, Pranuthi Chander, and Arundathi Amirapu will be scaling these mountains while Tom Maloney and Jerome Curtis are the desginated cheerleaders. They will start the madcap adventure on September 3rd braving the British weather, soggy sandwiches and each other’s terrible jokes.

Sponsor them online

While they tackle the outdoors, their hearts will still belong to London as they will be raising for North London Action for the Homeless. So donate a pound, donate more than a pound or just wish them luck!

Sponsor them today on their JustGiving page

Continue reading »]]> The Great Eight – John Hegley, Stewart Lee, Kevin Eldon, Dave Johns, Bridget Christie, Andrew Bailey, Cath Drake and Simon Munnery – performed at a benefit gig for North London Action for the Homeless on Friday 29 July in front of a sell-out crowd at the Bloomsbury Theatre.

The collection of artists amused, bemused and entertained their audience in equal measure with an eclectic mix of one-liners, visual humour, soulful poetry and ukelele strumming.

The evening was compèred by the brilliant John Hegley, who drew the audience into willing participation with his ‘Luton Bungalow’ and ‘Guillemot’ songs, while also persuading every glasses-wearing audience member to tap their lenses simultaneously to create a surreal but compelling sound effect.

The audience were also amused by Dave Johns, who wasted no time in gettitng the audience laughing with gag after gag interspersed with the occasional musical parody. Simon Munnery advised us a little bit about country walking etiquette and the perils of pet dogs in Clissold Park, while Kevin Eldon stepped into character to read his poetry and sell the merits of pensions. Brilliant.

Andrew Bailey offered us a visual spectacle that has to be seen to be believed, Bridget Christie offered the audience confirmation on why they fear being picked on by stand ups, Cath Drake captured the audience’s attention with a selection of her poetry and Stewart Lee revealed with comic effect what it’s like to be the doppelgänger of a famous but less than salubrious character.

The evening was a memorable one, and more importantly than that the sell-out crowd raised valuable funds for North London Action for the Homeless. We’d like to give special thanks to all those who performed and all those who attended – it’s much appreciated!

If you’d like to make a donation, please visit our justgiving page and donate online.