Waltham Forest Council is facing a £23 million overspend on temporary accommodation. Aa crisis that’s forcing a rethink of how and where people are housed. The council now plans to prioritise “good homes over location,” meaning more families could be moved out of the borough altogether. Sounds sensible, right?
Continue reading “Don’t Solve the Housing Crisis by Creating Another Crisis”The real reason London doesn’t feel like it used to
An article in a local newspaper this week:
Families ‘priced out of London’ as birth rate falls 20%
London Assembly hears that sharp fall in number of children in capital’s primary schools is prompting closures that are likely to continue
walthamforestecho.co.uk
UK reaches new record high for homeless deaths in 2024
UK deaths of 1,611 homeless people in 2024 is record high
Most are linked to suicide or drugs, with spice and nitazenes increasingly deadly.
www.bbc.co.uk
BBC headline: “UK deaths of 1,611 homeless people in 2024 is record high.”
If you were to read that headline alone, you’d probably think homeless = rough sleeping. But most of those 1,611 people weren’t sleeping on pavements. They died in “temporary accommodation.” The roof was there. The support wasn’t.
That should stop us in our tracks. If people are still dying in record numbers after being “housed,” then the problem isn’t rough sleeping. It’s far deeper than that.
Continue reading “UK reaches new record high for homeless deaths in 2024”No more delays – Social Care crisis must be finally addressed
The Social Care crisis is in the news again, but sadly this by no means a recent development. Social Care has been in crisis for decades, across successive Governments. It’s infuriating that ten years after the Dilnot report, and seven years after laws were passed to support a Dilnot-style capped cost model, we’re still no closer to taking the large steps needed to fix it.
Continue reading “No more delays – Social Care crisis must be finally addressed”Supporting Walthamstow’s renters
“I urge you to commit to reforming the private rented sector if elected, and to support the Renter Manifesto.”
This was an email that dropped in my inbox from a single-parent renter currently living in cramped accommodation and sleeping on their sofa, because of the high rent prices in Walthamstow.
Continue reading “Supporting Walthamstow’s renters”We’re not tackling unsafe homes fast enough
This news report was in the Waltham Forest Echo this week:
Flammable cladding still not replaced
Residents of newly-built housing block angry over slow response, reports by James Cracknell A housing block in Walthamstow still has flammable cladding – […]
walthamforestecho.co.uk
This a huge concern, especially given the student accommodation fire on Friday in Bolton, which reports indicate may have been preventable if more action had been taken to correct deficiencies found in a review after Grenfell.
Why is our Government not ensuring thorough and quick action is taken to make people safer? It might not be the same cladding but there are still obvious problems that need addressing.
The people of Walthamstow need safe, secure homes, nothing less is acceptable.