Newham Finds a Way to End Rough Sleeping in Manor Park
The above picture comes from an article in August 2022. We have noted the failure of Newham Council to address the issue of street homelessness on several occasions. There was a lot of back-slapping when members congratulated one-another for spending huge amounts of money accommodating street-homeless people during the Covid lock-down. Rather less attention was paid to what happened after.
The consequence was that rough sleepers simply returned to the streets and Stratford, Canning Town and Manor Park have taken the brunt of this.
The picture above was taken outside the Neighbourhood Centre in Manor Park recently.
Things are different today. Newham Council has solved the problem of rough sleepers outside its building like this.
They have solved the visible problem without doing anything to address the underlying problem.
We note the changes in responsibilities on the cabinet. Perhaps Cllr Carlene Lee-Phakoe would like to enquire about her officers and find out the following.
What was the number of individuals being accommodated under the council’s emergency housing scheme in the last month of the lock-down?
How many of those people were assisted into accommodation at the end of lock-down?
How many were still in accommodation six months later?
Are any of them being supported by council or contracted voluntary sector groups?
We have asserted that Newham spends money without making a difference. We would like to be proved wrong. So, how many people did Newham genuinely and permanently get off the streets?
If Mayor Fiaz, or housing cabinet member Cllr Mohammed would like to tell us how wrong we have been, we promise to publish any information and/or response in full.
And truly, if we are shown to be wrong, we’ll be delighted.
