Newham crisis worst it has ever been say charity Your Place, reports Aidan White

Anchor House — Image courtesy Your Place

Your Place, the Canning Town charity which for decades has been supporting homeless people says the Newham crisis is the worst it has ever been.

The charity has space for 155 people at its Barking Road headquarters and is currently full. “The rates of homelessness in Newham are catastrophic,” said a spokeswoman. “We are working in a uniquely devastating space where demand is higher than it has ever been and there is no sense that it is going to go down soon.”

Like the Mayor, Your Place is ready to support a Boroughwide mobilisation and campaign for government action to highlight the exceptional nature of the homes crisis in Newham. “We would be ready to join such an action,” she said.

The work carried out by Your Place highlights the complex nature of the homelessness crisis, which is not just about finding a place to live.

Many of the people who come to Your Place for help have other issues – often mental health problems, or suffer from drug and drink addiction, or are caught up in domestic and family disputes or are victims of the ongoing refugee and asylum crisis.

Your Place make an assessment of each person, to clarify their immigration status, identify their specific needs and to ensure that they get the immediate support they need, particularly in terms of health care.

“We desperately need investment in wider health services,” she said.

She acknowledges that the current services to support people are inadequate and sometimes not fit for purpose.

In one case where Newham Voices followed up the specific case of someone in danger of being made temporarily homeless in a mix-up over switching places to stay, calls and messages left with social services and Council officers were never returned. (In the end the intervention of a local councillor helped resolve the problem).

Newham Voices made attempts to access the numbers provided for the Council’s Housing Prevention and Advice Service Advice, a supposedly 24/7 line which was in fact not operating during the working day, but was reachable during out of office hours.

More on Newham’s homelessnes crisis:

Alarm bells ring as Council deficit soars

Fact file: Newham’s Homelessness Crisis

Urgent plea to Starmer over Newham crisis

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