Newham’s Mayor says government must act as homelessness crisis pushes Council to brink of bankruptcy, reports Aidan White

Newham Council has called for emergency government action over a “catastrophic” homelessness crisis that is pushing the Borough to the brink of bankruptcy.

In a special report Newham Voices has found that Council delivery of vital support to residents is under threat because of a “crisis that is unique to Newham” according to Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz.

Newham already has the worst homelessness crisis in the country. Now, with soaring numbers of people being evicted from their homes, a dramatic fall in housing supply over the last year, and added pressure on provision of child and adult social care, the Borough is fast running out of money.

She said the Council was ready to help mobilise a Borough-wide campaign to highlight the “special and emergency situation” facing Newham and to press for action from the newly-elected Labour government.

According to a bleak financial report to the Council the Borough faces a devastating deficit which if unchecked could lead to unprecedented deficits in the coming years.

The Mayor told Newham Voices that there is no danger of Council services being overwhelmed, despite the intense pressure.

“We are able to cope and there is no need to be alarmist,” says Fiaz, “but we are working closely with the government, other the London Councils and the Local Government Association to deal with a crisis that is not of Newham’s making.”

In a bleak report to councillors about the current crisis the Council finance chief warned that more cuts in Council services will be needed to deal with a budget-busting overspend of around £40 million expected this year.

“It is difficult to see how any council could deal with the scale of the financial crisis without external support, but it is imperative that every reasonable effort and more is made to do so,” said Cllr Zulfiqar Ali, lead Cabinet member for Finance and Resources.

It will also be essential, he said, to undertake important and vital choices about the level and extent of services provided by the Council, with substantial savings unavoidable. The available reserves would only cover forecast expenditure for around 18 months. Even substantial savings to budgets would only serve to defer this date.

Without urgent government support, he warned, Newham in just three years could face an unprecedented deficit of £175m.

Mayor Fiaz is clear about the next steps. “We need the government to act,” she says, “but when we are asking the government for more money we must ensure that we have got our own house in order and are still delivering the services our people we need.”

Rokhsana Fiaz, says the Council will be consulting with residents over the accommodation crisis. She says Newham will be sticking to its policy of seeking 50 percent social rent and affordable housing in all new developments, even though added constraints and more costs in the housing market recently have meant that in some cases the target is not reached.

She supports a Boroughwide mobilisation of residents, homelessness campaigners and community groups over the crisis.

“We are all in this together,” she says. “We cannot continue the situation where the majority of residents in the borough continue to live in the private rented sector and are at the mercy of an economic system and housing market that, at the click of a finger, puts our people at risk.”

More on Newham’s homelessnes crisis:

Alarm bells ring as Council deficit soars

Fact file: Newham’s Homelessness Crisis

‘Catastrophic’ homeless numbers says charity

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