No Room at Camden Council’s Inn December 1, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden,Politics , trackbackThe grandeur of the new St Panacras station sits side by side with one of the most deprived areas of London, Somers Town. Walk away from champagne and Eurostar, and its not hard to find people in very difficult circumstances. The drug dealers and hookers have mostly been moved on to other areas, but the vulnerable are still there if you look.
Every year, my friend Dom spends his Christmas working for Crisis Open Christmas, a charity which provides for the homeless and inadequately housed at Christmas time. It’s a rewarding and useful way to spend the week, giving him a lot of personal satisfaction while doing some good that’s much more in keeping with the Christmas spirit than the normal rounds of presents and parties.
Crisis operate these centres all around London, and this year, the Wellcome Trust offered a building on Euston Rd. That sounds ideal, given that a short walk around Eversholt St or St Pancras church will dispel any notions that homelessness has disappeared from Camden.
Why then, when Crisis asked Camden council for their support, did Camden turn them down? They weren’t asking much, because Crisis and it’s volunteers will do all the work, and even clean up afterwards and take people back to where they came from. But Camden Council are not prepared to support this.
I asked one of our local ward councillors about it. I know he’s concerned about housing in this area, and he’d heard nothing of it. A little further digging in the council, and I find myself in possession of an extraordinary and spinechilling document – a Council briefing paper prepared by the Acting Assistant Director (Needs and Access), Karen Swift.
It seems that Camden Council have a low opinion of Crisis, based on a fairly outdated understanding of the service they offer. These days, homelessness isn’t just about rough sleepers, but about those who have no secure housing, who move from sofa to friend’s floor, and those who, although offered a place in a hostel cannot take it up. Often these people have enormous mental health issues and aren’t easily brought into the system. Crisis is at least as aware of that as Camden Council. Crisis Open Christmas helps them to get the help they need, in a way that works with how they are, rather than through ‘targets’ and ‘tasking’ which may have little relevance to chaotic lives.
Don’t get me wrong. My experience of living in a council-owned flat and being involved with the District Management Committee for Housing in Somers Town has given me a high opinion of many of those involved in housing services in Camden, but the Council has got it wrong here.
Sadly, I suspect the nub of the reason for Camden Council’s rejection is in their statement that the Kings Cross area is ‘sensitive’ due to recently reopened St Pancras, and that there is an unspecified but small rise in ‘street activity’. Does this just mean that the Council is worried about all those unsightly homeless people who are out of Camden’s ‘control’ showing up near the posh new station?
It’s not clear where responsibility for this decision lies, but I can only ask the Council to change their mind. Every year, Crisis do excellent work with some of the most vulnerable in our society. If Christmas means anything, we must support them.
Comments»
Let’s hope that Camden Council hasn’t bolted the door shut on this one. Crisis searches long and hard each year to find suitable venues. To have an application to use a suitable building turned down would be bad news indeed.
It was only three years ago that COC was run in the Millenium Dome, thanks to government support, so it seems odd that a Borough Council should make such negative remarks about Crisis.
[...] in these dark corners helps in very meaningful ways, and I’m very happy to be proved wrong in my opinion of those involved in [...]