Press Release
EMBARGOED UNTIL MONDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2013
Press contact: Elisabeth Winkler 0777 399 8642
“Listen to us, Mayor”
Homeless hostel tenants petition
Bristol City Council to stop breaking the law
Press conference: Monday 17 September 2013 at 4pm
Venue: 14 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA
Contact: Elisabeth Winkler 0777 399 8642
A group of Bristol residents threatened with homelessness are taking political and legal action to secure their homes, run by housing charity, Bristol Foundation Housing (BFH).
Bristol Foundation Homeless Residents’ Association (BFHRA) have petitioned Mayor George Ferguson and Bristol City councillors to listen to their plight and help broker a solution.
The group claims that the interviewing process which led Bristol City Council to drastically reduce benefit support was questionable. Pauline Field, a resident and former nurse, says, "Before I agreed to be interviewed, I asked: 'Can you get me kicked out of here?' and the man interviewing me said 'No'. I was told the review was 'to see what they could do to improve things.' What they've done is use their report to actually get us kicked out, and claim that most of us don't need any extra help.”
Says BFHRA co-chair Michael Phelps, "a leading barrister has told us: 'The decision is illegal as BCC have failed to take into account all information regarding the services provided by BFH, or to make sufficient enquiry.'"
BFHRA has raised funds to get legal advice from South West Law (image above and available in high-res). The residents claim the process by which Bristol City Council made the decision to reduce benefit payments by 79% may have been unlawful. They are asking the Council to re-instate the full amount while the issue is sorted out.
Although residents will continue to receive normal housing benefit, the 79% reduction means the “enhanced” element of housing benefit will no longer pay for support and supervision from trained staff and 24/7 reception. The hostels house vulnerable adults including people taking refuge from domestic violence, who have substance abuse problems or are in recovery, who have mental health issues, special needs, and physical problems such as epilepsy and partial blindness. Without the enhanced element of the housing benefit and staffing, the hostels cannot stay open.
The remaining two BFH hostels are staying open thanks to financial support from their landlord, Connolly & Callaghan.
The covering letter accompanying the BFHRA petition sent on 14 September reads: “When you hear what we have to say, we know that you will want to help us, to restore our homes, and our support, from BFH.“
Despite frequent requests to see the report, Bristol City Council has so far refused to let residents see it.
“We are having to raise our own legal funds to get the right to even see what we consider Bristol’s own Dodgy Dossier, the Supporting People review of January,” says the covering letter.
Southwest Law's Mariam Seddon is collaborating with other lawyers to help residents request a copy of the dossier under the Freedom of Information Act. She says: "We are discussing appropriate redress, which may include judicial review of the flawed process."
Several attempts have been made to speak to Bristol’s first independent mayor, George Ferguson. The covering letter says: “We are very disappointed to hear, Mr. Mayor, that you have refused to get involved. Every politician owes it to his constituents to investigate the facts for him or herself, and not rely on what you are told.”
Says BFHRA Co-chair Josh Evans, "I met the Mayor at a press conference for the Prince's Trust, because I may be going to Borneo with them. The action of forcing my charity into administration and using this SP review to justify it is shocking, and means that Borneo is off. I was surprised at the questions. I was asked about the staff, the building, the condition of the building, about the company, things I shouldn't know about and wasn't able to answer. He only asked a few questions about myself. The emphasis was on the company. I was referred by the Probation Service to BFH and I struggle with reading and writing. I need help looking for work, filling out forms, some reading and budgeting. I was assessed as having little or no support needs. How could they make that decision based on those few questions about myself? If it weren't for BFH I would be in prison."
The residents are asking the Mayor and councillors to have an open mind. As the covering letter says: “We need to work together to make Bristol a City of Sanctuary. If South Gloucestershire managed to sit down with BFH then we are sure you can too.”
The press conference is an opportunity to hear from the residents directly, including from former residents who have turned their lives around thanks to the support received from a homeless charity that cares.
Other attenders will include a representative of Kerry McCarthy MP.
Interviews and images available
Contact: Elisabeth Winkler 0777 399 8642
Editor’s Notes
1. Connolly & Callaghan (C & C) has been building and running social housing for nearly thirty years. It is also the landlord of and benefactor to community enterprise, Co-exist, at Hamilton House in Stokes Croft, a popular tourist destination in Bristol. C & C won 2009 Environmental/Conservation Development of the Year for Pennywell Green, Bristol. Martin Connolly is a major shareholder of a local company producing carbon negative buildings.
2. Connolly & Callaghan (C & C) provides emergency accommodation and food for some 250 statutory homeless people every night of the year in premises in and around Bristol. This service is unaffected by the current reduction in exempt/enhanced benefits.
3. The charity Bristol Foundation Housing (BFH), supported by Martin Connolly, was founded in 2008 to break the cycle of homelessness by providing support and supervision to learn life skills including job seeking. It encourages and supports vulnerable adults including homeless people and those with substance abuse and mental heath problems, and/or ex-offenders to live more fulfilled and stable lives. BFH specialises in ‘exempt accommodation’ where tenants receive extra care support or supervision, making them exempt from normal limits on housing benefit claims. BFH has provided detailed evidence of its positive outcomes thanks to these enhanced services. Unusually for the UK, Martin Connolly, unlike all homeless providers avoided what he called "the trap of Supporting People" and chose to continue with exempt housing benefit status, and made up the shortfall from income from his other property.
4. There has been long-running dispute between BFH and Bristol City Council over payments of enhanced benefit due by Bristol City Council since July 2008, including two tribunals in 2009 and 2011.
5. According to its 2011 press release, Bristol City Council sees exempt accommodation as a “legal loophole”. It wrote to the government in 2011 “to look at this gap in the regulations as a matter of urgency”.
6. Following tribunal proceedings in 2011, Bristol City Council agreed to pay exempt benefits for just over half of BFH properties. As a result seven out of 16 city-wide BFH hostels closed, and only nine remained.
7. In December 2012, Bristol City Council Supporting People's team conducted a review of BFH's services. BFH were led to believe by the team that the results were broadly positive and that feedback would be constructive and solution-focused.
8. On 1 August 2013, BFH placed into Administration by the High Court in Bristol. In C&C’s view, the management and trustees had overspent. Going into Administration was intended to restructure the charity, and put it into a solvent state, free of debt and loss.
9. On the 14 August BFH was informed by Bristol City Council that payment of all housing benefit was being stopped with immediate effect. The grounds for this action were that the charity was in Administration and therefore not fulfilling its obligations to residents ; and secondly the findings of the Supporting People review.
10. Under duress from the Administrator, Bristol City Council paid one final payment. On the 30 August 2013, it announced without warning or discussion, a 79% cut to exempt accommodation. Without staff support, the hostels cannot function, as the tenants have severe and complex needs. As a result, seven out of the nine city-wide hostels must close and vulnerable people will be evicted.
11. The Administrator’s report states: “The decision by the Council to reduce payment by 79% will likely have a terminal effect on the prospects of achieving a successful restructuring of the Company. The decision was apparently reached without meaningful dialogue and the review upon which the decision was made has not been disclosed.”
12. Social landlord, Martin Connolly, says: “Every BFH bed space is an opportunity for somebody to turn their life around. So the loss of 103 beds in the city is substantial.” C & C is currently trying to save 42 BFH beds for the city.
13. In order for BFH to avoid liquidation C & C will gift circa £2.6 million of debt owed to C and C. BFH proposed to the Administrator on 6 September 2013 to keep 117 beds in total, including 42 in Bristol, and 75 beds in other local authority areas, (which, unlike Bristol City Council, do not dispute exempt accommodation).
14. This week United Nations housing official, Raquel Rolnik, arrived in the UK to investigate its housing crisis.
Elisabeth Winkler 0777 399 8642 | elisabeth.winkler@yahoo.co.uk
Elisabeth Winkler on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ewinkler
