of how you may appeal (if appropriate). We will also advise you if we cannot provide you with the information permitted. Customer service advisor Were so happy for our members who have been able to move into secure social housing but we know the hardship and difficulties they suffered before they were finally able to get their new homes. Southwark News covered our demands for Southwark council to pause, amend and extend the consultation to make sure that Southwark residents can meaningfully engage. Hosts who wish to share their homes can register by clicking here. Back in March, 18 HASL members also had a zoom meeting with the leader of Southwark council Kieron Williams and the councillor for housing Stephanie Cryan where we raised the councils treatment of overcrowded families and other homelessness and housing issues our members face. This again goes against what the law says which says clearly that a review can happen within 21 days of receiving the letter (not the date the council sent the letter, especially if it didnt arrive! We campaign together for high quality, 3, 4, 5 bed council homes we need! Lambeth Council reserves the right to monitor, record and retain any Of course, this mentality trickles down from central government and is linked to the limited housing stock and to a decade of austerity measures. WhatDoTheyKnow also publishes and archives requests and responses, building a massive archive of information. The council should be building more council homes and should stop destroying and selling off what we already have. Sign up here to receive email updates on the Home-Sharing Program, A current valid California voter's registration card or voter registration status, A current valid California vehicle registration certificate, A recent health or vehicle insurance bill, A copy of a paycheck or pay stub issued in the last six months, A copy of a current property tax bill indicating homeowner's exemption, A copy of a current rental or lease agreement, including the property manager's or landlord's contact information and signature. As mentioned before, if you are placed outside of Lambeth on the scheme you will be removed from the housing waiting list after 2 years. Shamefully, Lambeth council have only built 17 new council homes in the last 4 years and at the same time they have been trying to knock down a number of council estates. If you are not the intended recipient please destroy all copies our[1]Privacy Notice. Alex made this Rhyddid Gwybodaeth request to Lambeth Borough Council 09/12/2022.txt - - The number of years the household had been on the housing register for? Properties are advertised as soon as the property is vacated, so there may . Fortunately, it seems like an idle threat from the landlord, as he has not yet given her a section 21 (which he needs to do if he does want to evict her). On top of all this, having been placed many miles outside the borough of Lambeth, some had no choice but to travel long distances in order to retain their support networks and to get to and from work or school. Pending registration numbers were issued at the outset of the Home-Sharing Program to assist the City in processing the initial rush of applications, and to allow active, eligible hosts to continue Home-Sharing activities while their applications were under review by Department staff. Run by Volunteers and powered by Alaveteli. We willcarry outan assessment Please provide the information in an excel table with a column for each of the questions above and a row for each letting made. and attachments to identify the presence of malware; you are advised that Alexandra made this Freedom of Information request to Lambeth Borough Council and attachments to identify the presence of malware; you are advised that Ruben has submitted medical evidence to the council about his sons health condition. What should be a really simple procedure, where they can support homeless residents, has lasted many months and caused me significant distress and anxiety and further worsened my medical needs. any response to it) under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless the Kieron Williams apologised for the cruel and hurtful overcrowding decisions that families had received. unauthorised third party; as the information contained within is not This morning we visited Lambeths new Civic Centre to show our support for Ruben and his family and to demand that the council recognise the medical evidence they have submitted. for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If youhave not lived in the borough for two years, you may also join the list if: Births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships, Noise, nuisance, anti-social behaviour and safety, you have left the regular armed forces in the last five years, you are living outside the borough in accommodation provided by Lambeth Council. If the property is not registered, there is no emergency contact connected with the property to notify. Unlike the accommodation provided under the homelessness legislation, there is no statutory requirement for Temp2Settledaccommodation to be suitable, and there is no right to challenge the suitability of the offer of accommodation by way of statutory review. Her oldest son is constantly worried that he will have to move home again and change schools. Please find attached our response to your request. As of October 2019, 6,284 households (20 per cent of total) have been waiting for a permanent home for more than three years, 10,009 (31 per cent of the total) have been waiting for between five and nine years, while 5,266 (17 per cent of the total) have been waiting for more than 10 years. Winchester This scheme does not help homeless families it only helps Lambeth council to: Lambeth council are exploiting vulnerable families desperation for secure council homes. It was amazing to see so many old and new HASL members in person at these events. use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. intended recipient please destroy all copies and inform the sender by In addition to the eligibility requirements outlined above, applicants must also meet the following criteria to participate in extended home-sharing. Are you the owner of any commercial copyright on this page? permitted. as follows:- We couldnt load the mail server logs for this message. I feel extremely demoralised by this experience. A severe housing shortage in Lambeth means people are waiting for a council home for years, with one resident joining the list in 1975. Anyone who wishes to participate in the Home-Sharing Program must register with the City before listing their property for short-term rental or booking any short-term rental stays. 1. http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/ We have written a more detailed blog post about this scheme here. In February, HASL members joined Akwaaba, a social centre for migrants based in east London, to run a workshop on racism in housing and sharing our experiences of organising collectively for housing rights and high quality council homes for all. Of course, twitter is a helpful place to make public complaints to @lambeth_council @cllr_peck and @cllrmattbennet about issues in their housing office. 1. Complete the self-assessment first to see if you qualify. Yours faithfully. We know we are not the only Lambeth residents facing these problems at the housing office. SO23 5DX Recent migrants (and others who do not already have housing register accounts and so have not accumulated time on the housing waiting list) should not be discriminated against and disadvantaged in getting council housing because they cannot get on the waiting list before becoming homeless. London Borough of Lambeth Information request The City Council adopted the Home-Sharing Ordinance (CF 14-1635-S2) in December of 2018. The effect of this scheme can be seen by comparing Lambeths homeless assessment decisions with that of the similar and neighbouring Southwark council. As a result of the legal challenge that was taken by Camden Community Law Centre, Southwark council ended this so-called trial policy. Dealing with homelessness and the homelessness application process is difficult enough finding out that you believed you went through this process already, but actually you hadnt because they purposefully had decided not to meet their legal obligations is even more difficult. HASL have uncovered and are challenging yet more gatekeeping of homeless people by Lambeth housing office. We also sent him a letter explaining the need for high quality, safe, secure family-sized council homes and the need to abolish No Recourse to Public Funds so no one is refused good housing based on their immigration status. intended recipient please destroy all copies and inform the sender by Did your housing register bidding account get closed? As well as dealing with homelessness, my medical needs, and trying to get on with my life, I have had to spend huge amounts of energy and time dealing with Lambeth councils homelessness service. protected. Were you homeless and housed by Lambeth council outside of the borough in private housing? Tickets VIP Couch (premium visibility) Zone A (premium visibility) Zone B (great visibility) Zone C (good visibility), Seating is assigned on a first come first served basis within each zone, What You Will Enjoy Beverages (alcoholic & non-alcoholic) will be available for additional purchase. My intention has always been to do right by my daughter and to do the best for her. We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not if you are, Lambeth Council, These inadequate assessments have serious consequences for our members who were left without suitable housing. Without HASL and the Public Interest Law Centre, who dedicated their time in helping us not only get justice, but also to expose the way me and others were treated, this would still be happening undetected, and Lambeth council would be able to continue to treat families in this way without any accountability for their actions. She was informed that she had not in fact had a homeless assessment but a housing assessment for a single person. More information about fines and enforcement can be found in the Home-Sharing Ordinance and the Administrative Guidelines. Furthermore, the data you have provided in spite of this is insufficient. This seems like the only clear advantage to the Temp 2 Settled scheme but why are Lambeth appearing to keep private tenancies within the borough for the Temp 2 Settled scheme? We were hopeful that this would mark a change in Southwark councils treatment of families in overcrowded housing. According to a Freedom of Information request, someone joined the list 44 years ago and has yet to be given social housing. contact the editor here. As a result of the challenge, and not long before the case was due in court, Lambeth agreed to amend its policy and reinstate the four families to its housing register with immediate effect. We must continue the campaign to ensure that those families no longer feel forced to reside in uninhabitable living conditions, are protected from eviction, and have access to secure council-owned accommodation.. Visible links One of the cases of gatekeeping, where a family were turned away from help and returned to their severely overcrowded accommodation, resulted in a woman being physically assaulted by a member of another household in the shared accommodation they were living in. proceeding with your request. software may be used to check, monitor and/or block the contents of emails Applicants in a lower priority band are not in such immediate housing need and so have less chance of being allocated a council house.. We will inform youif this is Disclaimers apply - full details at [4]www.lambeth.gov.uk/email-disclaimer. Our reference: IRN12659535 I believe that Lambeth Council took advantage of this and of me when I was at my most vulnerable and when I had no choice but to place my trust in them. We are supporting Janeths case and all homeless households who have spent Too Long in Temporary. Lambeth has more than 36,000 people on its housing waiting list. Tel. protected. [FOI #890111 email] received on 09/12/2022.eml, Social housing is not allocated based simply on waiting time, but on level of need, and not everyone on the housing register is actively seeking housing. When you visited the housing office to make a homeless application, did the housing officer invite you to instead join the Temp 2 Settled scheme? The Housing tab will display if the unit is subject to the RSO. Yours faithfully. you open any attachments at your own risk. Lambeth a similar homeless prevention scheme which forces families into private housing. If you are not the intended recipient please destroy all copies The Public Interest Law Centre, with support fromHousing Action Southwark and Lambeth(HASL), brought a legal challenge on behalf of four families affected by theTemp2Settledscheme. The Administrative Guidelines outline the implementation and enforcement of the Home-Sharing Ordinance, providing detail for property owners, hosts, and hosting platforms on how to comply. After our online meetings we put together template responses to both Lewisham and Southwark councils housing waiting list rules consultations helping hundreds of people most affected by the new rules to engage with these badly organised consultations. Today marks the 5th anniversary of when he first joined the housing register hoping to access secure and spacious council housing in their local community. protected. In some case, a fee may be payable. and a limited company (03277032). Unauthorised use (disclosure, storage or copying) of emails is not : "I loved the venue and the artists were amazing. A council spokesperson said:Lambeth is doing all it can to tackle the housing crisis, which has left 30,000 on the waiting list and over 2,000 families including 5,000 children homeless and housed in temporary accommodation by the council. The average wait time for housing in Lambeth for households in band B is 5.5 years, or 6.8 years for families who need more than one bedroom, according to data released to the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), which is representing the claimant. View as HTML. Other consequences suitability of accommodation and eviction. If you are not the intended recipient please destroy all copies Were you placed in band B on the housing register? to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office. Donate and support our work. Alex made this Freedom of Information request to Lambeth Borough Council Customer Services Officer for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Your reference: [FOI #890111 email], , DearAlex use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. As a result of our community-led campaign and Favio and Elbas legal challenge in the Court of Appeal Southwark council removed the cruel deliberate act term from their new draft allocations scheme. TOT Registration: The home-sharing registration system will facilitate the requirement for hosts to register to pay Transient Occupancy Tax. We periodically write to applicants to ask if they still want to remain on the list, and provided they respond to these letters and remain living in Lambeth, they can stay on the housing register for as long as they like.. On November 1, 2019, the City beganenforcement of the Home-Sharing Ordinance. A site to help anyone submit a Freedom of Information request. Liz has made a formal complaint about the situation and HASL will be planning further actions to challenge gatekeeping and mistreatment. Camden Community Law Centre are helping the family to review the decision and the family have now been waiting over a month for a response. The newly obtained figures revealed that nearly one third of households (10,009) have been waiting for a permanent home for between five and nine years more than 5,000 have been waiting for more than 10 years. It is also vital that we campaign together for better treatment, real housing help (instead of schemes like this) and for council housing for everyone. The talent, the ambiance, the vibe made for a really great evening. SocietyWorks Ltd By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to the use of cookies. PO Box 734 Click for more info. is a registered charity in England and Wales (1076346) Youre fine and dont require any assistance is essentially the conclusions drawn from these poorly conducted assessments. PO Box 749 Winchester SW2 1EG We are calling on Lambeths councillor for housing Matthew Bennett and the head of the housing office to meet with us to listen to these issues and finally work to resolve them. software may be used to check, monitor and/or block the contents of emails Any views or opinions expressed in emails are solely those of All Lambeth emails and attachments are confidential and intended solely Not knowing what my future for my daughter looked like and whether we would be able to return to our home borough, made making important life decisions for me very hard. To apply for social housing in Lambeth (council and housing association homes), you will need to join the housing register. Temp 2 Settled is a scheme started in November 2014 by Lambeth Council which is being used to end or prevent a homeless assessment and therefore reduce the number of homeless duties on their records. To learn more about the Home-Sharing Program, watch City Planning's webinar below. It is very common for single homeless people to face gatekeeping at housing offices, as often they may not meet the automatic priority need test (for example, if you have children, you are automatically in priority need). The conditions of the property I was placed in were very poor and it was not safe for us to live in. Births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships, Noise, nuisance, anti-social behaviour and safety. Their average waiting time from registration date to 12/08/2022 was 7.4 years. The council officers sugar coated the nature of the Scheme and persuaded me to agree to enter into it they told me that it was the best option for myself and my baby as we would be provided with permanent council accommodation in our home borough within a matter of weeks. Unauthorised Since 2014 Lambeth Council has been encouraging its homeless families to withdraw their homelessness applications, and to move into temporary private sector accommodation, by offering them higher priority for social housing. In 2008, patients seeking a hip or knee replacement in Stockholm County faced wait times of up to two years of sometimes debilitating pain, intermittent missed work and income, and the trials of disability. These families never had any real prospect of securing permanent accommodation, as the average wait time for securing permanent family-sized accommodation in Band B has always been more thanfiveyears. You also give up other protections/rights that you have when you make a homeless duty, for example, the ability to review the suitability of the accommodation. Established in 2008. Unauthorised Your donations keep this site and others like it running. Lambeth Council said the oldest applications include people who are adequately housed and therefore have no priority for social housing, and who are not actively seeking rehousing butremain on the list at their own request.. After a great deal of stress about what she should do, she decided that she wanted to take this route because the incentive of being in band B was important to her. unencrypted emails sent to the council can be intercepted by an Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Anyone who continues to engage in or advertise short-term rental activity after that date without posting an approved registration number will be in violation of the Home-Sharing Ordinance. If you are not the We will indicate to you which of you has first refusal, second refusal, and so on. - That status of the household i.e. We are dealing with yourrequestunder theFreedom of Information Act The Home-Sharing Ordinance requires hosts who wish to engage in short-term rentals to register with the City and post their registration number on all advertisements. If you are not the Back in August 2020 we wrotea blog with our member who was facing her 3rd section 21 eviction notice. Registration Number: Hosts must be in possession of a valid Home-Sharing registration number, which they can apply for online at planning.lacity.org beginning July 1, 2019. internal compliance with the Council's policy on staff use. Extended home-sharing registration allows hosts to participate in home-sharing for more than 120 days per year. Lambeth Council reserves the right to monitor, record and retain any HASL have also drawn up a pledge against gatekeeping that we will be approaching Lambeth council with. Lambeth Council agrees to amend a housing allocations scheme that had resulted in hundreds of vulnerable families being removed from its social housing register. If you have a homeless duty with the council then you will be housed in temporary housing and will be in Band C on the housing register. information in it is covered by an exemptions in the Act. the author and do not necessarily represent those of Lambeth Council. Hosts must not engage in any commercial uses for purposes of a party or an event.Hosts must ensure that basic health and safety features are provided, including fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors. protected. Are you the owner of any commercial copyright on this page? The disrespect and poor treatment I have faced has felt so hurtful and demoralising. use (disclosure, storage or copying) is not permitted. Your donations keep this site and others like it running. software may be used to check, monitor and/or block the contents of emails If someone had been on Lambeths housing waiting list 2 years before becoming homeless and going down the Temp 2 Settle route and being housed out of borough, then they stand a better chance of successfully bidding for council housing before the 2 years are up.). internal review request. Attending the homelessness assessment with a buddy, the housing officer attempted a number of gatekeeping tricks, but Liz and her buddy thought they had navigated these successfully ending the meeting with the officer informing her that he would open a homeless assessment. If you have a homeless duty with the council and are housed outside the borough in temporary housing, Lambeth are legally required to keep you on the waiting list, even if it is low down on it. But Lambeth are ignoring this important evidence. We will inform youif this is Lambeth council have been making it harder for homeless families (and Smurfs) to get the quality, secure council homes they need and deserve. HASL and PILCs important legal and campaign victory in June. Now they say that the new rules will not be agreed until after June 2022. services through our wholly owned subsidiary We also ran a social housing rights workshop with our members who have recently moved into social housing. One of our members who is suffering from a number of medical issues and was sofa surfing was helped by the group to get higher medical priority on the housing waiting list. Ai chi yw perchennog unrhyw hawlfraint masnachol ar y dudalen hon? Anyone engaging in home-sharing activity must include a valid registration number in the rental listing. Lambeth Council, Following is a list of the hosting platforms that have enteredinto a Platform Agreement with the City of Los Angeles. - From: [FOI #890111 email] It divides Lambeths homeless families between band B and band C on the housing waiting list this is blatantly unfair to give some homeless families more priority than others when they have the same high level of housing need. As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email (or and attachments to identify the presence of malware; you are advised that you are a council or housing association tenant and you need to transfer to Lambeth due to work. In this case, we have found Lambeth housing office have a built-in policy to gatekeep single homeless people.