West End Extra - Letters: Rough justice for styreet sleepers

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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 27 April 2007

Ghostly secret is buried in the past

• WITH reference to the article about moves to discourage homeless people from sleeping in shop doorways (‘No sleeping’ signs go up on the Strand, April 13), Sergeant John Ericksen of the Whitehall Safer Neighbourhood Team was quoted as saying that “There are enough beds in London for these people, and this scheme will help get them there.”
With due respect to Sergeant Ericksen, that statement is totally unqualified.
On any night of any week there will be no more than 10 bed spaces available to the rough sleepers across London.
Every hostel will keep one bed available for an emergency case. No rough sleeper can turn up at a hostel or shelter and expect to find a bed available.
Hostel accommodation is only by referral from outreach workers, and even then there is a waiting list for a vacancy, sometimes that can take up to several months.
Had he done his groundwork, Sergeant Ericksen would have found that in most cases it is not the street homeless that sleep in this particular area, but beggars that are already in their own accommodation.
As a street sleeper myself, I find it insulting for someone like Sergeant Ericksen should attack the homeless in this manner. Are we to shoulder the blame for all of the unsociable behaviour that happens in this area?
There is a small minority of homeless people whose behaviour is less than acceptable, but they are just that, a small minority, and to stereotype all of us in this way is nothing less than an expression of prejudiced arrogance about the homeless situation.
I would also like to comment on the remarks made by Rayhan Kadir (manager of Cashmere Choice in the Strand) about having to clean up urine from her shop premises. Has she ever been in the area when the pubs and nightclubs are closing in the early hours of the morning?
Amongst the broken beer glasses and bottles and discarded party trivia, human faeces and urine streams are evident for all to see.
If Ms Rayhan’s concerns are more for the tourist than that of the plight of the homeless people she should be ashamed of herself.
Name and address supplied

• THE Alliance for Green Socialism is concerned by the crisis in housing. That ordinary families cannot afford to obtain accommodation in 70 per cent of our towns is disgraceful after 10 years of a Labour government.
The public housing sector is being eroded by government policy restricting the right of local authorities to use their housing revenue on building new council housing.
Some local authorities are making developers provide some affordable housing in their new stock but this is too little and too late.
Now housing trusts are using New Labour policies to sell the majority of their new houses on the open market and using
only a minority for
affordable housing.
The London Housing Federation claims that the number of homeless families in temporary accommodation has more than doubled since Tony Blair was elected. We need to support the fight-back against these policies.
In London the move by Mayor Ken Livingstone to take measures to make all new developments at least 40 per cent affordable housing should be supported. We should demand that housing trusts revert to the policies of providing only affordable housing.
The government should divert from its war chest the £1.25 billion Shelter claims is needed to tackle our housing problems.
EDDIE ADAMS
Alliance for Green Socialism

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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