Dear Lambeth council, Leader of Lambeth council Lib Peck, Councillor Jim Dickson Cabinet Member for Health and Well-being, Councillor Mohammed Seedat Cabinet Member for Jobs and Housing, and Councillor Sonia Winifred Cabinet Memeber for Healthy Neighbourhoods,
Today, a member of our group who is a victim of domestic abuse, was housed outside the borough of Lambeth where she feels safe and into temporary accommodation that is unfit for living. She has been housed in a borough she is unfamiliar with and far away from the vital support networks she has developed in Lambeth. The accommodation has broken fire alarms, a sign about cockroaches having been in the house, and serious damp and mould – please see photos below. The woman from the estate agents who showed previous people around said that people had refused to stay there – no doubt these people have been classed as ‘intentionally homeless’.
When we asked the placement officer if other Lambeth accommodation had been looked into – as the Supreme Court recently stated local authorities must do – the reply was that there was no accommodation in Lambeth. When we asked if Lambeth council had modified its policy on this the placement officer said there was a policy but they didn’t know what this was.
Our member and her young children are due to move into this unsuitable and dangerous temporary accommodation tomorrow – Tuesday 28th April. We are asking you to urgently find alternative, suitable accommodation for the family in Lambeth. Please email us today on haslemail@gmail.com to resolve this situation.
We hope this can be sorted out immediately so that our housing group does not need to make another visit to Olive Morris House this week for a situation that should not have happened in the first place.
Yours sincerely, Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth
Please tweet your concern and support for our HASL member to @lambeth_council
mould in the flat
broken fire alarms
damp in the flat
Housing Action Southwark & Lambeth 