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News and Comment February 2022

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14 February - Not so innocent after all

“The problem in Bexley is largely caused by Labour councils sending their homeless to Bexley and causing a shortage here.”

So said the Leader a couple of weeks ago and her claim on behalf of Bexley Council to be looking after its temporarily housed residents placed in boroughs far away much better than Labour boroughs who abandoned their residents in Bexley was the subject of a minor push back.

Minor in terms of numbers but serious if true.

The only case of displacement that ever got close to me did not go amazingly well. A lady who lived not far away was shifted down to Gravesend and didn’t get what she bargained for. I never did quite get to the bottom of that story because Bexley Council denied it and I lost contact with the lady in question. Bexley had to be given the benefit of the doubt so when I got another similar message I was just a little bit wary.

It concerned a single parent family the head of which became very seriously ill and nearly died. Just what one doesn’t need at such a time is to be evicted but Bexley Council stepped in and rehoused them out of borough, as is almost the norm.

Once safely there they were invited for reasons which are not totally clear to me to swap their new abode for a hotel room - just for two days. It is alleged that that is a ruse which would have allowed Bexley Council to repudiate all their responsibilities.

Fortunately the ‘advice’ was not followed. Unfortunately Bexley Council told the family they were going to be evicted for ignoring it.

Legal opinion was that an eviction in such circumstances would be unprecedented especially as by then the pandemic was at its height and any eviction would be illegal.

The County Court staff went further and said the procedure adopted by Bexley Council would have been illegal at any time. When asked to specify the part of the Court’s Civil Procedural Rules (CPR) which allowed such a move, Bexley was unable to specify the section they had taken as their authorisation.

For resisting the eviction notice the family had their welfare support terminated and Bexley Council said it had fulfilled all their legal duties.

Cut off by Bexley Council the family attempted to seek support from their adopted local authority but they refused to assist citing Bexley’s actions.

There was no alternative but to turn to a charity for help but that was not a lot of use either, in the end help came from a private benefactor who was both enormously generous and supportive.

A worrying story which has been totally rewritten to protect the source. There was however a clue as to where in Bexley the family had lived and as luck would have it one of the ward Councillors has proved to be a friendly soul in the past.

Was the tale of woe recognised? was the question. It was and broadly correct too.

As well as confirmation that Bexley Council may not be as helpful to the homeless as the Leader would have us believe the reply included a political message.

“Bexley’s answer is to try to dump their responsibility elsewhere, wherever and whenever they can. The real answer is to build social housing and properly solve the housing problem. There are undoubtedly parties placed in Bexley by other London Boroughs, but to try and present the picture that Bexley is an entirely innocent player and the victim of sharp practice by other London Boroughs has about as much chance of flying as believing that Boris Johnson is a morally driven and ethically based decision maker. It is not the slightest bit believable.”

 

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