Bournemouth Council draw up new plans to tackle homelessness crisis (From Bournemouth Echo)
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Bournemouth Council draw up new plans to tackle homelessness crisis
9:00am Sunday 17th February 2013 in News By Julie Magee
SANCTUARY: St Andrew’s Church on St Stephen’s Road
BOURNEMOUTH council has drawn up plans to tackle homelessness and provide much-needed affordable housing in the resort.
A seven-year strategy to boost housing supply and tackle rough sleeping will be unveiled at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, a month after homeless man Karl Lambe was found dead in a church doorway.
Mr Lambe, 42, was discovered by church keeper Bob Bembridge when he arrived to open Richmond Hill St Andrew’s church on January 20. A postmortem showed Mr Lambe had died from natural causes.
The 42-year-old’s death prompted calls for more action to tackle the town’s homeless problem.
Campaigner John Coulston, 85, who received a Papal medal for his charity work, said: “It’s really hard for people on the streets and I think the economic situation is making matters worse; these people are so vulnerable.
“If homeless people come from outside the area they are usually given just three nights shelter before being sent on their way.”
The council’s new “housing vision for Bournemouth” is also aimed at breathing new life into empty properties and providing specialist accommodation for the most vulnerable including young people, the elderly and those with learning disabilities.
The strategy will focus on regenerating areas, including Boscombe, as well as improving the management and standard of privately rented accommodation and encouraging greener homes.
The introduction of five-year, fixed-term tenancies for new social housing tenants, plans to build 105 new council homes and increasing debt management advice services will also be considered.
Cllr Robert Lawton, cabinet member for housing, who will introduce the new housing strategy, said: “It demonstrates our commitment to further improving housing within the borough, which will help to shape our communities and meet future housing needs.
“The public consultation feedback, which highlighted the need to address welfare reform and issues in Boscombe, played a big part in the development of the final strategy.”
If approved by the cabinet, detailed action plans will be drawn up for the start of the new financial year.
The eight-housing aspirations
- Ensuring the right supply of new housing, maximising affordable housing
- Getting most use out of existing homes
- Tackling homelessness and rough sleeping
- Specialist accommodation for people with different needs
- Improving standard of privately rented homes
- Regeneration of areas such as Boscombe
- Encouraging greener homes
- Managing resources more efficiently
Comments(29)
KLH
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9:48am Sun 17 Feb 13
beachcomber1
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9:48am Sun 17 Feb 13
SFF
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10:05am Sun 17 Feb 13
Baywolf
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10:07am Sun 17 Feb 13
beachcomber1
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10:10am Sun 17 Feb 13
SFF wrote:hahaha don't forget boscombe is full of derelict hotels. oh wait that one is actually in east cliff .....
Perhaps they have identified a charity or government grant they can get if they put a homeless hostel in Boscombe. They can then spend it on the seafront or anywhere else near councillors own homes. Who cares if it makes the problems of Boscombe worse? Keeps the Degeneration erm I mean Regeneration team in work.....
Morrigan
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10:10am Sun 17 Feb 13
It is just over 25 years since my family were faced with being made homeless after a job with a tied house in another county was axed. We were told by the local council to go back to our own home town as we would not be considered for housing there, despite having two small children, which we did - yet today people can wander into town from any country in Europe and ask to be housed. It's a joke when the council have limited resources.
elite50
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10:19am Sun 17 Feb 13
I was in a queue, to hand in some keys that I found and the bloke in front of me was demanding accomodation for himself, his family and kids. When asked why he had left his home town to come here with no job and nowhere to stay he said that he just wanted to "take a look".
He was most upset when told that they could not help him.
These people dont need help, they need a swift kick up the rear end!
MikeFrench
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10:23am Sun 17 Feb 13
BournemouthMum
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10:34am Sun 17 Feb 13
BIGTONE
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10:36am Sun 17 Feb 13
Or is it a mirage?
Hessenford
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11:44am Sun 17 Feb 13
KLH wrote:Couldn't agree more, I know of one local fella who already as a small flat paid for by the state but he never uses it, prefers to sleep in the open air.
I know a couple of old boys who would refuse to come off the streets, said this over the thread on Mr Lambe, but it appears some people think that is twaddle. I can think of some people who will refuse point blank to move into a place. Street Services have been trying without luck to get one into accommodation but he completely refuses. If anyone doesn't believe me then ask Street Services.
I think it would be more helpful to come up with a plan which stops or helps some of these people from falling into the homeless trap in the first place.
MikeFrench
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12:01pm Sun 17 Feb 13
Stop Press
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3:19pm Sun 17 Feb 13
rozmister
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3:51pm Sun 17 Feb 13
The problem is that Bournemouth has so much land that's desirable to developers making it hard to acquire land at an affordable price to build affordable housing on. Personally I think if you have land/a property and you neglect it for five years and don't use it for any purpose then the council should be able to purchase it using a compulsory purchase order. If you want to keep it use it! I've lived in Boscombe for 3 years and for that whole period there's been a hotel in the crescent being developed as flats - it's no closer to being flats than it was the day I moved here! If the council could compulsory purchase that they could build affordable housing and hopefully affordable family homes because that's what Boscombe needs.
People who aren't from this area should be offered the cost of a coach ticket home unless there's a really pressing reason to stay (have a child in the area or is receiving medical support here that isn't available in their area). I know people may want to live here instead of where they're from but if that's the case they need to support themselves for at least the first three years they live here.
Dr Strangelove
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6:01pm Sun 17 Feb 13
Azphreal
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6:44pm Sun 17 Feb 13
KLH
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7:36pm Sun 17 Feb 13
Stop Press wrote:"How many homeless people could have been sleeping inside the IMAX?"
The talk of the Council doing their best for the homeless appears to be little more than a sound-bite. For example, since Bournemouth Council repossessed it in October 2010, how many homeless people could have been sleeping inside the IMAX? For that matter isn't it a shame that Churches, Church Halls, School Sports Halls, Youth Centres, even empty Hotel rooms are all closed to the homeless, they're none of them being used overnight. A little charity would go a very long way and I don't mean the kind of leaching charity that pays its chief executives £60,000 + per annum.
I know a bloke who used to use the steps outside the Waterfront KFC as a regular spot - not any more!!
Bob49
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7:43pm Sun 17 Feb 13
As will the earnings of the greedy landlords. So much so you could almost believe some were hand in glove with local councillors and cuncil officials.
Thankfully there is none of that sort of stuff going on here.
nottingham
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9:27pm Sun 17 Feb 13
The first thing that should be done is that only those with a local connection are considered for rehousing that excludes those from outside who fancy living by the seaside coming in from all points of the compass.
The second is to encourage redevelopment of local shops that are empty into residential
The third only house those that are working or retired this will ensure that you exclude lots of undesirables and encourage those not working to seek work.
Cap benefit payments to private landlords and ensure the properties are regularly inspected any sub standard stop the payments till brought up to standard
May sound harsh medicine but will hit the poor landlords and lazy the most in the pocket
BmthNewshound
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10:03pm Sun 17 Feb 13
.
This announcement by the Council is a knee jerk reaction to the sad death of a homeless person on the streets on Bournemouth. This tragic loss of life is a side of Bournemouth the Council don’t want the world to know about. Affordable housing has been low on the list of priorities for years. The Council has depended on private landlords to provide homes for people who can’t afford to buy in the town. Poor planning has resulted in the town seeing an explosion in the building of high density, high priced apartments, generating £millions in additional Council Tax revenues but very few new homes for local working people. Instead of encouraging affordable housing the Council has actively encouraged the building hundreds of new student flats and retirement complexes rather than the building of homes for working people.
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The Council is determined to peddle the myth that Bournemouth is an affluent middle class town. For the past decade as Bournemouth’s aging middle class has been dying off they have been replaced by a new underclass. You’re just as likely to come face to face with the Bournemouth councillors have for too long pretended didn’t exist in Westbourne as you are in Boscombe.
cycletourer
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11:01pm Sun 17 Feb 13
BournemouthMum wrote:Agree totally.My Parents have just purchased a 4 bedroom bungalow in a quiet col-de-sac in a small village in Lincolnshire.£140,0
Housing is far too expensive in Bournemouh. A friend has just moved to the Midlands and has bought a beautiful detached house with garage and big garden for £90,000 and rents there are cheap too. You wouldn't even get a studio flat for that price here - it's ridiculous.
00.Thats beach hut money in Bournemouth.
Dr Strangelove
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11:41pm Sun 17 Feb 13
nottingham wrote:You know there's over 1 million empty properties. As for demand what you mean is desire, demand only becomes concrete when you have money to be a cash purchaser. For those that don't have the cash we have mortgages which require credit to turn that person into a cash buyer. Have you not understood what a credit crunch is and why prices are now falling. Prises rose because more money/credit was made avalible now we have much less credit prices can only fall which is what is happening.
The problem is a straightforward one too much demand too little supply , this is not a new problem but one that has been going on for over 30 years.
The first thing that should be done is that only those with a local connection are considered for rehousing that excludes those from outside who fancy living by the seaside coming in from all points of the compass.
The second is to encourage redevelopment of local shops that are empty into residential
The third only house those that are working or retired this will ensure that you exclude lots of undesirables and encourage those not working to seek work.
Cap benefit payments to private landlords and ensure the properties are regularly inspected any sub standard stop the payments till brought up to standard
May sound harsh medicine but will hit the poor landlords and lazy the most in the pocket
speedy231278
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1:19pm Mon 18 Feb 13
BournemouthMum wrote:Housing is cheap in Bournemouth! Try comparing Bournemouth prices to Sussex, you'd die of fright Your friend's big detached house with garage would be about £350-400K!
Housing is far too expensive in Bournemouh. A friend has just moved to the Midlands and has bought a beautiful detached house with garage and big garden for £90,000 and rents there are cheap too. You wouldn't even get a studio flat for that price here - it's ridiculous.
rozmister
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3:17pm Mon 18 Feb 13
speedy231278 wrote:You'd also earn more working in Sussex, especially if you were within the commuter belt and could work in the city.
BournemouthMum wrote:Housing is cheap in Bournemouth! Try comparing Bournemouth prices to Sussex, you'd die of fright Your friend's big detached house with garage would be about £350-400K!
Housing is far too expensive in Bournemouh. A friend has just moved to the Midlands and has bought a beautiful detached house with garage and big garden for £90,000 and rents there are cheap too. You wouldn't even get a studio flat for that price here - it's ridiculous.
A decent sized detached house with garage would cost you the best part of 300k round here. That's not cheap when you look at how much people earn and the cost of living.
victor meldrew 17
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4:15pm Mon 18 Feb 13
scrumpyjack
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5:28pm Mon 18 Feb 13
speedy231278 wrote:It would be worth that in most of Bournemouth, more in Christchurch.
BournemouthMum wrote:Housing is cheap in Bournemouth! Try comparing Bournemouth prices to Sussex, you'd die of fright Your friend's big detached house with garage would be about £350-400K!
Housing is far too expensive in Bournemouh. A friend has just moved to the Midlands and has bought a beautiful detached house with garage and big garden for £90,000 and rents there are cheap too. You wouldn't even get a studio flat for that price here - it's ridiculous.
markelkins
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7:59pm Mon 18 Feb 13
The Politicians in all 3 main Political Parties appear in love with house building and have through general consensus encouraged mass immigration into the UK for decades thus increasing the need for more housing. Such mass immigration has kept down wages in so called low wage jobs instead of a fairer distribution of income. In other words the complete reverse of "we are all in it together". No wonder such a high proportion of the UK population is in receipt of welfare benefits.
This problem will get worse simply because more and more people are being crammed into the UK. There appears no end to this. For example next year loads more are expected from Romania and Bulgaria when they get full rights of EU access.
The UK Government Funding for Lending programme is aimed at keeping house prices high by diverting funding to the housing market. The Government talks of the need to build more houses whilst at the same time propping up house prices. The reason they won't let them fall and let the public see the true level of demand and supply is because the UK Government is petrified of the potential toxic negative equity that is around. Thus the UK Government is being very dishonest indeed over trying to tell the public a huge house building programme must take place and the consequent need to concrete over huge areas of green belt. A real good example of a complete disregard for the environment. So yet more farm lands gets built on in a place far from self-sufficient in food production and expects the rest of the world to feed it. More CO2 emissions then result from the need to being this extra food into the UK.
In places such as Bournemouth more and more Gardens get concreted over which once were part of now demolished housing to make way for small box like properties which probably offer no place for wildlife to thrive. Not long before the Coalition Government came into being the Tories were running a campaign to stop Gardens being built on. Christopher Chope MP for Christchurch was at the forefront of this campaign. I wonder what he has to say about this now?
What the UK Government is really up to is trying to use house building as way of building up economic growth. One clear attraction to the Government of doing this is that it will be almost totally funded by the the private sector. In essence they are hoping that the economy will get back to normal and no one will notice that house prices have been held at artificially high levels during poor economic times.
rozmister
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8:24pm Mon 18 Feb 13
victor meldrew 17 wrote:I think there's quite a big need for family sized affordable housing too. Any developments need to have a combination of all sizes. If you look at Boscombe a lot of the problems are large blocks of just bedsits that end up housing single people with issues.
There are several large office blocks in bournemouth which have been empty for some years.It would not be difficult to convert one into bedsits,even if only on a short term basis.This would give the landlords some income,and fill a local need.Until the economy picks up,the chances of renting the building to a large company is unlikely.
There was a really interesting housing proposal in London recently turning garages (on land they wanted to sell for development but with a quite specific development criteria that made finding the right buyer hard) into temporary affordable housing pods. They were bedsit type housing but as a very short term alternative to the B & B trend. Bournemouth could benefit from that but big enough for families as well!
live-and-let-live says...
9:37am Sun 17 Feb 13