LCAP in solidarity with South African people’s movement – Abahlali baseMjondolo

Posted on | May 14, 2010 | 1 Comment

Our eyes are on Durban, but not for the World Cup

Today, Friday 14 May, a deputation from London Coalition Against Poverty visited the South African High Commission to deliver a message in solidarity with their sister group in Durban, the shackdwellers’ movement,  Abahlali baseMjondolo. Even with the world’s attention focused on their city, the group is experiencing massive repression and its leaders have been driven into hiding.

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HUNGRY FOR HOUSING!

Posted on | March 31, 2010 | 5 Comments

London Coalition against Poverty, Hackney Housing Group

On Friday 9 April the Housing Group held a fast outside Hackney Town Hall to highlight our campaign and show that we are so desperate for decent housing we will all go on hunger strike! 10 members of the Housing Group fasted with other LCAP members supporting us.

Everybody had a really enjoyable day! We had fun with face painting for the kids and we had a big art project to paint the houses you would like to live in a Happy Hackney! A huge long roll of paper became an imaginary communal street with tree houses, tipis, boats palaces and even a Sudanese hut! It was a really good bold and visual way to show Hackney, that we are really serious about our aim of getting the Council Draft Housing Strategy re written to prioritise social housing not market solutions.

We broke our fast at 6pm with delicious curries made by members of the housing group and were so pleased how many people came and joined us!

London Coalition Against Poverty has a really strong and active Housing Group. We are all currently in Temporary Accommodation Hostels or homeless or precariously housed. We have been campaigning with these demands we have made to Hackney Council.

1. An end to Gatekeeping by the Council.

2. Dignity for survivors of domestic violence.

3. Hackney Council need to make Temporary Accommodation Temporary not leave us on hold for years.

4. An end to extortionate rents and service charges for hostel residents.

5. Conditions in Hostels to improve dramatically.

6. Hackney needs to use existing empty homes for people rather than profit.

7. The Hackney Draft Housing Strategy to prioritise social housing not market solutions.

We would really appreciate the support of other local groups in signing our demands. Please contact LCAP Housing group on 07931698438. We look forward to hearing from you!

Hackney Housing Group meets every second Saturday at Navarino Mansions in Dalston Lane at 12 pm. The next meeting is 24th of April then 8th May. We support each other in our housing difficulties and share resources and information and have had great success in supporting each other to get housed.

Please see londoncoalitionagainstpoverty.org.uk or call the LCAP Housing Mobile on 07931698438

Solidarity with the PCS strike

Posted on | March 11, 2010 | 3 Comments

LCAP members visited the picket lines of workers from the Public and Commercial Services Union outside Hackney Jobcentres. We support the strike and stand with them against the government’s attacks on staff compensation. We know that the attacks on workers compensation are part of the same attack on the welfare system that threatens unemployed workers’ benefits. Together, the waged and the unwaged need to defend the welfare system.

Welfare: Know Your Rights

Posted on | February 4, 2010 | 3 Comments

As part of the Hackney Unemployed Workers Group’s continued activity to promote true understanding of how to combat the oppressive welfare system in the UK, a training and information day has been organised for Saturday the 27th of February at Navarino Mansions Community Hall, Dalston, near Hackney Downs station (google map).

• Hear about benefits you might need to claim and other legal info
• Share experiences of getting your rights
• Learn how to support others at the Job Centre

The event is FREE to attend, is open to anyone, will last from 1pm to 4pm, and will have both wheelchair access and childcare provided.

Contact Hackney Unemployed Workers Group on 07932 241737 if you have any questions about their work or the event, or visit them online at their blog.

Your can download a copy of the flyer here to distribute to friends and family.

LCAP Statement on Christelle Pardo’s Death

Posted on | February 1, 2010 | 3 Comments

On June 13th 2009, Christelle Pardo and her son, Kayjah, tragically died falling from the sixth floor of one of Hackney’s temporary accommodation hostels. The reason? All of Christelle Pardo’s benefits were cut off by the Department for Work and Pensions; after her application for Income Support was rejected she did not receive any of the help she was owed by Hackney Council. Christelle Pardo was left with no money to feed herself and her baby between December 2008 and June 2009 because of a bureaucratic loophole the DWP used to withhold the money she needed to survive. The tragedy here is the loss of two human beings. Wherever it occurs, under whatever circumstance, such a loss is unforgivable and unacceptable.

Many people are forced to be at the mercy of institutions like the DWP and Social Services for pennies to survive on. While the amount of money they give us is small, they are also able to take it away, leaving families in bureaucratic limbo and often without even the bare minimum needed to survive, let alone a roof over their heads. Tens of thousands of Britons suffer such extreme stress on a weekly basis; this is not an isolated incident. LCAP has worked with countless families who were always one pay-cheque away from the street, one income support payment away from next week’s groceries. Most of us will experience this situation at some point in our lives, and that fundamental insecurity is what binds our interests together.

There are many ways to kill a person, they can be subtle or obvious, quick or slow. What is certain is that such deaths can be avoided, just as Christelle Pardo’s could have been. That is why it is important to bring her killers to justice. Bureaucratic mismanagement and under-funding mustn’t continue to be factors in the deaths of so many people. The resources that could have been life-saving are neglected, the funding put into useless government bailouts and expenses. Instead, more money should be spent on quality-enhancing services like higher welfare rates, more council housing, and a serious improvement of DWP care standards.

LCAP is determined to stand by anybody and everybody struggling to win concrete gains for themselves, their families and everyone else. LCAP will stand with those who knew Christelle Pardo in demanding justice and will fight with anyone experiencing the same abuse from the DWP.