Tag: london

Havering Council says there is no reason for anyone to be homeless at Christmas after just two rough sleepers found in latest count

One I ran across on Twitter, and clicked through out of curiosity since that just didn’t sound right.

How did they get that number in the headline?

Thirty eight volunteers targeted hotspots around the borough such as the town centre, railway stations and the local hospital on Thursday night (December 29) and encountered just two rough sleepers…

“However, this was just one night and the council know of at least 12 people sleeping rough.“

I can well imagine that not everyone in that situation would want to deal with the council, or these volunteers going around getting nosy. I doubt I would gladly talk to them. Twelve still sounds very low for the whole borough, and I have personally repeatedly seen more than two street homeless people hanging around just Romford Station most nights. Doesn’t sound like they were even looking that hard.

Also from the same person quoted there, Councillor Joshua Chapman, cabinet member for housing:

“It’s also important to note that not everyone chooses to accept the help or accommodation offered by the council.

“We have actively sought out rough sleepers to make them aware that help is available but unfortunately in some instances they have turned down offers of support.”

I was trying to find an old post discussing exactly that in more detail. But, if people would rather sleep on the street (in this climate, no less) than make use of whatever help/support you’re offering? Maybe you should listen to what will actually serve their needs, instead of getting snotty about it.

See also: The majority of homeless people in London are foreign nationals (Most of those are Eastern European, followed by people from elsewhere in the EU)

Homelessness charity helped deport rough sleepers

EU rough sleepers win damages for illegal deportations

They’ve supposedly had to stop doing that to EU-connected immigrants, but would I trust the local council or charity groups given the political climate these days? Hmm.

Anyway, I wasn’t that surprised at the overall slant of the piece, because politics.

What did surprise me some, though?

Investigation work carried out by the Recorder revealed that at least three homeless people have died in the borough in the last year, however no records of their deaths have been kept, and data released by charity Shelter shows that an additional 490 people are now homeless in Havering since the November 2017 figure of 1,956.

Of the 2,446 currently homeless, research shows 22 are rough sleepers and the remaining 2,424 are living in temporary accommodation.

This means one in 105 people are now homeless in Havering, up from one in 129 last year.

(So, now we’re up to 22 official rough sleepers instead of 12? 🤔)

Again, I would be surprised if that weren’t a low estimate. Those figures do include people living in temporary accommodations, couch surfing, etc. But still, somewhere around 1% of people living in this borough are now homeless.

(And this still isn’t as high as some others. One neighboring borough was in the top 10 as of last year, and I really doubt this has improved any more than it has here.)

I knew the situation had been getting worse for any number of reasons, but I didn’t realize just how high the rates had gotten. Or how sharply they’d increased within just a year. And this is before whatever else happens with the ongoing Brexit shitshow.

Havering Council says there is no reason for anyone to be homeless at Christmas after just two rough sleepers found in latest count

redscharlach:

Some of the many gorgeous butterflies I saw last week at the Natural History Museum’s “Sensational Butterflies” exhibit. This year’s show ends on 16th September 2018 and is well worth a visit if you’re in London and like magical fluttery things!

How London’s ‘lost’ underground rivers could help curb carbon emissions

rjzimmerman:

Excerpt:

Yet unbeknownst to many — presumably including a decent number of Britons — there are dozens of smaller rivers and canals flowing through the heart of the British capital city aside from the Thames: the Effra, the Tyburn, the Walbrook, the Westbourne and the once-mighty Fleet to name a few.

So why then do these waterways go largely unmentioned and unnoticed?

The answer is a straightforward one. It’s because you can’t actually see many of them as they were buried deep beneath the city streets eons ago.

Thanks to environmental nonprofit 10:10 Climate Action, the so-called “lost rivers” of London are back in the news. While it might come as a surprise that these mysterious sunken waterways are being touted by the group as a promising green heat source, it’s likely an even bigger surprise — or at least to those who aren’t familiar with London’s vast, complicated and filth-riddled history — that they even exist at all.

London isn’t the only city to be built atop subterranean watercourses that have gradually been paved over and buried, some in their entirety, to make way for new development. Toronto, Brussels, Vienna, Moscow, Sydney, New York City and Philadelphia all are home to rivers, creeks, brooks and streams that have been forced underground. It is however, the first major city where there’s a movement underway to tap into its lost waterways on a city-wide basis as a means of curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Steamy underground sewer systems, whether they were once natural watercourses or not, are primo places to extract natural heat using water-source heat pumps, which the Guardian describes as working like “reverse refrigerators.” Once extracted, this captured heat can be transported to neighboring office buildings and residential complexes, negating the need for burning fossil fuels for heat, which is the norm in London. In turn, a significant amount of air-polluting carbon emissions are avoided.

How London’s ‘lost’ underground rivers could help curb carbon emissions