Below are my notes for my speech yesterday evening. The motion was passed unanimously with cross party support. You can see the actual contents of the motion here mgov.newham.gov.uk/documents/s175786/Motions report.pdf which was seconded by my colleague, Cllr Dr Rohit Das Gupta. See his Facebook page for video of his speech https://fb.watch/vnNCwnv8_o/
"Chair, Council, Cllr John Gray, West Ham ward, moving motion 2 – Newham Temporary Accommodation (TA) Crisis
Council, the word “crisis” is being widely used to describe many of our key public services, the NHS, Schools, courts, universities, transport, utilities and not least, local government and in particular TA.
While Newham is not the only Council to be experiencing a TA crisis, we are by far an outlier, with arguably the worse TA situation in the country. Our statistics are frankly incredible and unacceptable.
6700 vulnerable individuals’ and families living in temporary and insecure accommodation, when they deserve permanent, decent and affordable homes. Yet this is not only an unacceptable form of tenure for these families, the cost of proving temporary housing is rising and there is clearly a danger that this will make the Council insolvent. In lay persons terms “bankrupt” or just running out of money.
It is projected that soon, until something radical changes then we will end up spending our entire Council budget on what is called statutory services – Children social services, adult social services and TA. There will be nothing left over for any other council services and we may even not have enough to provide those services demanded by law.
Council, we must act. Simply doing nothing and hoping for bail outs from central government is not an option.
So, what can we do as a Council, as a borough? The motion makes many recommendations, but there are 3 main over lapping themes
Firstly, we must believe that we can do something. Too often, TA is just seen as being in the “too difficult to do” box. We have had such as crisis for decades and that is just the way it is... This is wrong. We can and must act. Not alone, but with our partners and stakeholders.
Secondly, before we find a way out, we must examine why we are in this mess. Why is TA in Newham so different from other similar London boroughs or other Councils? What works elsewhere and why can’t it work here. Such is the scale of the crisis that we will have to take risks and try different and maybe things that we are uncomfortable with.
Thirdly, we must not let the Government completely off the hook. Despite the appalling financial situation it is in, there are a number of measure such as restricting RTB and bringing forward a ban on no fault evictions, which will potentially make a huge difference.
We must continue to make the case that if the Government of the day makes the provision of a particular council service a statutory service, then there is an obligation for that government to provide the funding needed to provide that statutory service. While no one here is expecting a blank cheque from the Government, we must continue to press the case for money to provide what the government is telling us to provide.
Finally, I note that there has been concerned expressed by scrutiny about capacity and resource to ensure this taskforce is successful, and I will be asking the Chief executive to ensure that they are made available. I believe this motion is also flexible enough to ensure that there is no duplication when agreeing any terms of reference.
So Council, let us set up this taskforce as a matter of urgency and let us have an initial report within 2 months and let us tackle and end this crisis together. Council, I move."
