West Sussex council’s proposal to cut help for rough sleepers by £4m will have drastic consequences - more lives will be lost. By 2020, the money the council spends on housing support services for rough sleepers, victims of domestic abuse, care leavers, and vulnerable elderly people, will decrease from £6.3 million to £2.3 million. Years of under-investment by West Sussex County Council in social housing, social care and mental health services have resulted in increasing numbers of homeless people, many sleeping rough in parks, shop doorways and in beach shelters. At a time when funding desperately needs to be increased, West Sussex County Council is proposing even greater cuts. The council needs to reverse its decision and make sure these services are protected for the future.

Renters in Scotland are suffering. Across the country, sky-high rents are forcing people into poverty and far too many tenants are living in slum-like conditions. We used to have rent controls to protect people from exactly this situation - until Thatcher scrapped them in the 80s - and now it’s time to bring them back. In 2016, the Scottish Government brought in so-called “Rent Pressure Zones” to try to tackle high rents, but these have failed. No council has been able to use them, and the evidence suggests it wouldn’t help even if they did. Now we need to bring in proper, nationwide rent controls. You can read more about the campaign and what rent controls would mean here: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17447397.campaigners-call-for-scotland-wide-rent-controls-to-help-tenants/

This month, 56 desperately needed social rented homes are due to be sold-off at auction by housing associations, so called 'social landlords'. 15 being sold by Housing association, Peabody, including 17 Robinson Road, a refurbished 2-bedroom home in Bethnal Green, with a reserve price of £730,000. Right now, there are 4,500 people on the Tower Hamlets waiting list for a home like this. They're the people Peabody are supposed to help. Last year, Peabody made a profit of £175 million, while paying their Chief Executive £278,750.

In November 2018 local people entered an old GP surgery owned by the NHS and left empty for 9 years to provide life- saving shelter for homeless people at risk of dying on the street. The Shelter provides a bed, warmth and food for up to 15 residents. Since opening it has supported residents to access health care, mental health services, help for drug and alcohol, benefits, training and employment. It has successfully found move on accommodation for many and NOT ONE of its residents has left to the street. In December 2018, the NHS issued court proceedings to evict the shelter and its residents, claiming they want to sell the building on the open market and that the Council and GMCA have told them that they will not support the Shelter staying open, as they already have enough accommodation for all. On 31st January 2019 an outright possession order was made and the NHS planned to evict the residents with High Court bailiffs on 4th February 2019. The Judge refused to allow residents to be named in the proceedings – they therefore remain “Persons Unknown”. However, on 1st February, a Judge granted a stay of execution pending the Shelter’s appeal. This is only a temporary reprieve and the threat of eviction is still very real. Most of the residents fear that even if offered temporary accommodation in a church hall, night shelter or far away Bed and Breakfast, they will end up back on the streets, because the accommodation is not suitable for their needs. The eviction and the closure of the Shelter can be avoided if the NHS, the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, Salford City Council, Andy Burnham and GMCA have the will to save it. We all know there isn’t accommodation for every homeless person that needs it and that the accommodation that is in place doesn’t meet every homeless person’s needs. This successful Shelter has been set up by local and homeless people working together finding a way to save lives and end homelessness. It is grass roots, community led, and has homeless people at its heart. Please show your support by signing our petition.

Our arguments against the proposed development are many and varied, and include, but are not limited to the following: - The designs are extremely poor, and do not comply on numerous counts, to GLC guidance (including no provision of lifts, no play areas, no significant outdoor space, a front door that is restricted and unsafe, insufficient waste storage). - Restriction of daylight (to the flats on the current top floor, to flats opposite on both sides, and to those on the ground floor due to the proposed new bike sheds). - The detrimental effect on the character of the area. Finn House was built in the 1930's, and is a classic example of the architecture of the time, having survived bombing during the 2nd world war. But additionally, to build a 5th floor would make it taller than even the newest developments opposite, and fail to take into account the precedent set by these major planning applications. - We were not consulted or informed about the planning proposals by the freeholder, until after they had already submitted the planning application. Even then, they made no effort to consult leaseholders direct - only tenants actually living in the building. - The disruption to tenants and leaseholders (some of whom have lived in Finn House since it was built in the 1930's) will be extreme, both during the construction and afterwards. More details of our objections have been raised in our individual online oppositions.

We are currently in occupation of 169 Church Street, Eccles, Salford, M30 0LU. We are working alongside Salford Unemployment and Community Resource Centre and the Broughton Trust to use the building to house the homeless and help them get back on their feet. The building has been empty for many years yet they want to kick 15 to 20 homeless people out onto the street and leave the building yet again empty. We are willing to give them rent too. Please help by signing our petition to let us stay. If they kick us out that will mean 3 people we have just got employment will end up back on the streets. 4 people we have just got on courses will also be on the streets too. The rest of the homeless we are helping to get back on their feet will also be on the streets.

The current design of Universal Credit is one of the evils of our age. The design of Universal Credit was supposed to make it easier for people on benefits to move into employment. A key feature is that it is paid monthly and wraps all benefits into one payment including rent. There is a huge problem with paying benefits monthly. Because of the often chaotic nature of the finances of people on benefits, most poor people run out of money long before the month end. The result is that children go hungry for days, even weeks at a time and food banks proliferate. Moreover paying claimants the money needed for their rent, which they are supposed to pass on is folly. 73% of Universal Credit claimants are now in arrears on their rent, this is causing real strain on housing associations. Basically housing associations and landlords have become the lender of last resort to those on Universal Credit. But there is a sensible quick fix that will make Universal Credit work. It is repackaging an old idea. Pass a law that anyone in employment paid under £20,000 pa has the right to be paid weekly. Admittedly that will cause a short term cash flow issue for many employers. But that could easily be overcome if the Government lent every employer the right amount of money to move people to weekly pay. They already know all this information due to the HMRC real time submissions that employers are obliged to make to HMRC any time any payment is made to any employee. It would be dead simple to work out exactly the cash flow shortfall an employer would face, this could be advanced as a Tax and NI Credit and it could be repaid over an agreed period again by an adjustment to the amount of Tax and NI an employer has to make. Then simply, pay Universal Credit weekly and pay any rent element direct to the housing association or landlord. Then insist that ATMs and point of sale equipment in the supermarkets use fingerprint recognition technology and give access to benefit accounts using the ID God has given us all. At a stoke of legislation this would reduce the problem of running out of money for too long. Basically claimants are likely to be able to budget better on a weekly basis and if they make a mistake like drinking too much it only impacts their family for a week and not a whole month. So join me in asking Parliament to pass legislation to achieve this. It is so simple and sensible that it is quite remarkable that it has never been suggested. Adrian Hill

Open letter to the people of Birmingham Mohammed JJ Khan is well-known to all in the Stirchley community as the proud owner of the distinctive £7,500 statue of a begging gorilla that sits above JJ’s Flooring Services. We, the families of Emperor Court, also live above JJ’s Flooring Services. We want the people of Birmingham to know that as the owner of the building that we live in, JJ is the one with his hand out, happy to collect rent money, and turning his back on us by refusing to discuss urgent health and safety issues. The building has let in the rain for years, and as a result our flats are damp and mouldy. Like Scrooge, unwilling to spend, JJ has resisted all efforts so far to get him to properly fix this problem. Some of our neighbours have had to move out as their children have been made ill. Unable to bear these shameful conditions any longer, we have joined the renters’ union ACORN, who now represent all families in Emperor Court. JJ has brought in a block management company to look after the building, Bright Willis. Both he and the block management company refuse to speak with ACORN, saying they will only talk to our individual landlords. Our asks are absolutely reasonable. As the people having to live in these wet conditions, speaking with one voice, we demand that JJ and Bright Willis recognise our union ACORN and meet with us regularly to ensure that our homes are maintained according to his legal obligation as freeholder. If you agree with us, then please sign our online letter of support, or why not tell JJ directly what you think? Thank you!

Because Universal Credit is driving up demand for foodbanks ---- This petition is being run by a Member of Parliament - 38 Degrees is independent of all political parties.

Tony has Downs syndrome and is partially sighted with no sense of direction. Our mother Margaret passed away recently. He has lived in the house all his life, and he has the support of the local community to keep him safe. Our Mother was his carer; I am now going to fill the large hole left by her passing and take care of him. I have offered to give up my tenancy in the same borough to move in and provide care for my brother. Due to the house having three bedrooms (Not large) one of which is used as his dependency room. We are being told that we can not stay at the property as it would be under-occupied by one room. The upheaval and loss would be detrimental to his health and well being.

This year, 320,000 people were recorded as homeless in Britain, analysis from housing charity Shelter suggests. It is a rise of 13,000, or 4%, on last year's figures and equivalent to 36 new people becoming homeless every day. London has the highest rate of homelessness, but it is growing fastest in the Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and north-west England, the analysis says. As the weather grows colder we need an emergency plan to provide shelter for as many people as possible through the winter. Utilising spaces such as empty offices. This is a national emergency as many lives are at immediate risk.

It's important because people are being forced into universal credit disabled made fit to work and cant work people looseing their homes under universal credit people are committing suicide under universal credit children are going to school with empty stomachs under universal credit people are suffering please I am asking and the people are asking the European court to take action on the un profesor philip Alstons damming report against the conservatives our human rights are being breached and abused please we beg you to scrap universal credit now