‘Chill-Out’ campaigner puts councillors on the spot

Shirley Kennedy, Co-Organiser of ‘Chill-Out’

At last night’s Township meeting, Heywood homeless campaigner Shirley Kennedy quizzed councillors on homelessness figures in the borough.

Mrs Kennedy is Co-Organiser of ‘Chill-Out’, the homelessness campaigning group who initially got together on the Rochdale Online forum pages to raise concern and awareness of Rochdale’s growing homelessness crisis that, according to House of Commons library figures, have risen by 200 per cent in a year. She posts on our forums as ‘Spartacus’.

Several charities have had their funding slashed by recent cuts and the Salvation Army Hospital has been forced to close its doors. This has put an increasing pressure on remaining sources.

She was told that between 1 February and 23 May, 24 households have been accommodated in B&B by both the Homelessness Service and via the Emergency Duty Team for a total of 190 nights. This includes families and single people. Three further single people were offered B&B by Emergency Duty Team (EDT) but did not wish or need to stay in the accommodation.

In answer to her question about the costs associated this amount of accommodation, Mrs Kennedy was told: “The cost per room varies from £30 per night to £68 per night and in the period quoted the total cost is approximately £10,000 (not all accommodation costs have been invoiced at this stage and therefore some assumptions have been made). This will equate to an annual cost of approximately £30,000 (this figure may rise as it is subject to welfare reform changes, the changes to local facilities and unpredictable economic effects).”

In reply to Mrs Kennedy’s question about the location of B&B facilities being offered to the homeless, the reply given was that those so far used are located in Rochdale, North Manchester and in one instance, Burnley.

Mrs Kennedy went on to ask about the numbers of homeless individuals who have presented themselves to the council since 1 February who originate from within the borough. The response was: “From initial assessments by the EDT Team, three single people did not have a local connection of those who approached for emergency accommodation.”

She was also told that of the cases dealt with by the EDT, three single people who approached EDT for assistance did not wish to take up the offer of B&B accommodation.

Finally, Mrs Kennedy asked if any Rochdale councillors be supporting the mass sleep-out outside the Town Hall being organised to coincide with the council cabinet meeting next Tuesday 29 May. She was told by the Chairman that members would be advised to seek legal advice before committing to a response. This came as a surprise to several councillors. Councillor Dale Mulgrew declared that he knew nothing about this and said that he had already bought a tent and intended to join the event. He told the meeting: “This policy is not working.” His sentiments were echoed by others.

However, Councillor Terry Linden of Milkstone and Deeplish said: "This is a serious issue but let’s not make it any bigger than it is.”

After the meeting, Mrs Kennedy told Rochdale Online: “We have further discussions planned with the council but remain deeply concerned about this situation. We are in daily contact with those who work with the homeless and they confirm the fact that this is a growing issue.”