Category Archives: Homelessness

Once a refuge, Oakland homeless camp is dismantled: ‘My world was ripped to pieces’

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The city has evicted all the residents from Wood Street amid the worst housing and homelessness crisis ever

The Wood Street encampment in Oakland, once northern California’s biggest, has been shut down, with officials on Wednesday removing the last handful of residents who remained as the city’s plan for a phased eviction comes to an end.

Only months ago, the encampment spanned several city blocks under the off-ramp of the 880 interstate in West Oakland. In April, the city started a protracted eviction that swept through and scattered those who were living there. Up until last week, a dozen or so residents remained at the camp in what they called “the Commons”: the heart of a thriving community of outcasts. They saw themselves participating in a radical experiment in how to rethink helping the unhoused.

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Forty families a day threatened with no-fault evictions since Tories vowed to ban them

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Exclusive: Labour figures show scale of issue in England despite Conservatives vowing to abolish the practice four years ago

An estimated 40 families have been threatened with a “no-fault” eviction every day in England in the four years since ministers first promised to scrap them, analysis shows.

The Conservatives first promised to end the practice in 2019, but the government has yet to pass legislation despite repeated promises from ministers and former prime ministers.

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Planning applications in England fall to record low in housing blow

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Experts say developers deterred by changes to planning system brought in by successive Tory governments

Planning applications in England have fallen to their lowest level in at least 16 years, according to figures published this week by the levelling up department that highlight the scale of the country’s housing crisis.

Local authorities received fewer applications to build new buildings or improve old ones in 2022 than at any point since before 2006, the earliest year for which the government provides statistics.

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Ex-homelessness charity bosses get 15-year ban for misuse of funds

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Charity Commission inquiry showed Ashley and Lee Dribben spent large sums meant for vulnerable people on themselves

Former homelessness charity bosses who authorised spending thousands in funds on watches, 50-in TVs and spyware to eavesdrop on clients have been found guilty of misconduct by the Charity Commission.

Ashley Dribben, an ex-trustee of the Ashley Foundation, and his father, Lee, its founder and former chief executive, personally benefited from funds intended to help vulnerable homeless people, the watchdog said.

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In Australia’s severe rental crisis, asylum seekers are increasingly desperate for a place to live

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Each week about 150 people are coming to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in housing distress, but only 40 can be accommodated

Asylum seekers in Australia are increasingly at risk of homelessness as the rental crisis continues to bite, with more than 70% of people who turn up to a leading asylum seeker support charity in housing distress unable to be placed in accommodation.

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) has shifted resources since the pandemic to provide emergency accommodation for asylum seekers who are sleeping rough or at immediate risk of homelessness.

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‘Cruel and cold’: man faces backlash for dousing unhoused woman with water

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Amid an escalating housing and homelessness crisis, San Francisco has seen increased attacks on unhoused people

San Francisco is once again reckoning with its treatment of unhoused people after a video of a business owner spraying a woman with water from a garden hose spread online.

Collier Gwin, the owner of Foster Gwin Gallery in downtown San Francisco, admitted to the San Francisco Chronicle that he blasted water on an unhoused woman sitting on the sidewalk in front of his business. The video, captured on Monday morning by the owner of a nearby bakery, shows Gwin spraying the woman, who was crying out in distress. In a calm voice, Gwin then tells her, “Just move,” before spraying her again.

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Alarm as US states pass ‘very concerning’ anti-homeless laws

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Homelessness charities say wave of new bills unfairly targets people without housing as social-services funding is cut

Numerous anti-homeless laws are being passed across the US as funding for social services is widely reduced, raising welfare concerns among advocates for the unhoused.

In Missouri, a new state law that took effect on 1 January makes it a crime for any person to sleep on state property. For unhoused people, sleeping in public parks or under city highways could mean up to $750 in fines or 15 days in prison for multiple offenses.

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Louisiana store worker charged in water dousing attack during US cold snap

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Clerk allegedly drenched unhoused woman sitting in parking lot of store where Alton Sterling was killed by police in 2016

A worker at a convenience store in Louisiana’s capital has lost her job and is facing criminal charges after she dumped water on an unhoused woman who was outside the shop during the Christmas weekend’s freezing weather.

The dismissed employee – identified by authorities as 33-year-old Kasey Weber – purportedly posted video of the 26 December encounter on social media herself before police arrested her in a case containing one of the most extreme examples of alleged mistreatment against a neighbor at a time when community leaders called on Americans to band together to survive the dangerous Arctic weather that gripped much of the US recently.

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UK student housing reaching ‘crisis point’ as bad as 1970s, charity warns

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Growing numbers of students are experiencing hidden homelessness or accepting poor accommodation

Student housing is reaching a “crisis point” not seen since the 1970s, when students slept in sports halls and their cars, and is set to worsen in the new year, a charity has warned.

Since the start of the academic year, students at universities across the UK have complained of fierce competition for rooms in flatshares for the 2022 and 2023 academic years.

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‘Do you work in business?’ Sunak mocked for ‘excruciating’ exchange with homeless man

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PM filmed asking man if he would like to ‘get in to’ financial services during visit to London shelter

Rishi Sunak has been criticised over an awkward exchange with a homeless person while volunteering at a soup kitchen in front of television cameras.

The prime minister visited a shelter on Friday, where after a brief exchange he asked the man whether he worked in business. The man replied that he was homeless. Sunak then discussed his background in the finance industry and asked if it would be something the man would “like to get in to”.

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Australia news live: charges laid against operators of REDcycle soft plastic recycling scheme

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Follow all the day’s news

Wieambilla siege victim Alan Dare to be awarded police bravery medal

An innocent man killed during a violent encounter at a rural Queensland property will be awarded the Queensland Police Bravery Medal.

Well, I think matters about Scott Morrison’s future are best addressed to him.

The review did sign that Scott was personally unpopular and they’ve been very, very effectively demonised in an intense, aggressive and continuing campaign by the Labor party and by the broader green left campaigning apparatus.

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Children in hostels with ex-prisoners up to 55 miles from school, Shelter warns

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Charity documents experiences of some of England’s 121,000 children housed in temporary accommodation

Children in temporary accommodation are living in cramped conditions and alongside former prisoners, in hostels up to 55 miles away from school, according to a leading housing charity.

One 16-year-old from Manchester, who is sharing a single room in an emergency B&B with her mother and two sisters, described having to study sitting on the toilet, her textbook propped on her knees, to revise for GCSEs. “It’s so cold in there my legs go numb after 10 minutes,” she said.

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Film-maker revisits her homeless past to show rough sleepers’ plight

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Lorna Tucker says not enough is being done to help Britain’s homeless people, and what is being done is not working

The film-maker Lorna Tucker was once a teenage runaway, sleeping rough in London for 18 months. Twenty-five years later, she has relived the harrowing experience for a documentary, returning to her former haunts and speaking to homeless people at a time when record numbers are living on Britain’s streets.

She was reunited with some of those she left behind, including “Darren”, who has been on the streets since his alcoholic mother was unable to care for him. “Darren sleeps where I used to sleep under Waterloo Bridge,” she said. “He still has the same eyes he had as a 15-year-old boy. He’s still got this beauty, but obviously he’s been very affected by it.”

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New Zealand’s emergency housing system breaches human rights, inquiry finds

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Motels used to temporarily house homeless people were found to often be unclean and unsafe

New Zealand’s emergency housing system that temporarily places homeless people in motel units is breaching human rights, with residents reporting filthy and unsafe environments, an inquiry has found.

The report released on Wednesday by the Human Rights Commission included what it called, “distressing” testimonies from those living in emergency housing. It said that while the intent to house people was good, the system was in some cases exacerbating problems and trauma.

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Millions cannot afford to heat homes as UK faces Arctic cold snap

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As temperatures plunge, fears grow for households struggling to pay for heating, food and warm clothing

More than 3 million low-income UK households cannot afford to heat their homes, according to research, as a “dangerously cold” weather front arrived from the Arctic.

The UK Health Security Agency has issued a cold weather alert recommending vulnerable people warm their homes to at least 18C, wear extra layers and eat hot food to protect themselves from plummeting temperatures.

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UK must act over poverty, housing and and equal rights, says UN body

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Human rights council makes more than 300 recommendations, with many coming from less well-off countries

The UK must tackle rising poverty, the United Nations human rights council has said in a report that includes demands from less well-off countries for the British government to act.

Amid worsening financial prospects for millions, the member states of the UN body also demanded action on housing to prevent homelessness, better food security for young children, and equal rights for people with disabilities.

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Proposal for motels to house homeless people to be brought to Queensland summit

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Repurposing of existing accommodation and other facilities to be suggested at government-convened housing meeting

Hotels and motels would be repurposed to house homeless people under a proposal to be tabled at Queensland’s affordable housing summit on Thursday.

The proposal is among a string of ideas to be floated for urgent relief for the tens of thousands of people who are on the state’s social housing waiting list, couch surfing or sleeping in cars or on the streets.

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Phoenix could see deadliest year for heat deaths after sweltering summer

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With 22 days hitting 110F or higher, suspected heat deaths in the Arizona capital topped 450

Extreme heat contributed to as many as 450 deaths in the Phoenix area this summer, in what could be the deadliest year on record for the desert city in Arizona.

The medical examiner for Maricopa county, which includes Phoenix, has so far confirmed 284 heat-related deaths, while investigations into 169 more suspected heat fatalities are ongoing. The highest number of deaths – and emergency hospital visits – coincided with the hottest days and nights.

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Hypothermia deaths of unhoused people rise sharply in Los Angeles, records reveal

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Data obtained by the Guardian shows at least 14 unhoused people froze to death in 2021, part of an overall surge in homeless deaths

At least 14 unhoused people froze to death on the streets of Los Angeles in 2021, new county data reveals, marking a sharp increase in reports of hypothermia fatalities and a grim sign of how dire the region’s homelessness catastrophe has become.

Out of 14 deaths where the LA coroner’s office cited “cold exposure” and hypothermia last year, six victims died on sidewalks, according to public records obtained by the Guardian. Four died in hospitals, and the others were found at a bus bench, a parking lot, a dried-up riverbed and an abandoned building. The death toll is significantly higher than previous years, with six reported hypothermia deaths in 2020, nine in 2019, seven in 2018 and three in 2017.

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Private rental market ‘the epicentre’ of Australia’s housing affordability problem, report finds

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Productivity Commission finds rent prices are driving demand for social housing and homelessness services

A $1.6bn agreement to help facilitate affordable housing in Australia has failed to reduce inequity and national reform is now imperative, the Productivity Commission has found.

The commission on Friday released the findings of its review into the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA), the key document that governs federal funding to the states for housing services. The sharply worded report urges the government to overhaul commonwealth rent assistance, focus on fixing the rental crisis, and wind back concessions and grants for homebuyers in favour of funding stretched homelessness services.

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