London's recovery starts with you

I agree wholeheartedly with developing a single point of access to a range of financial advice and crisis support. I also agree with Msn.Com that every rough sleeper must be given accommodation and sufficient unconditional support to remain there, and that the Courts should notify Local Authorities when eviction orders are applied for.

Rent controls/caps are vital to ensuring a robust safety net; as is paying rent directly to landlords/housing associations rather than to tenants.

Gjc makes the important point that the latest initiative by the government in which planning and building safeguards are to be abandoned threatens to reintroduce slum housing.

Council taxes should be very high on buildings which are kept empty for most of the year, except in cases of bereavement or when they are being refurbished.

4500 medicine free Disease Control Centres to protect people from all Diseases  and virus attacks including  Covid -19 virus

London has a population of 9 million people. This leads to 4,500 clusters, each of 2000 people. The Robust Safety Shield envisaged for London therefore would consist of :

1. 4,500 medicine free  Disease Control Centr Centers under Faancells Therapy. The DCC as described in the concept paper are structured to provide health care against all diseases and virus attacks to every one irrespective of race, religion, gender and income equally and every time. Therefore it each of the DCC would take care of 2000 specific people everyone a neighbor of the other.

a. Every DCC would be managed by three Shifts of 8 hours each.

b. Each Shift would employ 40 staff. Three Shifts would need 120 people. Thus for the proposed health Shield consisting of 4,500 DCCs an employment of 540 K becomes available.

c. London's poor consist of 2.5 million people. Assuming, an average 5 people per family, there could be 500 thousand homes. Employment of one person from each of these families would abolish poverty of the  2.5 million people.

d. This requires an investment of 3 billion Sterling Pounds.

Note: Details of the methods and processes of the Therapy are available on request to everyone.

Poverty? Seriously? Have you ever seen poverty? Go to Venezuela, Ethiopia.
Why do you think so many people cross the channel illegally to get into this "poverty"?

I agree with the comment that responses to Covid-19 - good,bad indifferent - must be collected and assessed. There is a danger of seeing Covid as a transitory hit ; it may be with us for much of 2021. As we have already seen the already most disadvantaged have also been most affected - directly and indirectly by - Covid. The especial focus should be on the employers' relation to the employees including the safety of the work place, the attitude to absence caused by illness or quarantining, job security etc

This copy is a result of Positive Ageing in London's conference feedback:

Our aims

To ensure that the local initiatives and infrastructure continues to help older people particularly those more at risk and vulnerable and provide strong supportive neighbourhoods.

The challenges

Local neighbourhoods may be harmed by the effects. As local food supplies cease with the ending of shielding then many new volunteers may go back to work reducing local capacity. Local charities are experiencing loss of income. Over 70s volunteers may be restricted in their previous volunteering work and the significant contribution they make.

How to get there

Each London Borough to work to maintain local initiatives through support as part of a community development policy to protect neighbourhoods working with older people

Re-purpose mutual aid groups to other urgent needs e.g. helping promote digital inclusion

Review and share best practise across London on what worked well in local solutions

Publicise the contribution of volunteering for older people through a Mayoral awards scheme

Reducing Londoners in poverty - One of the first objectives must be to get all LAs to agree that the London Living Wage is included in the costs applied to all the service contracts they issue.  Contractual staff performing LA outsourced functions paid more fairly will increase their disposable incomes . This will help reduce poverty.

Eliminating rough sleeping should be the next goal.  To do this every rough sleeper must be given accommodation and sufficient and unconditional support to remain there. Such support will include help and guidance with substance abuse, health, finance and employment. 
This will not only help reduce poverty and crime but also improve the trust of the individuals, and the confidence and experiences of residents and visitors to London. 

 Assistance to those threatened with homeless will always be complicated but needs to start by immediate intervention when, or if possible before, a Landlord applies for an eviction order.  Perhaps the Courts should be obliged to notify LAs at the time of application and no case progressed until mediation, arbitration, and or solutions have been presented by the LA.  In cases of tenancy breaches perhaps a revised version of behaviour orders should be invoked.

A single point of access to a range of financial advice and crisis support services in London sounds fine but to be most effective it needs to target those in most need - who are often unidentified until in crises.  We could start by LAs visiting all households of retired or claiming benefit residents to establish the true nature of the problem.  This will take time but they have until 2025 ;) 

The lockdown exacerbated the problems of older people living in unsuitable accommodation. There have been problems of rent issues for some older people with private landlords . Immediate actions required include:

1. Ensure older private renters under threat are protected

2. Review the needs of older people in unsafe accommodation across London

3. Develop programmes of aids and adaptation where necessary

4. Support the development of building more suitable accommodation to support independent living for older people 

What ever systems and benefits are introduced there has to be a robust process to stamp out fraud and bogus claims.

There are not sufficient checks and balances that can move quickly to prevent fraud and bogus claims.

Where fraud is uncovered the culprits need to be prosecuted and repay money stolen from the tax payers. The courts are too lenient which encourages fraud to continue. This is costing the tax payer big time.

By reading this and several previous topics - I see on the one side the need for more initiatives and on the other the suggestion for more information on the existing ones?

In terms of what can be specifically offered:

- Increased financial support for existing initiatives (I understand that food parcels were available but many limited in frequency)

- As mentioned in other comments, some kind of rent cap

- Revisiting council tax fees and discounts 

- I am not sure whether it's just me but I think more easily accessible knowledge on how to help for areas such as homelessness, not meaning financial donations (only) but re-'integration' schemes and concrete long term assistance

- Increased benefits (transport, parking etc.) for the extended category of key workers and/or people in financial hardship

My thoughts on creating a safety net in London involves Creating more affordable studio / one bedroom (preferably one bedroom) council flats for care leavers. People who are care experienced or some of the most overlooked people in communities. There is a massive housing crisis and to neglect such a vulnerable group of people would be inhumane. It is a national rule that people who are care Experienced are entitled to council housing after the age of 18, however, some have to wait a ridiculously long amount of time in order to secure this housing. It also should be noted how one bedroom flats are preferred for care experience people because this is the home that they are expected to set up the rest of their lives in. This is where they are meant to start a family and that can be hard to do in a studio flat.

local communities that have mentoring schemes should be funded and charities or organisations that help young people get into work need to be supported to. There should also be training on how to maintain successful engagement with young people and whatever they are doing be it employment, training or education. 
 

It is important to practice empathy in all organisations when considering the current climate and young people working, learning, training or even trying to get off their feet in a foreign situation. 

Please can you make sure there is no return to rough sleeping.

It is shameful that in London, one of the wealthiest cities in the world, our streets are full of beggars and homeless people.

I cannot go up to London or indeed even to my local town Kingston upon Thames without being very upset by seeing desperate people sleeping on the streets and begging for a few coins in order to eat.

This was not the case when I was growing up here, maybe then there would be an occasional tramp who chose that lifestyle, but nothing on this scale.

many may be refugees seeking sanctuary in our country, thinking British are good caring people, but now shamefully ignored or afraid to seek help as they are not 'legal', there is no such thing as an illegal refugee, everyone should be entitled to sanctuary if they are fleeing danger and not have have to resort to being smuggled in by lorry or boat and all the danger to life this entails, we have seen the bodies on our news.

However now we see thousands of desperate people, upsettingly even teenagers, young girls in danger and sadly even old ladies who should not have to live like this.

I daily walk past a bedroom set up in the open air complete with mattress, chair, duvets and suitcases, with only a carpark overhang for shelter, noone should have to live like this

I think that reducing the amount of rough sleepers in London is important. I find it really sad that there are so many, especially as we will soon be approaching the winter months. A lot of people are unable to pay rent as they have not been able to go to work, and are living under the threat of eviction. Living in London is already incredibly expensive and I think we should try and support people by introducing more legislation around housing and renting.

I could not agree more with Cityeyrie but what chance is there of that when, despite a comitment by all London Local Authorities to the London Living Wage (LLW), they are still issuing service and care contracts to charities that include salary rates much lower than the LLW.  

People in London (and the rest of the UK) need a universal basic income to ensure everyone has a floor beneath which they cannot fall, and to stabilise incomes. UC actually makes incomes more insecure, not less, since no one knows from one month to the next how much they'll get.

Evaluation of food parcels

Many people have benefited from food parcels in recent months. It is now time for this benefit to be evaluated to find out whether the right stuff went to the people who needed it. It is funded by taxpayer or voluntary contributions; either way there is a responsibility to spend money wisely.

Such evaluation should take into account possible wider benefits such as social contact, any benefits for the volunteers and social cohesion.

I think a rent cap would help. Lots of people renting privately spend majority of wages on rent alone, therefore have little to no money left for food and utlities. Anyone working in London should be able to live in London but many can not and we end up with 'the working poor'.In addition there needs to be more support and encouragement for those in lower paid jobs to get/keep them. It seems some end up having more money in the bank if they are on benefits than they would if they took a low wage job. It's ridicoulous and needs to be addressed. Nobody should be better off not working or working less than 14 hours than they would be taking a full time job. I believe this comes back around to high rent seeing as there is no help to pay rent if you are in full time employment. scrap zero hour contracts and agency working and start working on getiting people into secure full time empolyment. Do better for the self employed, they are stuck in a cycle, earn enough so don't get any government help or priority for housing yet can not rent or get a mortgage because they do not have guaranteed monthly income.