Wednesday, November 05, 2014

St Mungo’s Broadway: Seeking to illegally break our contract with the Mayor of London's Greater London Authority (GLA) Housing First programme under threat of eviction



Part 1: High Court rules that the Mayor of London bears no responsibility for his Greater London Authority (GLA) Housing First programme

At the beginning of our tenancy we kept wondering why we were put in an accommodation under the tutelage of the Mayor of London when we had been evicted from our previous flat (see blog of 15 October, "Newham College: We reserve the right to terminate your course at any time") and forced to sleep on the streets of London for over a year, where we were harassed and threatened by the police (see blog of 2 October, "City of London Police: If you want to challenge our word against yours again, you need to make an application to the High Court for permission to apply for judicial review"). But the email below to the Single Homeless Project, one of three charities that operate the Mayor of London's Greater London Authority (GLA) Housing First programme, might just provide a hint of the reason. It concerns St Mungo's Broadway, another premier homelessness organisation, which is seeking to illegally break our contract as clients of GLA Housing First under the threat of eviction:

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We have a long history with St Mungo's Broadway, formally called Broadway or Broadway Homelessness and Support. This is Declan's account of our last run-in with them in his updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
Paragraph 30 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations

30. In March 2013, Broadway CEO Howard Sinclair wrote in the Guardian that there are occasions when the charity has accommodated rough sleepers straight from the streets. In addition to the Mayor of London providing Broadway with £5 million under his No Second Night Out project, the charity has received £10 million from London and Quadrant Housing Trust, alongside the support of three other trusts, to accommodate people in London for whom there has been no other option, according to Mr Sinclair in the same article. On 29 August 2013, the Applicant filed a claim in the High Court for judicial review against Commissioner of Police for the City of London Adrian Leppard and Home Secretary Theresa May following the decision of the former not to ask Broadway to engage with him and his wife in relation to their welfare and access to the charity’s service for supporting clients to find accommodation in the private rented sector, because the police service has “no mandate to become involved” (see Annex 24, City of London Police: Reply from Commissioner Adrian Leppard (2013), p. 63). The Applicant argued in his claim form that it was unreasonable for the City of London Police to refuse to ask Broadway to help them find private sector accommodation whilst at the same time threatening them with hosings by street cleaners (see Annex 25, City of London Police: Application for Judicial Review, pp. 64-69). On 6 February 2014, Deputy High Court Judge Bidder ruled: “The refusal of the First Defendant to ask the charity ‘Broadway’ to engage or help the Claimant and his wife with their welfare or accommodation is not arguably unreasonable. It is not its job to intervene in any disagreement between a charity and those seeking that charity’s help” (see Annex 26, City of London Police: Order by Deputy High Court Judge Bidding, p. 70).

This is the court order quoted above:
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Update: Heavey v Single Homeless Project: Will the Central London County Court rule we consented to declarations for online referral that we are paying our own salaries and that we are both mentally ill, and despite our photographic evidence to the contrary?