Agenda item

The Council welcomes engagement from members of the public. To speak at this meeting please register no later than 24 hours prior to the date of the meeting via democracy@southkesteven.gov.uk

An email had been received from a Miss Lisa Freeman requesting to speak on homelessness, the environment as a rough sleeper and the effects of unwarranted intervention of 3rd parties.  However, Miss Freeman was not present at the start of the meeting and it was agreed to continue with the agenda and take a decision on whether or not to allow Miss Freeman to speak if/when she arrived.

Miss Freeman arrived at 11:00am and was given the opportunity to speak. 

Miss Freeman stated that she lived in a tent near the public toilets in Welby Gardens and stated that not one of the Committee had recognised her which she felt was bad as the Committee dealt with housing.  She had been rough sleeping for 33 days. She had moved to Grantham recently due to personal circumstances from Peterborough where she had lived her whole life.  She was 52 years old and it had taken a lot for her to move from Peterborough to a new area, but it had been due personal issues and she felt that she was being bullied and harassed by services in Peterborough.  She had visited Grantham several months ago, felt that it was a lovely place and moved here for a fresh start, as she couldn’t take any further action where she had lived.  She had informed the services what she had planned to do and was informed that she would need a local connection, if she didn’t have one to move here, they would see what they could do.   The last 38 days had been the most traumatic of her life. She was offered assistance for a small amount of time and put in a hotel in Gonerby and she was under the impression that she would be given temporary relief, a hostel or another place.  The accommodation only lasted a week and then she was put back on the streets by the Council and she felt that the Council had made her intentionally homeless after offering assistance.  She had been sleeping rough for 33 days, she had engaged with all services, she had to do all the work to provide information to the Council, she was not an officer she didn’t get paid and she felt she had been bullied and harassed by people as they didn’t want to assist her for whatever reason.  NACRO had offered her a place and various other organisations had offered her a place, she had visited Lincoln and Newark and they too had offered her a place.  She stated that someone within South Kesteven had advised these places not to assist her as there was an open case here.  They had referred her back to the town where she was from, even though she was escaping domestic violence.  She had been on the street 30 days, she had no drink or drug issues, she was well spoken and professional.  She didn’t believe that the services were up to date with current housing laws and the homelessness reduction act and the various other processes and procedures and she thought that they needed to be looked at.

The Chairman stated that Miss Freeman’s comments had been noted and referred to the meeting that had been arranged at the end of the Housing OSC or at lunchtime with Senior Officers of the Council where the Chairman was confident that everything would be resolved and that she would receive updates following the meeting.