finalTher.356: SES effects on education
"Attempting to fix inner city schools without fixing the city in which they are
embedded is like trying to clean the air on one side of a screen door."
~ Jean Anyon (1997,p.168) as cited in Berliner (2005)
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
The UK Coalition on Older Homelessness
The UK Coalition on Older Homelessness: "Supported Accommodation - London - 217 Harrow Road (St. Mungo's Housing Association) [Supported Accommodation index]
St. Mungo's is a voluntary sector housing association that was set up in 1969 to provide housing for homeless people in London. Today, it is the largest voluntary sector homelessness agency in the capital, offering a range of services including outreach work, resettlement support and a wide variety of housing options to homeless people of all ages.
217 Harrow Road
217 Harrow Road is one of St. Mungo's 23 hostels and it works specifically with men over the age of 50, many of whom would not normally access mainstream hostel provision for fear of violence and intimidation. The project is located in Westminster, Central London. The project changed its status from a registered care home to a direct access hostel funded by the Rough Sleepers' Unit (RSU) in November 2000. Its aim is to house older entrenched rough offering access to primary and specialist health care and resettlement services as well as providing accommodation.
The hostel can accommodate up to 41 individuals in separate rooms. It accepts new referrals 24 hours a day, although all referrals to the 31 rooms on the first floor must come from Street Outreach Teams. Westminster Social Services has referral rights to the 10 rooms on the second floor that are more suitable for those needing intensive life skills training. The project provides breakfast and an evening meal. Hot drinks are also available at all times. Residents are allowed to drink alcohol in their own rooms and in two of the communal spaces. Another lounge is designated as a 'dry' area.
Each resident has a keyworker from the staff team who works with him or her to develop an individual action plan. Accommodation is provided under the terms of a licence agreement and the length of stay in the hostel is flexible, though the intention is to facilitate resettlement after 18 months to three years wherever possible.
The residents
All the residents are over 50 years old and the vast majority of those referred by the Street Outreach Teams are of white UK origin. All 31 residents on the first floor have a recent history of sleeping rough. Some have become homeless recently, through loss of housing or relationship breakdown, although a considerable number of residents have long histories of rough sleeping. Approximately half of the residents have serious alcohol problems and about a third have mental and/ or physical health needs that require primary health care.
The staff
The staff team consists of 20 full-time. Workers have a variety of skills and backgrounds and have received different levels of in-house training. Harrow Road has a project manager a deputy manager, 12 daytime project workers, four night workers, a resettlement worker and two cleaning posts. A St. Mungo's activities worker currently provides activities both in one-to-one and group sessions. At least four staff are on duty during the day and two workers provide night cover.
The project has strong links with health care providers. Nurses from the Health Support Team (HST) visit on a weekly basis, assisting GP registration and providing primary health care to residents. Hostel staff refer individuals to the Community Mental Health Team St. Mungo's Substance Use Worker where necessary. Both of these will visit residents at the hostel by appointment.
Outcomes
The project was validated by Supporting People in 2004. St. Mungo's feels that Harrow Road has generally been successful in attracting and retaining its target client group and resettlement into appropriate long-term housing is beginning to take place. It is likely that other residents, especially some of those with chronic alcohol problems, will need to move into registered care homes.
Funding from Help the Aged enabled part of the ground floor of Harrow Road to be converted into a flexible drop-in centre that can accommodate up to three rough sleepers overnight. This will effectively serve as a halfway house between the streets and the hostel for the most anxious and service-resistant rough sleepers. It is intended that as these people access meals and other facilities in the main part of the project, they can observe the hostel and its residents. As their trust in the project develops, beds become free and Housing Benefit claims processed, it is hoped that they will then move into the first floor beds.
Funding and future developments
Harrow Road is funded through a combination of residents' Housing Benefit and Supporting People.
Distinctive features of 217 Harrow Road
* Direct access, via Street Outreach Teams and Westminsters Building Based Services. team
* Accommodation provided in individual rooms for a flexible period up to three years
* Alcohol permitted in bedrooms and one communal lounge
* Night Centre that provides gradual access for anxious rough sleepers
Contact details
For more details of the work of St. Mungo's, visit its web site at: http://www.mungos.org "
St. Mungo's is a voluntary sector housing association that was set up in 1969 to provide housing for homeless people in London. Today, it is the largest voluntary sector homelessness agency in the capital, offering a range of services including outreach work, resettlement support and a wide variety of housing options to homeless people of all ages.
217 Harrow Road
217 Harrow Road is one of St. Mungo's 23 hostels and it works specifically with men over the age of 50, many of whom would not normally access mainstream hostel provision for fear of violence and intimidation. The project is located in Westminster, Central London. The project changed its status from a registered care home to a direct access hostel funded by the Rough Sleepers' Unit (RSU) in November 2000. Its aim is to house older entrenched rough offering access to primary and specialist health care and resettlement services as well as providing accommodation.
The hostel can accommodate up to 41 individuals in separate rooms. It accepts new referrals 24 hours a day, although all referrals to the 31 rooms on the first floor must come from Street Outreach Teams. Westminster Social Services has referral rights to the 10 rooms on the second floor that are more suitable for those needing intensive life skills training. The project provides breakfast and an evening meal. Hot drinks are also available at all times. Residents are allowed to drink alcohol in their own rooms and in two of the communal spaces. Another lounge is designated as a 'dry' area.
Each resident has a keyworker from the staff team who works with him or her to develop an individual action plan. Accommodation is provided under the terms of a licence agreement and the length of stay in the hostel is flexible, though the intention is to facilitate resettlement after 18 months to three years wherever possible.
The residents
All the residents are over 50 years old and the vast majority of those referred by the Street Outreach Teams are of white UK origin. All 31 residents on the first floor have a recent history of sleeping rough. Some have become homeless recently, through loss of housing or relationship breakdown, although a considerable number of residents have long histories of rough sleeping. Approximately half of the residents have serious alcohol problems and about a third have mental and/ or physical health needs that require primary health care.
The staff
The staff team consists of 20 full-time. Workers have a variety of skills and backgrounds and have received different levels of in-house training. Harrow Road has a project manager a deputy manager, 12 daytime project workers, four night workers, a resettlement worker and two cleaning posts. A St. Mungo's activities worker currently provides activities both in one-to-one and group sessions. At least four staff are on duty during the day and two workers provide night cover.
The project has strong links with health care providers. Nurses from the Health Support Team (HST) visit on a weekly basis, assisting GP registration and providing primary health care to residents. Hostel staff refer individuals to the Community Mental Health Team St. Mungo's Substance Use Worker where necessary. Both of these will visit residents at the hostel by appointment.
Outcomes
The project was validated by Supporting People in 2004. St. Mungo's feels that Harrow Road has generally been successful in attracting and retaining its target client group and resettlement into appropriate long-term housing is beginning to take place. It is likely that other residents, especially some of those with chronic alcohol problems, will need to move into registered care homes.
Funding from Help the Aged enabled part of the ground floor of Harrow Road to be converted into a flexible drop-in centre that can accommodate up to three rough sleepers overnight. This will effectively serve as a halfway house between the streets and the hostel for the most anxious and service-resistant rough sleepers. It is intended that as these people access meals and other facilities in the main part of the project, they can observe the hostel and its residents. As their trust in the project develops, beds become free and Housing Benefit claims processed, it is hoped that they will then move into the first floor beds.
Funding and future developments
Harrow Road is funded through a combination of residents' Housing Benefit and Supporting People.
Distinctive features of 217 Harrow Road
* Direct access, via Street Outreach Teams and Westminsters Building Based Services. team
* Accommodation provided in individual rooms for a flexible period up to three years
* Alcohol permitted in bedrooms and one communal lounge
* Night Centre that provides gradual access for anxious rough sleepers
Contact details
For more details of the work of St. Mungo's, visit its web site at: http://www.mungos.org "
Monday, January 29, 2007
Estates by Lynsey Hanley | By genre | Guardian Unlimited Books
Review: Estates by Lynsey Hanley | By genre | Guardian Unlimited Books: "Apartheid is alive and well in Britain
Having grown up on a council estate in Birmingham, Lynsey Hanley is ideally placed to chart the chronic failures of Britain's housing policy in Estates, says Sarah Wise
Sunday January 14, 2007
The Observer
Estates: An Intimate History
by Lynsey Hanley
Granta, £12, pp244
Isn't it strange,' Lynsey Hanley asks in her moving and forthright book about class and council housing, 'that this act of civic socialism - the state sequestering large tracts of virgin land so that it might house its poorest in the clean, wide-open countryside - ends up feeling like a boot on the face?' Hanley, now 30, grew up on the vast Wood estate on the outskirts of Birmingham, which was completed in 1971, and her part-memoir, part-history examines from both inside and outside the causes of the 'spirit-sapping' effect of so much postwar social housing on its residents."
Having grown up on a council estate in Birmingham, Lynsey Hanley is ideally placed to chart the chronic failures of Britain's housing policy in Estates, says Sarah Wise
Sunday January 14, 2007
The Observer
Estates: An Intimate History
by Lynsey Hanley
Granta, £12, pp244
Isn't it strange,' Lynsey Hanley asks in her moving and forthright book about class and council housing, 'that this act of civic socialism - the state sequestering large tracts of virgin land so that it might house its poorest in the clean, wide-open countryside - ends up feeling like a boot on the face?' Hanley, now 30, grew up on the vast Wood estate on the outskirts of Birmingham, which was completed in 1971, and her part-memoir, part-history examines from both inside and outside the causes of the 'spirit-sapping' effect of so much postwar social housing on its residents."
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
St Mungo's launches harassment and bullying helpline for homeless | 24dash.com - Social Housing
St Mungo's launches harassment and bullying helpline for homeless 24dash.com - Social Housing: "St Mungo's, a leading London homeless charity, today launched a new harassment and bullying helpline for homeless men and women who use their services.
The helpline will provide confidential support and advice to homeless men and women who may have experienced or witnessed bullying and harassment.
Fully trained officers will staff the free phone line, which will be open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm.
Amanda Egan, St Mungo's Equality and Diversity Advisor, said: 'St Mungo's will offer an ear to homeless and vulnerable men and women who often go unheard. Our helpline will be impartial, confidential and a source of support for those using our services.'"
The helpline will provide confidential support and advice to homeless men and women who may have experienced or witnessed bullying and harassment.
Fully trained officers will staff the free phone line, which will be open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm.
Amanda Egan, St Mungo's Equality and Diversity Advisor, said: 'St Mungo's will offer an ear to homeless and vulnerable men and women who often go unheard. Our helpline will be impartial, confidential and a source of support for those using our services.'"
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Independent Online Edition > Obituaries
Independent Online Edition > Obituaries: "
Abbe Pierre
Campaigner for the homeless who was regularly named as the most admired man in France
Published: 23 January 2007
Henri-Antoine Grouès (Abbé Pierre), priest and charity worker: born Lyons, France 5 August 1912; entered Capuchin Order 1931 as Brother Philippe; ordained priest 1938; parliamentary deputy 1945-51; founder, Emmaus movement 1949; died Paris 22 January 2007.
It was a freezing night in February 1954. "At 3 o'clock this morning, a woman died of cold on the Boulevard Sebastopol. In her hand was the eviction order she had received the day before. Friends, help!" Abbé Pierre declared urgently, having barged his way into the Radio Luxembourg studios in Paris and seized the microphone from an astonished journalist:
There are people dying in the streets of Paris. In three hours the first help centres for the homeless will be set up. We need 500 blankets, 300 large tents, 200 stoves.
He told listeners when and where to bring their supplies.
Within hours, many had gathered on the appointed street near the Champs-Elysées, eager to help the thousands of homeless in what was the coldest winter for 70 years. More importantly, perhaps, the French parliament voted just days later to allocate funds for housing 10 times above the level it had rejected the previous month.
"We're not Napoleon or Joan of Arc," Abbé Pierre wrote to the government:
We have no ambitions other than being a flea that bites a politician or a bureaucrat, shouting "Wake up!", so they will finally hear the silent voice of the people.
By the mid-Fifties, Abbé Pierre - Catholic priest and politician - was already a well-known figure. As a radical parliamentary deputy representing the poor mining town of Meurthe-et-Moselle, he had played a key role in transforming housing policy. He also promoted a bill to legalise conscientious objection to military service. The dramatic late-night radio appeal galvanised France. Abbé Pierre's Emmaus movement, which he had begun several years earlier, to give homes to the homeless and dignity through work, received a new boost.
The third of seven children of a pious middle-class family, he was born Henri-Antoine Grouès and educated at a Jesuit college in Lyons. He wished in his teens to become a missionary. At the age of 19 he gave away all his possessions and entered the Capuchin order, becoming Brother Philippe, but ill-health forced him to leave before ordination.
In August 1938 he was ordained a diocesan priest, becoming a hospital chaplain. In 1941 he became vicar of Grenoble cathedral. During the Second World War he was conscripted into the French army as an NCO but was discharged with pleurisy.
He then worked for the Resistance, taking Abbé Pierre as his nom de guerre. He smuggled many Jewish families and others under threat over the mountains into Switzerland before that route was closed off by the Swiss. He later transferred his activities to the Pyrenees. Among those he smuggled to safety was General Charles de Gaulle's disabled brother Jacques.
Abbé Pierre first learnt of the Nazi extermination of the Jews in 1943, when a German seminarian summoned him to a café in Lyons and showed him photographs he had taken at great risk in an extermination camp. "I looked again at the photos and didn't believe him," he admitted later in shame. "It was unthinkable."
He was denounced to the Gestapo in 1944, hearing the dreaded knock on the door. "My task is ended," he thought to himself. But he managed to escape. Realising he had to flee, he obtained a letter from a heraldic expert authorising him to investigate the aristocratic pretensions of the Vichy Minister for Jewish Affairs, Darquier de Pellepoix. This helped him persuade the Nazi commandant to give him permission to visit the prohibited frontier zone in French Basque country.
He fled over the border into Spain, but was betrayed to the police. Only the intervention of the anti-Fascist bishop of Vittoria secured his release. The Canadian Red Cross gave him papers identifying him as Sir Harry Barlow, a downed RAF pilot, and under this name he was deported to Gibraltar. He then flew to Algiers to join the Free French forces under de Gaulle. His war ended as a senior naval chaplain in Paris.
Despite his opposition to the Gaullists, de Gaulle persuaded Abbé Pierre to stand for parliament. It was with another former resistance worker, Lucie Coutaz, that he established the first community. To begin with, he simply opened his own presbytery to homeless people he found on the streets of Paris.
He had planned his large, dilapidated house in the Paris suburb of Neuilly Plaisance to be a student hostel fostering reconciliation among Europe's post-war generation. But soon it was being shared with 18 homeless men on whom he spent his whole salary, buying war-surplus materials for them to put up temporary homes, first in his own large garden. Gradually these communities, whose members became known as Les Chiffonniers d'Emmaus ("the rag pickers of Emmaus"), took on a momentum of their own as the "compagnons" showed they could support themselves by using skills learned while they had been living on the streets. By recycling, refurbishing and re-circulating other people's rubbish, the communities were eventually able to make enough money to support themselves.
The Emmaus movement soon spread across the world. But the growth of the movement took its toll. In 1958 - after a series of operations - Abbé Pierre experienced "terrible moments", overburdened by what he felt was his huge responsibility. "Some thought me mad," he admitted later.
Within the Catholic Church, he was tolerated as a prophetic, if at times erratic voice. Close to Angelo Roncalli (the future Pope John XXIII) when he was nuncio in Paris, Abbé Pierre was friends with an enormous range of leading Catholics, from Henri de Lubac and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to Dom Helder Camera of Brazil, as well as charity workers like Albert Schweitzer and politicians like Bernard Kouchner.
Abbé Pierre was not afraid to voice his dissent over Catholic teaching and practice, publicly opposing the ban on artificial contraception and the compulsory celibacy for Latin-rite priests. He admitted that the lack of intimacy with a woman caused him "constant suffering, every day, all my life":
If I was 18 again, given how much the deprivation of tenderness would cost and not knowing it, I certainly wouldn't have the strength to pronounce joyously the vow of chastity.
But Abbé Pierre was aware he could get away with "measured insolence" about the leadership of the Church. "I wait with impatience for the day when the mitre that popes, bishops and abbots always wear will disappear." He even told Pope John Paul II that he should retire when he reached the age of 75 (he himself formally retired at 70).
Abbé Pierre recognised that politics was where change could be achieved. In 1993 he contemplated standing for the European Parliament, but ill-health forced him to withdraw. Long disliked by some (such as the National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen) for what they saw as his naïve left-wing views, Abbé Pierre gained new enemies in 1996 when he supported his friend Roger Garaudy and his controversial book Les Mythes fondateurs de la politique israélienne (1996, translated as The Mythical Foundations of Israeli Policy, 1997).
He wrote to Garaudy, a Communist turned Muslim, of "my affectionate esteem and my respect for the enormous work of your new book" and recalled the "horror" he had felt when he studied the Book of Joshua and realised that the Israelites had gained control over the Promised Land through "a true Shoah" of the original inhabitants. His support for Garaudy aroused instant anger from the Jewish community and others. Abbé Pierre was stripped of his honoured membership of the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism. Under strong pressure, including from Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger of Paris, a convert from Judaism, Abbé Pierre apologised.
By 2001, he had returned to his customary position as the person most French admired (though he would briefly be bounced from the top spot amid football World Cup fever in 2002 by Zinédine Zidane). His popularity provided a constant riddle for sociologists, who saw France as one of the most secularised countries in the world.
A published poet, Abbé Pierre was also the author and subject of numerous best-selling books. But even his autobiographical works were mostly collections of his thoughts and his credo:
I have no nostalgia for childhood and youth, no nostalgia for the old days. What's the point in wallowing in what has been? Let's get on with serious things.
He saved up his bombshell until the end, confessing in his 2005 book Mon Dieu . . . Pourquoi? ("My God . . . Why?") that he had not kept his vow of celibacy (he also backed the introduction of female Catholic priests). The book's entire first print-run of 20,000 copies sold within a few days of its publication in France.
Despite living so close to death (not only did he narrowly escape Gestapo execution but survived being shipwrecked on the way to Argentina) and seeing death so frequently among the homeless in France and in Latin America, he rejoiced in life. He was grateful to have survived the war without having had to kill. "It is in total serenity that I think of death," he said.
Islington Gazette - Estates welcome new Asbo powers
Islington Gazette - Estates welcome new Asbo powers: " nlnews@archant.co.uk
NEW powers to allow residents' groups to apply for anti-social behaviour orders on troublemakers have been welcomed by council estate associations in Islington.
"
Estates welcome new Asbo powers
nlnews@archant.co.uk
19 January 2007
NEW powers to allow residents' groups to apply for anti-social behaviour orders on troublemakers have been welcomed by council estate associations in Islington.
But members also warn that actually securing the orders is easier said than done.
Until now only police could apply for ASBOs - and Prime Minister Tony Blair believes the changes will allow people to take "swift action" to combat yobs.
He said: "Local people are playing a bigger role in the areas in which they live. No-one knows how to transform a community better than the people who live there."
But members of Islington council estate associations are cautious in their support.
Sharon Jobe of the Market Estate residents' association, said: "I think it is a good thing, but only if you can find the proof you need to get ASBOs put on people.
"We have tried to get ASBOs given to kids in the estate before but it has been too hard. It's very difficult to prove they are needed in the courts."
Jackie Demen, of the Bemerton Estate residents' association, said: "I do agree with it if it takes off, but I can't see it working - it's not easy to go to court and get ASBOs made.
"I also don't think enough people have been told about it. We will have to hold a meeting with our tenants and see how they feel. Only time will tell if it works."
Homes for Islington - the organisation in charge of council housing in the borrough - are in favour of the changes. Their chief executive Eamon McGoldrick said: "HFI has been working hard over the last two years with the police, the council and other partners to tackle anti-social behaviour and improve conditions on our estates. We welcome this move which will make it easier for us to tackle those causing anti-social behaviour and disrupting the lives of residents.
"
Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | Compared to the enormity of the war, this is a paltry scandal
Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | Compared to the enormity of the war, this is a paltry scandal: "The Blair government has been able to pour torrents of cash into public services without attempting structural reform: to fund every folly without prompting a taxpayers' revolt."
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Beggars in call for action over pushy priests
Priest in call for action over pushy beggars
nlnews@archant.co.uk
10 January 2007
Reverend Clinton Crawshaw says he wants more done to tackle aggressive begging
A PRIEST is demanding action over the growing problem of aggressive begging at Highbury Corner.
The Reverend Clinton Crawshaw, of Dixon Clark Court, in nearby Canonbury Road, says the tactics of Highbury's homeless population are striking fear into residents.
He decided to speak out after the Gazette reported that trader Harendra Bhatt is facing police charges for using a baseball bat to defend his Highbury Corner kiosk from an alleged drunken thief.
Mr Bhatt found an ally in conservative MP Boris Johnson, and almost 100 people have signed a petition in support.
Now Reverend Crawshaw has joined the cry for Islington Council and the police to do more.
Reverend Crawshaw, who is chairman of the Tenant Management Organisation for Dixon Clark Court - a tower block overlooking Highbury Corner - said: "Mr Bhatt was frightened for his safety. He says things are worse and I agree with him.
"Aggressive begging is increasing and it is affecting our residents, especially the elderly and most vulnerable. But Islington Council seems to have no long term strategy for tackling it.
"I would like to see more outreach work and the police getting involved more."
Reverend Crawshaw used to work in King's Cross during its days as the capital's notorious red-light capital.
"Fifteen years ago there were a lot of homeless people around the Angel, but it's not the same now," he said. "Highbury Corner has ended up a dumping ground.
"A lot of people live and work here and we want to see them putting as much energy into Highbury Corner as they do into the Angel."
A spokeswoman for Islington Council said: "We are working with St Mungo's and the police to discourage begging.
"Support staff, with experience of this work, approach people they see begging and tell them where they can go to get help finding somewhere to live and about substance misuse services."
'We do get involved'
SUPERINTENDENT Alan Baldwin, in charge of operations at Islington police, said: "Since November we've been heavily involved in dealing with aggressive begging around the Angel and the shopkeepers have told us that things are better. We now need to focus on the other end of Upper Street at Highbury Corner.
"We do intervene but there's a balance to be struck because these are vulnerable people with nowhere to go. They require support.
"We work with Islington Council and St Mungo's to make the environment better. But we will listen to the community who report crimes and anti-social behaviour to us.
"Contact us can ring the Highbury East Safer Neighbourhood team on 020 8721 2665 or Islington police on 020 7704 1212.
nlnews@archant.co.uk
10 January 2007
Reverend Clinton Crawshaw says he wants more done to tackle aggressive begging
A PRIEST is demanding action over the growing problem of aggressive begging at Highbury Corner.
The Reverend Clinton Crawshaw, of Dixon Clark Court, in nearby Canonbury Road, says the tactics of Highbury's homeless population are striking fear into residents.
He decided to speak out after the Gazette reported that trader Harendra Bhatt is facing police charges for using a baseball bat to defend his Highbury Corner kiosk from an alleged drunken thief.
Mr Bhatt found an ally in conservative MP Boris Johnson, and almost 100 people have signed a petition in support.
Now Reverend Crawshaw has joined the cry for Islington Council and the police to do more.
Reverend Crawshaw, who is chairman of the Tenant Management Organisation for Dixon Clark Court - a tower block overlooking Highbury Corner - said: "Mr Bhatt was frightened for his safety. He says things are worse and I agree with him.
"Aggressive begging is increasing and it is affecting our residents, especially the elderly and most vulnerable. But Islington Council seems to have no long term strategy for tackling it.
"I would like to see more outreach work and the police getting involved more."
Reverend Crawshaw used to work in King's Cross during its days as the capital's notorious red-light capital.
"Fifteen years ago there were a lot of homeless people around the Angel, but it's not the same now," he said. "Highbury Corner has ended up a dumping ground.
"A lot of people live and work here and we want to see them putting as much energy into Highbury Corner as they do into the Angel."
A spokeswoman for Islington Council said: "We are working with St Mungo's and the police to discourage begging.
"Support staff, with experience of this work, approach people they see begging and tell them where they can go to get help finding somewhere to live and about substance misuse services."
'We do get involved'
SUPERINTENDENT Alan Baldwin, in charge of operations at Islington police, said: "Since November we've been heavily involved in dealing with aggressive begging around the Angel and the shopkeepers have told us that things are better. We now need to focus on the other end of Upper Street at Highbury Corner.
"We do intervene but there's a balance to be struck because these are vulnerable people with nowhere to go. They require support.
"We work with Islington Council and St Mungo's to make the environment better. But we will listen to the community who report crimes and anti-social behaviour to us.
"Contact us can ring the Highbury East Safer Neighbourhood team on 020 8721 2665 or Islington police on 020 7704 1212.
Hardship and homelessness - a sting in the tail for cancer patients
Hardship and homelessness - a sting in the tail for cancer patients
Isabel Hardman on how charities Macmillan and Shelter come to the aid of the large number of sufferers who lose out financially
Sunday January 7, 2007
The Observer
If you have cancer, the last thing you want to think about is money problems. But recent research by Macmillan Cancer Support shows that 6 per cent of people diagnosed with cancer have lost their homes, and a further 18 per cent have difficulties keeping up their mortgage or rent payments.
Macmillan found that 91 per cent of cancer patients' households suffer a loss of income or increased costs as a direct result of the disease. Among the under-55s, seven out of 10 suffer a fall in household income, with an average deficit of 55 per cent. Income can be affected by patients being forced to give up their jobs before or shortly after the commencement of treatment, or by partners of sufferers cutting their working hours in order to devote more time to providing care.
A diagnosis of cancer also leads to extra expenditure on travel and parking when making hospital visits, on special diets, on new clothes to cope with weight loss or gain as a result of treatment, on a wig to cover hair loss and on increased heating bills.
Patients often find that the highest costs are incurred by travelling to receive treatment. Duleep Allirajah, policy manager for Macmillan, says: 'A typical course of radiotherapy will last around four to six weeks as a daily treatment. As most treatments are now delivered on an outpatient basis, people are making quite lengthy journeys. Patients can be spending around £300 for travel and parking.'
The hospital travel costs scheme (HTCS) offers help through a means-tested benefit for people attending hospital for NHS treatment. 'This is often the first time cancer patients are in contact with the benefits system, yet they may be too ill to complete the complex means-testing forms,' says Allirajah. 'The HTCS helps those on the lowest incomes, but it is those who are just above the means-tested threshold who suffer the most.'
Patients are also entitled to a number of other benefits. These include the NHS low income scheme for those who do not automatically qualify for HTCS but still find it difficult to meet travel costs, and the disability living allowance (DLA) or attendance allowance (AA) for the over-65s. Carers can also claim carer's allowance.
However, many patients are not always aware that they are eligible for such benefits. A National Audit Office report in 2005 found that 77 per cent of cancer patients had not been given information about benefits by the NHS or other groups, even though half of this group would have liked to receive such information. Research by Macmillan found that a major barrier to obtaining benefits was a poor understanding of the system among patients and health professionals.
Macmillan has now launched 'Hitting Home', a campaign to help those affected by cancer to get the best advice on handling mortgage repayments and claiming benefits.
The charity wants cancer patients to be informed about their benefit entitlements and offered specialist benefit advice at diagnosis, at their local Jobcentre Plus and at other key points. The campaign is also asking for a review of the 'special rules' process, entitling patients with a prognosis of six months to live to obtain higher-rate DLA or AA, which should improve benefit take-up among terminally ill patients.
Macmillan believes that if patients are given clear financial advice, the numbers in severe financial difficulties could be significantly reduced. It advises cancer patients who are experiencing difficulties with mortgage repayments to check whether they have mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI), which will cover repayments for a certain period. However, this may not buy sufficient time for some people.
Philippa Gee, investments director at Torquil Clark Holdings, points out: 'Most MPPI plans pay out for a maximum of 12 months. This is the very reason why clients should buy income protection and critical illness insurance rather than MPPI [income protection usually pays out until retirement age, while critical illness insurance pays a lump sum so that claimants can redeem their mortgage or pay other major expenses]. People should seek financial advice and look to restructure their debt in such a way that they can afford the repayments, although this might involve downsizing the home.'
If cancer patients do find that they have any forms of insurance which may cover repayments, they should inform their insurer about their financial situation as soon as possible, as it may take two or three months before a claim is paid out.
Macmillan is also working with Shelter, the biggest national housing charity in Britain, to help cancer victims to deal with mortgage problems. Specialist housing advisers from Shelter can help to prepare realistic and affordable proposals to put to mortgage lenders. While anecdotal evidence suggests that some mortgage lenders have not shown very much sympathy for the plight of cancer patients, most will offer a payment holiday for those struggling with repayments. Gee says: 'Mortgage lenders would not want the bad publicity of penalising a cancer sufferer, so I would expect them to be very sympathetic, especially if they know there is a pending insurance claim.'
Sometimes the attitude of a call centre employee can differ from that of the mortgage lender they are representing, and if people are facing a lack of sympathy, it is worth asking an adviser to negotiate with the lender on their behalf to avoid further stress.
Adam Sampson, chief executive of Shelter, stresses: 'By working with Macmillan, we will be able to offer specialist support and advice to cancer patients in housing need. Cancer can be devastating enough for people without the added stress of losing their home.'
· For advice and help, telephone Macmillan on 0800 500800, or Shelter on 0808 8004444
Isabel Hardman on how charities Macmillan and Shelter come to the aid of the large number of sufferers who lose out financially
Sunday January 7, 2007
The Observer
If you have cancer, the last thing you want to think about is money problems. But recent research by Macmillan Cancer Support shows that 6 per cent of people diagnosed with cancer have lost their homes, and a further 18 per cent have difficulties keeping up their mortgage or rent payments.
Macmillan found that 91 per cent of cancer patients' households suffer a loss of income or increased costs as a direct result of the disease. Among the under-55s, seven out of 10 suffer a fall in household income, with an average deficit of 55 per cent. Income can be affected by patients being forced to give up their jobs before or shortly after the commencement of treatment, or by partners of sufferers cutting their working hours in order to devote more time to providing care.
A diagnosis of cancer also leads to extra expenditure on travel and parking when making hospital visits, on special diets, on new clothes to cope with weight loss or gain as a result of treatment, on a wig to cover hair loss and on increased heating bills.
Patients often find that the highest costs are incurred by travelling to receive treatment. Duleep Allirajah, policy manager for Macmillan, says: 'A typical course of radiotherapy will last around four to six weeks as a daily treatment. As most treatments are now delivered on an outpatient basis, people are making quite lengthy journeys. Patients can be spending around £300 for travel and parking.'
The hospital travel costs scheme (HTCS) offers help through a means-tested benefit for people attending hospital for NHS treatment. 'This is often the first time cancer patients are in contact with the benefits system, yet they may be too ill to complete the complex means-testing forms,' says Allirajah. 'The HTCS helps those on the lowest incomes, but it is those who are just above the means-tested threshold who suffer the most.'
Patients are also entitled to a number of other benefits. These include the NHS low income scheme for those who do not automatically qualify for HTCS but still find it difficult to meet travel costs, and the disability living allowance (DLA) or attendance allowance (AA) for the over-65s. Carers can also claim carer's allowance.
However, many patients are not always aware that they are eligible for such benefits. A National Audit Office report in 2005 found that 77 per cent of cancer patients had not been given information about benefits by the NHS or other groups, even though half of this group would have liked to receive such information. Research by Macmillan found that a major barrier to obtaining benefits was a poor understanding of the system among patients and health professionals.
Macmillan has now launched 'Hitting Home', a campaign to help those affected by cancer to get the best advice on handling mortgage repayments and claiming benefits.
The charity wants cancer patients to be informed about their benefit entitlements and offered specialist benefit advice at diagnosis, at their local Jobcentre Plus and at other key points. The campaign is also asking for a review of the 'special rules' process, entitling patients with a prognosis of six months to live to obtain higher-rate DLA or AA, which should improve benefit take-up among terminally ill patients.
Macmillan believes that if patients are given clear financial advice, the numbers in severe financial difficulties could be significantly reduced. It advises cancer patients who are experiencing difficulties with mortgage repayments to check whether they have mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI), which will cover repayments for a certain period. However, this may not buy sufficient time for some people.
Philippa Gee, investments director at Torquil Clark Holdings, points out: 'Most MPPI plans pay out for a maximum of 12 months. This is the very reason why clients should buy income protection and critical illness insurance rather than MPPI [income protection usually pays out until retirement age, while critical illness insurance pays a lump sum so that claimants can redeem their mortgage or pay other major expenses]. People should seek financial advice and look to restructure their debt in such a way that they can afford the repayments, although this might involve downsizing the home.'
If cancer patients do find that they have any forms of insurance which may cover repayments, they should inform their insurer about their financial situation as soon as possible, as it may take two or three months before a claim is paid out.
Macmillan is also working with Shelter, the biggest national housing charity in Britain, to help cancer victims to deal with mortgage problems. Specialist housing advisers from Shelter can help to prepare realistic and affordable proposals to put to mortgage lenders. While anecdotal evidence suggests that some mortgage lenders have not shown very much sympathy for the plight of cancer patients, most will offer a payment holiday for those struggling with repayments. Gee says: 'Mortgage lenders would not want the bad publicity of penalising a cancer sufferer, so I would expect them to be very sympathetic, especially if they know there is a pending insurance claim.'
Sometimes the attitude of a call centre employee can differ from that of the mortgage lender they are representing, and if people are facing a lack of sympathy, it is worth asking an adviser to negotiate with the lender on their behalf to avoid further stress.
Adam Sampson, chief executive of Shelter, stresses: 'By working with Macmillan, we will be able to offer specialist support and advice to cancer patients in housing need. Cancer can be devastating enough for people without the added stress of losing their home.'
· For advice and help, telephone Macmillan on 0800 500800, or Shelter on 0808 8004444
Housing shaken to the foundations
Housing shaken to the foundations
Peter Hetherington
Wednesday January 10, 2007
The Guardian
Social housebuilding and regeneration programmes face the biggest shake-up in at least two decades with the launch next week of a new government agency designed to streamline delivery.
Likely to be named Communities England, the organisation will be formed partly by the merger of two quangos - the national regeneration agency English Partnerships (EP) and the Housing Corporation, which funds and regulates social housing. Because it is also likely to embrace functions handled by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), such as neighbourhood renewal schemes, insiders say the body should be seen as a completely new agency, with a mission to address the hot issues of "community building" and "place-making".
It comes at a significant time for social housing in England, with a review on the role of the sector by John Hills, professor of social policy at the London School of Economics, due to land soon on the desk of the communities and local government secretary, Ruth Kelly. Martin Cave, a professor at the University of Warwick Business School, is also undertaking a review of social housing regulation for the DCLG, the first exercise of its kind in three decades.
But the big question is whether substantially more public money will go into social housing. Adam Sampson, director of the homelessness charity Shelter, thinks that a government led by Gordon Brown will take the issue more seriously than the outgoing Blair administration. Whether it will find £1.25bn annually to double social housing building from the current level of around 25,000 homes annually in England - Shelter's bottom line to cope with a growing need - is another matter.
Among the many items in the "in tray" at Communities England will doubtless be the role of housing associations, those social businesses, partly funded by the Housing Corporation, that want a wider role in regeneration. Some - including Places for People, the biggest of all, with a turnover of £254m - also want to float on the stock market. Many in the social sector have doubts. David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, which represents the associations, says: "I am personally not keen, but remain to be convinced."
Peter Hetherington
Wednesday January 10, 2007
The Guardian
Social housebuilding and regeneration programmes face the biggest shake-up in at least two decades with the launch next week of a new government agency designed to streamline delivery.
Likely to be named Communities England, the organisation will be formed partly by the merger of two quangos - the national regeneration agency English Partnerships (EP) and the Housing Corporation, which funds and regulates social housing. Because it is also likely to embrace functions handled by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), such as neighbourhood renewal schemes, insiders say the body should be seen as a completely new agency, with a mission to address the hot issues of "community building" and "place-making".
It comes at a significant time for social housing in England, with a review on the role of the sector by John Hills, professor of social policy at the London School of Economics, due to land soon on the desk of the communities and local government secretary, Ruth Kelly. Martin Cave, a professor at the University of Warwick Business School, is also undertaking a review of social housing regulation for the DCLG, the first exercise of its kind in three decades.
But the big question is whether substantially more public money will go into social housing. Adam Sampson, director of the homelessness charity Shelter, thinks that a government led by Gordon Brown will take the issue more seriously than the outgoing Blair administration. Whether it will find £1.25bn annually to double social housing building from the current level of around 25,000 homes annually in England - Shelter's bottom line to cope with a growing need - is another matter.
Among the many items in the "in tray" at Communities England will doubtless be the role of housing associations, those social businesses, partly funded by the Housing Corporation, that want a wider role in regeneration. Some - including Places for People, the biggest of all, with a turnover of £254m - also want to float on the stock market. Many in the social sector have doubts. David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, which represents the associations, says: "I am personally not keen, but remain to be convinced."
Luke FitzHerbert
Luke FitzHerbert
Mike Eastwood
Wednesday January 10, 2007
SocietyGuardian.co.uk
Luke FitzHerbert
Luke FitzHerbert was an extraordinary individual. Growing up in rural Ireland he went to Oxford to read history, via a spell in the Irish Guards. He worked variously in the print industry, as a skipper on a sailing training scheme and as a teacher in a west London comprehensive school - but it will be for his time at the Directory of Social Change as a writer, campaigner and thinker in the voluntary sector that he will be best remembered.
Luke was a man of principles. The principles weren't always coherent and didn't stem from a single source but with Luke they always made sense and his drive and commitment gave them integrity. He had an unshakeable belief in the power of the local. This meant that he continued to revel in helping small community groups get the funding they need to campaign for and support people who were otherwise neglected and voiceless. He castigated funding bodies for supporting the salaried professional rather than the voluntary activist. He hated the assumption that size equated to legitimacy.
Luke wasn't a man for big monolithic programmes; he believed in the power of the individual and the need for several thousand flowers to bloom. Luke was uncompromising on the probity of charitable activity, especially in the sphere of grant making. Through his many grants guides he fearlessly and remorselessly campaigned for grant-making charities to be regarded as public bodies and therefore deserving of public scrutiny. He was adamant that giving money away is easy; it is giving money away well that presents the real challenge. If he felt that this was being done then he was the first to applaud; if not, then no quarter was given.
Ends never justified the means - rather the means were the ends in the making. And if the ends ever threatened the powerless or the vulnerable they were to be pilloried. This led Luke to an almost puritanical stance on the National Lottery, seemingly at odds with his general liberalism (or anarchism, as he often preferred to style it). If the unfettered deregulation of gambling meant that it was either a means of obtaining middle class pleasures at the expense of the poor - or, more seriously, vulnerable families getting into further debt - then no end of carefully crafted grant-giving could override this fundamental wrong.
Luke was an iconoclast, but only in the best sense. Iconoclasm is sometimes an excuse for sloppy and immature thinking, merely pointing out the wrong rather than engaging in the solution. Luke always took intellectual responsibility for answers as well as questions.
Fundamentally, Luke was about trust. Individuals who were trying to change society were almost innately to be trusted; grant-making bodies who were trying to operate in secrecy or semi-secrecy were not to be. Trust in institutions could not be presumed; it had to be earned. But for those who knew him, trust in Luke the man was never a problem. He was stimulating, inspiring, provocative and engaging in equal measure. Above all, it mattered. In a world of compromise and pragmatism Luke's was a rare and vibrant voice. We may not hear its like again.
Luke is survived by his wonderful and adored wife, Kay, their daughters Kitty and Monica and their grandchildren.
· Mike Eastwood was director of Directory of Social Change, 1996 - 2001
Nigel Siederer writes: Luke FitzHerbert's Guide to the Major Trusts was essential reading in the trust world, and not just for his trenchant forewords. It was easily the best map of the big spending trusts, and their own best way of finding out about each other - especially those who did not join the Association of Charitable Foundations network, formed in 1989. ACF's members broadly supported the move to openness and tacitly welcomed Luke's pressure.
Grant-making trusts that published no guidance for applicants would find this fact exposed in the guide, in stark contrast to those whose information was published verbatim. As transparency gained statutory backing after the Charities Act 1992, the uninformative ones would find Luke drawing inferences from their newly accessible formal accounts. But he would give praise when it was due, and his fairness and integrity meant that his critical shafts found their mark.
His targets soon discovered the obvious - that they would get better applications if they explained what they would and wouldn't fund. Luke would always publish their words, including the excuses of the holdouts. He insisted that the benefits of charitable status brought obligations. The unwise few who tried to silence him with legal action invariably found he had done his homework. Any who pursued complaints to a personal meeting would find themselves utterly disarmed by his charm.
Turning his attention to the National Lottery, he became one of its few independent critics, being neither player nor grant-seeker. He seemed genuinely surprised to be called "respected commentator" - reporting what he found and thoroughly enjoying the kerfuffle that followed. Turning his attention to the major fundraising charities, he voiced previously unaskable questions, prompting outrage - followed by grudging admission that there might be a case to answer, and then some changed behaviour.
It's hard to accept that such a good friend and colleague is gone. He leaves us with a full set of regularly updated trust guides and other publications, plus the array of courses that he and his colleague Michael Norton put together at the Directory of Social Change. These working tools are his lasting memorial. Life in the voluntary sector would be unimaginable without them.
· Nigel Siederer was chief executive of the Association of Charitable Foundations, 1990-2002
Mike Eastwood
Wednesday January 10, 2007
SocietyGuardian.co.uk
Luke FitzHerbert
Luke FitzHerbert was an extraordinary individual. Growing up in rural Ireland he went to Oxford to read history, via a spell in the Irish Guards. He worked variously in the print industry, as a skipper on a sailing training scheme and as a teacher in a west London comprehensive school - but it will be for his time at the Directory of Social Change as a writer, campaigner and thinker in the voluntary sector that he will be best remembered.
Luke was a man of principles. The principles weren't always coherent and didn't stem from a single source but with Luke they always made sense and his drive and commitment gave them integrity. He had an unshakeable belief in the power of the local. This meant that he continued to revel in helping small community groups get the funding they need to campaign for and support people who were otherwise neglected and voiceless. He castigated funding bodies for supporting the salaried professional rather than the voluntary activist. He hated the assumption that size equated to legitimacy.
Luke wasn't a man for big monolithic programmes; he believed in the power of the individual and the need for several thousand flowers to bloom. Luke was uncompromising on the probity of charitable activity, especially in the sphere of grant making. Through his many grants guides he fearlessly and remorselessly campaigned for grant-making charities to be regarded as public bodies and therefore deserving of public scrutiny. He was adamant that giving money away is easy; it is giving money away well that presents the real challenge. If he felt that this was being done then he was the first to applaud; if not, then no quarter was given.
Ends never justified the means - rather the means were the ends in the making. And if the ends ever threatened the powerless or the vulnerable they were to be pilloried. This led Luke to an almost puritanical stance on the National Lottery, seemingly at odds with his general liberalism (or anarchism, as he often preferred to style it). If the unfettered deregulation of gambling meant that it was either a means of obtaining middle class pleasures at the expense of the poor - or, more seriously, vulnerable families getting into further debt - then no end of carefully crafted grant-giving could override this fundamental wrong.
Luke was an iconoclast, but only in the best sense. Iconoclasm is sometimes an excuse for sloppy and immature thinking, merely pointing out the wrong rather than engaging in the solution. Luke always took intellectual responsibility for answers as well as questions.
Fundamentally, Luke was about trust. Individuals who were trying to change society were almost innately to be trusted; grant-making bodies who were trying to operate in secrecy or semi-secrecy were not to be. Trust in institutions could not be presumed; it had to be earned. But for those who knew him, trust in Luke the man was never a problem. He was stimulating, inspiring, provocative and engaging in equal measure. Above all, it mattered. In a world of compromise and pragmatism Luke's was a rare and vibrant voice. We may not hear its like again.
Luke is survived by his wonderful and adored wife, Kay, their daughters Kitty and Monica and their grandchildren.
· Mike Eastwood was director of Directory of Social Change, 1996 - 2001
Nigel Siederer writes: Luke FitzHerbert's Guide to the Major Trusts was essential reading in the trust world, and not just for his trenchant forewords. It was easily the best map of the big spending trusts, and their own best way of finding out about each other - especially those who did not join the Association of Charitable Foundations network, formed in 1989. ACF's members broadly supported the move to openness and tacitly welcomed Luke's pressure.
Grant-making trusts that published no guidance for applicants would find this fact exposed in the guide, in stark contrast to those whose information was published verbatim. As transparency gained statutory backing after the Charities Act 1992, the uninformative ones would find Luke drawing inferences from their newly accessible formal accounts. But he would give praise when it was due, and his fairness and integrity meant that his critical shafts found their mark.
His targets soon discovered the obvious - that they would get better applications if they explained what they would and wouldn't fund. Luke would always publish their words, including the excuses of the holdouts. He insisted that the benefits of charitable status brought obligations. The unwise few who tried to silence him with legal action invariably found he had done his homework. Any who pursued complaints to a personal meeting would find themselves utterly disarmed by his charm.
Turning his attention to the National Lottery, he became one of its few independent critics, being neither player nor grant-seeker. He seemed genuinely surprised to be called "respected commentator" - reporting what he found and thoroughly enjoying the kerfuffle that followed. Turning his attention to the major fundraising charities, he voiced previously unaskable questions, prompting outrage - followed by grudging admission that there might be a case to answer, and then some changed behaviour.
It's hard to accept that such a good friend and colleague is gone. He leaves us with a full set of regularly updated trust guides and other publications, plus the array of courses that he and his colleague Michael Norton put together at the Directory of Social Change. These working tools are his lasting memorial. Life in the voluntary sector would be unimaginable without them.
· Nigel Siederer was chief executive of the Association of Charitable Foundations, 1990-2002
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Pork soup for homeless is not racist ploy, says French judge
Pork soup for homeless is not racist ploy, says French judge
Kim Willsher in Paris
Wednesday January 3, 2007
The Guardian
Pork soup is back on the menu for homeless people in Paris after a judge ruled it could not be deemed racist.
Organisers of soup kitchens linked to extreme rightwing groups overturned a ban imposed by the city authorities over fears that its handouts discriminated against Jews and Muslims.
Police had shut down food distributions by the organisation SDF (Solidarité des Français) - the same initials as given to the homeless group Sans Domicile Fixe - because of alleged xenophobia and fears of protests.
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But the judge at the administrative tribunal in Paris decided that as there was no evidence the SDF had refused to serve Jews and Muslims, who do not eat pork for religious reasons, it could not be accused of discriminating against them. The city's police prefecture was ordered to pay €1,000 (£670) in costs to the group.
In a statement, Roger Bonnivard, the group's president, said: "After weeks of dirty manoeuvres, intimidation, harassment, all kinds of pressure, and despite a new ban, the Paris police authorities now have to adhere to the decision. There are no legal grounds allowing anyone to ban pig soup."
Groups across the country associated with a rightwing organisation called Bloc Identitaire have been handing out "soupe au cochon" since 2004. Last winter Fabienne Keller, the mayor of Strasbourg, justified banning the soup kitchens saying: "Schemes with racial subtexts must be denounced."
The groups insist that they are only serving traditional Gallic fare to "our own". Pork soup is a staple of the French pastoral heartland from which, nationalists say, all true French spring.
However, the SDF website leaves no doubt about the group's intentions.
As well as the recipe for pork soup it advises how it should be served - with bread and wine - in a "Gallic atmosphere" with no queues.
"The only condition to eat with us: to eat pig," it reads, concluding: "Attention, cheese, dessert, coffee, clothes, snacks go with the pig soup: no pig soup, no dessert - the only rule of our action: our own before the others."
Paris city hall and the police refused to comment on the ruling.
Kim Willsher in Paris
Wednesday January 3, 2007
The Guardian
Pork soup is back on the menu for homeless people in Paris after a judge ruled it could not be deemed racist.
Organisers of soup kitchens linked to extreme rightwing groups overturned a ban imposed by the city authorities over fears that its handouts discriminated against Jews and Muslims.
Police had shut down food distributions by the organisation SDF (Solidarité des Français) - the same initials as given to the homeless group Sans Domicile Fixe - because of alleged xenophobia and fears of protests.
Article continues
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But the judge at the administrative tribunal in Paris decided that as there was no evidence the SDF had refused to serve Jews and Muslims, who do not eat pork for religious reasons, it could not be accused of discriminating against them. The city's police prefecture was ordered to pay €1,000 (£670) in costs to the group.
In a statement, Roger Bonnivard, the group's president, said: "After weeks of dirty manoeuvres, intimidation, harassment, all kinds of pressure, and despite a new ban, the Paris police authorities now have to adhere to the decision. There are no legal grounds allowing anyone to ban pig soup."
Groups across the country associated with a rightwing organisation called Bloc Identitaire have been handing out "soupe au cochon" since 2004. Last winter Fabienne Keller, the mayor of Strasbourg, justified banning the soup kitchens saying: "Schemes with racial subtexts must be denounced."
The groups insist that they are only serving traditional Gallic fare to "our own". Pork soup is a staple of the French pastoral heartland from which, nationalists say, all true French spring.
However, the SDF website leaves no doubt about the group's intentions.
As well as the recipe for pork soup it advises how it should be served - with bread and wine - in a "Gallic atmosphere" with no queues.
"The only condition to eat with us: to eat pig," it reads, concluding: "Attention, cheese, dessert, coffee, clothes, snacks go with the pig soup: no pig soup, no dessert - the only rule of our action: our own before the others."
Paris city hall and the police refused to comment on the ruling.
French crackdown on 'racist soup'
French crackdown on 'racist soup'
The charity groups say the pork soup give-aways are not racist
Charity groups with far-right links serving pork soup to homeless people face a crackdown by French officials.
Protesters have accused the groups of deliberate discrimination against Jews and Muslims, who do not eat the meat.
Strasbourg officials have banned the hand-outs and police in Paris have closed soup kitchens in an effort to avert racial tension.
The charities have defended offering what they call traditional cuisine to French and European homeless people.
The groups, operating in cities across France and neighbouring Belgium, are not formally linked but are associated with a small far-right organisation called Bloc Identitaire.
'Racial tensions'
Identity Soup, as it has been dubbed by its chefs, was banned in Strasbourg this month after officials ruled it could lead to public disorder.
"Schemes with racial subtexts must be denounced," Strasbourg's mayor Fabienne Keller said.
Although no ban exists in Paris, police have closed soup kitchens in the capital's Montparnasse and Gare de l'Est train stations on administrative grounds.
Volunteers were ordered to re-seal soup containers on the basis they did not have the necessary permits to distribute food.
The operation has drawn as many protesters as homeless people
A leading French anti-racism movement has urged Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to ban pork soup give-aways throughout the country.
Bernadette Hatier, vice president of the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Between Peoples, said the scheme was a ploy to drum up far-right votes ahead of 2007 presidential elections.
'Nothing illegal'
Many local authorities have said they are powerless to intervene as the groups are not breaking the law.
National Front spokesman Bruno Gollinisch said that people had the right to be charitable to whomever they want.
He described moves to ban the pork soup kitchens as "revelatory of authorities' alienation from the French people".
Dominique Lescure, head of the Nice-based group Soulidarieta, said pork was a traditional part of French cuisine.
But he admitted wanting to serve the soup to what he called his "compatriots and European homeless people".
France's Muslim population is the largest in western Europe and is estimated at five million.
The charity groups say the pork soup give-aways are not racist
Charity groups with far-right links serving pork soup to homeless people face a crackdown by French officials.
Protesters have accused the groups of deliberate discrimination against Jews and Muslims, who do not eat the meat.
Strasbourg officials have banned the hand-outs and police in Paris have closed soup kitchens in an effort to avert racial tension.
The charities have defended offering what they call traditional cuisine to French and European homeless people.
The groups, operating in cities across France and neighbouring Belgium, are not formally linked but are associated with a small far-right organisation called Bloc Identitaire.
'Racial tensions'
Identity Soup, as it has been dubbed by its chefs, was banned in Strasbourg this month after officials ruled it could lead to public disorder.
"Schemes with racial subtexts must be denounced," Strasbourg's mayor Fabienne Keller said.
Although no ban exists in Paris, police have closed soup kitchens in the capital's Montparnasse and Gare de l'Est train stations on administrative grounds.
Volunteers were ordered to re-seal soup containers on the basis they did not have the necessary permits to distribute food.
The operation has drawn as many protesters as homeless people
A leading French anti-racism movement has urged Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to ban pork soup give-aways throughout the country.
Bernadette Hatier, vice president of the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Between Peoples, said the scheme was a ploy to drum up far-right votes ahead of 2007 presidential elections.
'Nothing illegal'
Many local authorities have said they are powerless to intervene as the groups are not breaking the law.
National Front spokesman Bruno Gollinisch said that people had the right to be charitable to whomever they want.
He described moves to ban the pork soup kitchens as "revelatory of authorities' alienation from the French people".
Dominique Lescure, head of the Nice-based group Soulidarieta, said pork was a traditional part of French cuisine.
But he admitted wanting to serve the soup to what he called his "compatriots and European homeless people".
France's Muslim population is the largest in western Europe and is estimated at five million.
Middle-class protesters join sleep-in on behalf of French homeless
Middle-class protesters join sleep-in on behalf of French homeless
By Craig S. Smith
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
PARIS
Hundreds of people emerged from tents beside this city's Canal Saint-Martin to greet the chilly New Year with a hot lunch from a nearby soup kitchen. But not all of them were homeless.
Dozens of otherwise well-housed, middle-class French people have been spending nights in tents along the canal in solidarity with the country's growing number of "sans domicile fixe," the French euphemism for people living on the street.
The bleak yet determinedly cheerful sleep-in is meant to embarrass the French government into doing something about the problem.
"Each person should have the minimum dignity in a country as rich as this," said Bleunwenn Manrot, a 28-year-old woman with a newsboy cap on her head and a toothbrush in her hand. Manrot drove more than six hours with friends from her home in Carhaix, Brittany, to spend New Year's Eve along the canal.
The demonstration has drawn enough media attention over the holidays for President Jacques Chirac to acknowledge it Sunday during his traditional New Year's address to the nation. He asked the government to work in the coming weeks to "put in place a truly enforceable right to housing" that would give the homeless the legal means to demand a place to live.
Given France's well-funded social services, the homeless problem in the country is relatively mild: The French government statistics bureau estimated the number of people living without a fixed address at 86,000 for all of France in 2004, about equal to the number of homeless in Los Angeles alone.
But even that number is disturbing for the socially active segment of France's population. In December 2005, a French charitable organization called Médecins du Monde, or Doctors of the World, began distributing nylon pup tents to people who sleep on Paris's storied sidewalks and beneath its fabled bridges. The movement took hold and since then the tents have become a fixture in odd corners of the city.
In an effort to increase pressure on politicians, another group, Don Quixote's Children, marshaled some of the tent dwellers last year to set up their tents along the Canal Saint-Martin in the heart of "bo-bo" (short for bourgeois-bohemian) Paris. Since mid- December, the encampment has become a happening in one of Paris's most happening neighborhoods.
"There are 250 tents now," said Jean- Baptiste Legrand, president of the organization. "The people keep coming, and the tents are full."
The protest has started to spread to other French cities, including Orléans, Toulouse and Lyon, and has been picked up by politicians as campaigning for the presidential election in the spring gets under way.
François Hollande, leader of the Socialist Party, and Bertrand Delanoë, the Socialist mayor of Paris, have both signed the group's petition calling for a solution to the housing problem. Both of the leading presidential candidates — Nicolas Sarkozy of the governing Union for a Popular Movement and Ségolène Royal of the Socialists — support the cause.
Catherine Vautrin, minister for social cohesion, met with Legrand and other members of his group and announced last week a tenfold increase in spending to help the homeless — from €7 million to €70 million, or $92 million. She said the money would allow homeless shelters to stay open around the clock on weekends and extend their weekday opening by three hours a day.
But a legally enforceable right to housing is the biggest prize sought by
campaigners including Don Quixote's Children, and they remain skeptical of Chirac's promise. France already has a hard time housing new immigrants and asylum-seekers. Fires in overcrowded, substandard lodgings have caused scandals in recent years. Finding a place for the hard-core homeless is certain to complicate those problems.
"Chirac's speech means nothing," Manrot said. Her boyfriend, Franck Renardineau, a painter, sculptor and musician with a nose ring and pointed beard, was standing beside her.
There are signs that the long camp- out will continue. Organizers have arranged portable toilets and a soup kitchen. Vans carrying blankets and other supplies arrive regularly, much of the material donated by Parisians. Volunteers sweep the canal-side cobblestones to keep the area clean.
"I like the protest because it's nonviolent; it's a citizens' appeal," said Renaud Huvé, 39, a photographer who was planning to sleep in one of the tents.
So far, the authorities have been tolerant, though they have quietly evicted tent dwellers before when the media were not watching. The police broke up one encampment under a bridge further north along the canal in October.
Magali Marx, 23, a sales assistant in a clothing shop, expressed the laissez- faire attitude of the neighborhood's residents as she passed by. "It's a bit of a pain for the people who want to walk along the side of the canal," she said. "But then these people don't have a roof."
The government says that a third of the country's homeless hold jobs.
The homeless who make up the bulk of the canal-side campers are thankful for the attention.
"Let's hope it makes a difference," said Jean, a middle-aged man who said he had been living on the streets of Paris for eight years.
By Craig S. Smith
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
PARIS
Hundreds of people emerged from tents beside this city's Canal Saint-Martin to greet the chilly New Year with a hot lunch from a nearby soup kitchen. But not all of them were homeless.
Dozens of otherwise well-housed, middle-class French people have been spending nights in tents along the canal in solidarity with the country's growing number of "sans domicile fixe," the French euphemism for people living on the street.
The bleak yet determinedly cheerful sleep-in is meant to embarrass the French government into doing something about the problem.
"Each person should have the minimum dignity in a country as rich as this," said Bleunwenn Manrot, a 28-year-old woman with a newsboy cap on her head and a toothbrush in her hand. Manrot drove more than six hours with friends from her home in Carhaix, Brittany, to spend New Year's Eve along the canal.
The demonstration has drawn enough media attention over the holidays for President Jacques Chirac to acknowledge it Sunday during his traditional New Year's address to the nation. He asked the government to work in the coming weeks to "put in place a truly enforceable right to housing" that would give the homeless the legal means to demand a place to live.
Given France's well-funded social services, the homeless problem in the country is relatively mild: The French government statistics bureau estimated the number of people living without a fixed address at 86,000 for all of France in 2004, about equal to the number of homeless in Los Angeles alone.
But even that number is disturbing for the socially active segment of France's population. In December 2005, a French charitable organization called Médecins du Monde, or Doctors of the World, began distributing nylon pup tents to people who sleep on Paris's storied sidewalks and beneath its fabled bridges. The movement took hold and since then the tents have become a fixture in odd corners of the city.
In an effort to increase pressure on politicians, another group, Don Quixote's Children, marshaled some of the tent dwellers last year to set up their tents along the Canal Saint-Martin in the heart of "bo-bo" (short for bourgeois-bohemian) Paris. Since mid- December, the encampment has become a happening in one of Paris's most happening neighborhoods.
"There are 250 tents now," said Jean- Baptiste Legrand, president of the organization. "The people keep coming, and the tents are full."
The protest has started to spread to other French cities, including Orléans, Toulouse and Lyon, and has been picked up by politicians as campaigning for the presidential election in the spring gets under way.
François Hollande, leader of the Socialist Party, and Bertrand Delanoë, the Socialist mayor of Paris, have both signed the group's petition calling for a solution to the housing problem. Both of the leading presidential candidates — Nicolas Sarkozy of the governing Union for a Popular Movement and Ségolène Royal of the Socialists — support the cause.
Catherine Vautrin, minister for social cohesion, met with Legrand and other members of his group and announced last week a tenfold increase in spending to help the homeless — from €7 million to €70 million, or $92 million. She said the money would allow homeless shelters to stay open around the clock on weekends and extend their weekday opening by three hours a day.
But a legally enforceable right to housing is the biggest prize sought by
campaigners including Don Quixote's Children, and they remain skeptical of Chirac's promise. France already has a hard time housing new immigrants and asylum-seekers. Fires in overcrowded, substandard lodgings have caused scandals in recent years. Finding a place for the hard-core homeless is certain to complicate those problems.
"Chirac's speech means nothing," Manrot said. Her boyfriend, Franck Renardineau, a painter, sculptor and musician with a nose ring and pointed beard, was standing beside her.
There are signs that the long camp- out will continue. Organizers have arranged portable toilets and a soup kitchen. Vans carrying blankets and other supplies arrive regularly, much of the material donated by Parisians. Volunteers sweep the canal-side cobblestones to keep the area clean.
"I like the protest because it's nonviolent; it's a citizens' appeal," said Renaud Huvé, 39, a photographer who was planning to sleep in one of the tents.
So far, the authorities have been tolerant, though they have quietly evicted tent dwellers before when the media were not watching. The police broke up one encampment under a bridge further north along the canal in October.
Magali Marx, 23, a sales assistant in a clothing shop, expressed the laissez- faire attitude of the neighborhood's residents as she passed by. "It's a bit of a pain for the people who want to walk along the side of the canal," she said. "But then these people don't have a roof."
The government says that a third of the country's homeless hold jobs.
The homeless who make up the bulk of the canal-side campers are thankful for the attention.
"Let's hope it makes a difference," said Jean, a middle-aged man who said he had been living on the streets of Paris for eight years.