Evicted - BBC One

KatieKins

It was really awful wasn't it. I also don't understand the lack of help they received from the school (when the lady said the child was not really her problem since they were out of the catchment area - where is the sense and decency in that - I don't think it would have stretched her too much to send some work over, even if just to be nice)

When the young girl said about the tins on the radiator, I felt so sad. It is awful that this is 2006, with all the wealth in the country, no-one in the council could be bothered to ensure she had proper food.

I do however think it was out of order of the mother (the one pulling her hair out) to sit in the bus stop smoking whilst her children were all visibly freezing. Surely she could have gone without a pack, and instead spent the money on hot drinks or something.

dukesy_2

Ok...

So I missed the first 10-15 minutes of this

Before I form an opinion, i would be really grateful if someone could fillme in

Exactly WHY did Mr & Mrs Minehead find themselves out on the street (i only heard the council worker say it had been "volountary")

Thanks in Advance

HairyHandofDartmoor

This was quite distressing to watch. I felt particularly sorry for the family with the stressed mother. That father deserves a medal for coping with his wife, who has emotional problems, and four children in that situation and doing it so patiently and so caringly. The older daughter as well seemed a lovely girl and I felt really sorry for her.

I wished I was a landlord so that I could offer them a place to live!

My opinion of councils (never very high) has sunk to an all time low. I don't know how they sleep at night (except that they quite clearly DO NOT CARE).

Hereward

There seems to be a lot of bashing of local councils here because of the lack of accommodation for homeless people. Any council can solve these problems fairly easily, but the national government will not allow the councils to raise the necessary funds to build new housing stock. Even if they were allowed, how many people here would be willing to pay for it through a rise in their council tax? I doubt it will be very many.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Councils waste a lot of money on perks for their staff (especially those high up in the pecking order) so it is difficult to feel much sympathy for their 'difficulties'. I have worked for a local council in the past so have seen this with my own eyes.

Surely the homeless people are more deserving of our sympathy?

HairyHandofDartmoor

Anyway it was the attitude of the council staff that provoked my ire, rather than the lack of housing.

ka7e

dukesy wrote:

Ok...

So I missed the first 10-15 minutes of this

Before I form an opinion, i would be really grateful if someone could fillme in

Exactly WHY did Mr & Mrs Minehead find themselves out on the street (i only heard the council worker say it had been "volountary")

Thanks in Advance

The rented family home was put up for sale by the landlord and they were evicted. The Dad had given up work to care for his wife who suffered from PND, and the younger children. Various local councils had put them in temporary accommodation, but they had to move on every few weeks. They had been staying in a 2-bedroom HA house with friends, but the friends were threatened with eviction themselves for letting them stay.
Dad was doing all he could to avoid the children being taken into care and wanted them to stay on at their school in Minehead.

black-saturn

About 5 years ago I was evicted from my home as the landlord wanted to sell up. I have never ever been behind with any payments, in fact I was in front with them. He gave me 2 months notice. In that 2 months I spent every waking moment searching for somewhere else to live and sitting at the council offices begging them for help. The council said they had no vacant properties in the area and a queue of about 100 families before me waiting for one. Every privately rented house which came up had about another 30 families applying for it so the landlord could pick and choose who he wanted. I could have moved out and stayed with a friend or my parents but I was told if I did that I would have been seen as making myself intentionally homeless. So the 2 months went by and it went to court. As I had children the court gave me another 2 months. But despite all my efforts to find accommodation I still didn't find anywhere. So after that 2 months I was given a room with 3 beds in it in a hostel for the homeless full of druggies and winos (and my 2 children were 7 and 5 at the time). In that you had to be out of the room by 9am and you werent allowed back in till 6pm, every day, all through the winter. I was there for 6 months when I got this house.

But the point of the story is that the government really shouldnt have sold off the council propertys. It's made it so that there isn't any affordable social house available for families in need.

Hereward

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote:

Councils waste a lot of money on perks for their staff (especially those high up in the pecking order) so it is difficult to feel much sympathy for their 'difficulties'. I have worked for a local council in the past so have seen this with my own eyes.

Surely the homeless people are more deserving of our sympathy?

Homeless people's, and indeed all people's, situation should be judged on an individual basis. I agree the some homeless people should have our sympathy, but perhaps we should not extend that to all of them without knowing their circumstances.

P.S. my previous post was not aimed at you, but everybody who felt that the councils' should be doing more, and I agree that councils, like all organisations, could be more efficient.

miggy

lennymfo wrote:

What does godo mean? Sounds like a character from Lord of the Rings

Ah - the was a play about him - 'Waiting for Godo'.
N'est pas?
Miggy