{"id":156682,"date":"2015-06-04T07:51:47","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T07:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=156682"},"modified":"2015-06-04T07:54:36","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T07:54:36","slug":"%e2%80%8bcriminalizing-homelessness-anger-hackney-councils-rough-sleeping-ban-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/latest-news\/%e2%80%8bcriminalizing-homelessness-anger-hackney-councils-rough-sleeping-ban-grows\/","title":{"rendered":"London council profiteering from homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RINF EDITOR’S NOTE:<\/span><\/strong><\/span> As an organisation that regularly uses our profits to feed the homeless and vulnerable\u00a0in our city I find it abhorrent that any council would take it upon themselves to further stamp on the faces of those in desperate need of help, and to actually profiteer from such repugnant behaviour is beyond belief. Just\u00a0where is the humanity?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

(RT<\/a>) – London\u2019s Hackney Council has been accused of \u201ccriminalizing homelessness\u201d after announcing a system of fines intended to tackle anti-social behavior, including rough sleeping and begging.<\/p>\n

Government figures show\u00a06,508 people slept rough in London last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Homeless people found\u00a0begging in the streets of Hackney could be issued a \u00a3100
\non-the-spot fine with a potential court charge of \u00a31,000 under
\nthe new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).<\/span><\/p>\n

The council says the Protection Order is being put in place to
\ntackle persistent \u201canti-social behavior<\/em>\u201d such as
\nbegging, rough sleeping in \u201chot spots<\/em>\u201d and street
\ndrinking.<\/p>\n

\n

HACKNEY COUNCIL: Stop criminalising Hackney’s rough sleepers
\nhttps:\/\/t.co\/3z7hmiTt4K<\/a>
\nvia @UKChange<\/a> PLEASE
\nSIGN #disgrace<\/a>#Homeless<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 TeeMac (@LadyTinkerbella)
\nJune 3, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However it is still unclear how the council will collect the
\nmoney from rough sleepers.<\/p>\n

Several organizations have spoken out and launched a petition
\nagainst the council\u2019s order.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the order, Heather Kennedy from campaign group Digs
\nsaid the council\u2019s \u201ccriminalization<\/em>\u201d of homeless people
\nhas angered Hackney residents.<\/p>\n

\u201c[A] large number of people<\/em>\u201d are planning to protest
\nagainst the PSPO, she told the Hackney Times.<\/p>\n

The council \u201cfailed to support residents in housing need \u2026 in
\nthe middle of a housing crisis<\/em>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not rest until the criminalization of homelessness
\nin our borough is overturned<\/em>,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Hackney Community Law Centre also released a statement pleading
\nwith the council to consider amending the order.<\/p>\n

Its chairman, Ian Rathbone, said the order would not stop the
\nhomeless from sleeping rough, merely \u201cforce them to sleep
\nrough elsewhere.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Hackney Deputy Mayor Sophie Linden insists the order was put
\nforward so the borough could see a reduction in anti-social
\nbehavior that affects the safety and wellbeing of residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnforcement will always be a last resort and only used for
\nthose who continue to sleep rough<\/em>,\u201d she told the Hackney
\nTimes.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the nature of the order, Homeless Link Director of
\nPolicy and Communications Jacqui McCluskey told RT she
\n\u201cdoesn\u2019t think it\u2019s right<\/em>\u201d to criminalize homelessness.<\/p>\n

The measures brought forward by the Hackney Council \u201cdo
\nnothing to tackle the causes of homelessness and rough
\nsleeping,<\/em>\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The main focus should be on \u201cpreventing people from becoming
\nhomeless<\/em>\u201d and ensuring those who are receive the
\n\u201cappropriate support and accommodation in place to help them
\nmove on from homelessness for good<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Condemning the order, Jon Sparkes, chief executive of
\nhomelessness charity Crisis, said plans to ban and criminalize
\nrough sleeping will be \u201ccounter-productive<\/em>\u201d and only
\nmake it harder to access the support people need to get off the
\nstreets for good.<\/p>\n

\n

@FocusE15<\/a> Please let
\nHackney Council know that criminalising homeless people is
\n#NotFineWithUs<\/a>
\n& share this. pic.twitter.com\/4voPN9kYwj<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Digs (@Hackney_renters)
\nJune 2, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, Thames Reach Communications Manager Mike Nicholas argues
\nthe PSPO in Hackney is being used to specifically tackle begging,
\nwhich he linked to heroin, street drinking and crack cocaine use
\nrather than homelessness.<\/p>\n

Nicholas told the Hackney Times that the aim of the order was to
\nhelp those on the streets who previously had refused to engage
\nwith support services to \u201cbreak the cycle<\/em>.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RINF EDITOR’S NOTE: As an organisation that regularly uses our profits to feed the homeless and vulnerable\u00a0in our city I find it abhorrent that any council would take it upon themselves to further stamp on the faces of those in desperate need of help, and to actually profiteer from such repugnant behaviour is beyond belief. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,18,1615],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-156682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-latest-news","9":"category-uk-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}