Cllr Tom Simon, Liberal Democrats, leader of the opposition at Camden Council. Photo: Julia Gregory.

The “cruel and appalling” removal of tents belonging to people sleeping rough in Camden has been slammed by politicians who have demanded to know why it happened.

Cllr Tom Simon, who leads the Liberal Democrat opposition on Camden Council, hit out at the action at Huntley Street, outside University College Hospital in Fitzrovia earlier in the month. He attacked the council’s involvement in clearing tents off the private land.

It emerged the council arranged waste collection which removed tents pitched outside the hospital. The council’s rough sleeping support services were asked to help people affected following a joint operation by police and the hospital to remove rough sleepers on private land.

The operation came after the then Home Secretary Suella Braverman was widely condemned for saying that living in a tent is a “lifestyle choice for some”.

Cllr Simon told a full council meeting on Monday 20 November he was appalled by the Labour-controlled council’s involvement in removing people and their belongings.

He said: “The events of 10 November were one of the darkest in the history of Camden.”

“That officers and contractors of this council were involved in the cruel dispersal of rough sleepers, some of the most vulnerable people in our borough, destruction of belongings they possess was appalling.”

He said: “One of the key barriers in helping rough sleepers is a lack of trust of authority.”

Camden has London’s second highest population of rough sleepers, partly because it is close to major transport hubs. 

Cllr Simon asked: “What corrosive effect will this council’s actions on that day have had on the homeless people affected directly but also on rough sleepers across the borough and beyond?”

Labour party councillor Pat Callaghan, the acting council leader, responded: “I want to make it clear these actions are the opposite of everything we stand for.”

Cllr Pat Callaghan, Labour, acting leader of Camden Council. Photo: Julia Gregory.

She agreed “it was a very dark day. We were horrified but we acted quickly.”

She told the full council meeting that six of the eight affected rough sleepers have now offered accommodation.

“We will continue to provide extensive support for those individuals.”

The council is investigating what happened and Callaghan pledged to make the report public.

Cllr Simon said in nearby Haringey, councillors had been assured that waste contractor Veolia would not remove homeless people’s belongings without a request from a local authority.

In a letter to councillors, Haringey’s cabinet member for tackling inequality and residents services, Seema Chandwani, said: “I spoke to the UK Managing Director of Veolia yesterday and he wanted to reassure that Veolia have a clear policy not to remove belongings of homeless people, without expressed written request from the council they work for.

“They were asked by Camden Council to do so in this case.”

A Veolia spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “For many years we have provided waste management and recycling services in the borough on behalf of, and under the strict supervision of, Camden Council — and the police when needed. This was the case in this instance. We consider ourselves to be part of the local community and strive to carry out our duties with compassion and understanding.

“We follow all the procedures and requirements needed when it comes to removing sensitive items. We are working internally and with Camden Council to review how requests of this nature will be handled in the future.”

Simon asked if the council had given express written permission for the removal of property.

He stressed the investigation should look at the council’s role in removing residents’ belongings and who made the decision to involve council officers and  also wanted to know about compensation for the destruction of residents’ property.

Callaghan said there will be compensation available and added “quite a bit of property was saved”.

Conservative leader Cllr Gio Spinella said it was crucial to find out what instructions council officers were given.

Camden Council: full council, Monday 20 November 2023. Webcast.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2023/11/24/opposition-hits-out-at-camdens-homeless-peoples-tent-removal/

#CamdenCouncil #homeless #homelessness #housing #HuntleyStreet #localDemocracyReporting #LondonBoroughOfCamden #roughSleepers #roughSleeping

The site in Huntley Street where the eviction of 12 homeless people took place. Photo: Fitzrovia News.

Camden Council and University College London Hospitals (UCLH) were in the local and national media for all the wrong reasons over the weekend, with reports of council contractors, community presence officers, hospital security and the police evicting homeless people and throwing their tents into the back of a bin lorry.

The Camden New Journal’s Frankie Lister-Fell was there at 3pm on Friday 10 November to report the disgraceful actions.

“A week after the home secretary announced her desire to restrict the use of tents by rough sleepers, police officers, council community protection officers, hospital security staff and a team of Veolia workers descended on a camp of 11 tents outside UCLH,” she wrote.

“Heartbreaking to witness a coordinated operation between hospital security, police and Camden Council contractors descending on people who have nothing,” she wrote on social media.

The events unfolded in broad daylight with many people witnessing the operation. The homeless people were left with no shelter ahead of a night time temperature falling to around five degrees C.

Camden Council originally tried to deny they had anything to do with it.

“Camden has had no role in enforcing this eviction,” said a tweet from the council’s official account and reported by The Mirror.

But that tweet was later deleted as video and still footage uploaded by Streets Kitchen clearly showed that Camden Council’s own rubbish contractor and uniformed community presence officers — all with Camden logos — were part of the operation.

Routes Off The Streets, the organisation that Camden Council contracts to provide support for homeless people, was not present during the evictions.

Councillor Pat Callaghan, acting leader of Camden Council, later issued a statement saying: “We are deeply concerned to see these videos and I am ordering an urgent investigation into what happened.”

She went on to say: “I’m also concerned that our contracted waste operator has been engaged in this operation and I will be personally looking into why this has happened.”

But Callaghan made no comment about the involvement of the council’s community presence officers.

UCLH had initiated the evictions. “Following public health concerns, the police have helped to relocate (sic) some people sleeping outside the Grafton Way Building, a hospital treating immunocompromised patients,” said a hospital spokesperson.

However, a group representing immunocompromised patients hit back at UCLH to say: “Don’t use us to justify this abhorrent action!”

I look forward to reading the outcome of Callaghan’s investigation into her own council’s actions.

This is a council, remember, that didn’t even bother to count the number of people sleeping on its streets until a campaign by Fitzrovia News forced them to do it.

As for UCLH, it and its sibling UCLH Charity have form when it comes to evictions as we have reported many times.

“Rather than throwing away people’s homes, let’s find an answer in the community instead,” says CNJ reporter Frankie Lister-Fell.

“Please join us next Thursday for an informal meeting. Everyone is invited,” she says.

Camden has a homeless crisis, what can we do? 6pm, Thursday 16 November 2023 at St Michaels Church, Camden Road, London NW1 9LQ.

Streets Kitchen also has a winter appeal seeking funds to help homeless people this winter.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2023/11/12/camden-council-and-uclh-caught-red-handed-taking-tents-from-homeless-people/

#CamdenCouncil #homelessness #HuntleyStreet #UCLH