Disgrace of lack of knowledge on homelessness from Cllr Terry Evans
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Does he not realise that many of the people in this position DO NOT have any drug or alcohol issues but are in this position as they could have lost their job, breakdown in their relationship, mental health or other causes.
Within his own Ward there are people who work in Kronospan on Zero hours contracts that find themselves having to register as homeless. Clearly his only experience is coming into contact with homeless people who have been living on the streets in Wrexham in his Lead Member role.
Perhaps Cllr Evans should get out and about and talk to the vast majority of people who have been hit with Covid and found their entire life turned upside down.
Congratulations to the Lead Officer Steve Baily for standing his ground and pointing out the risk of Judicial review however if this did happen it would really start to unravel the whole issue not just for Wrexham but other areas that are all facing the same issues.
There does not seem to be any reference to charities and volunteers who provide many support services- are they doing good of helping to continue the narrative that Cllr Evans is spouting.Reminds me of a very famous passage, very relevant for this time of year.
“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.”
“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.
“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”
“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”
“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge.
“Both very busy, sir.”
“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”
“Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,” returned the gentleman, “a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?”
“Nothing!” Scrooge replied.
“You wish to be anonymous?”
“I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. “Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned–they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.”
“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”
“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.
https://www.shmoop.com/christmas-carol/stave-1-full-text-5.html
Totally agree with JaneJ. Worryingly HMP Berwyn is already having a big impact on our homeless provision and the numbers will increase year on year as the prison reaches its full capacity of over 2000 prisionsers.
He seems to think he can judge people and then divide them into groups of good and bad people, without knowing anything about their difficult circumstances.
It’s a common ruse to hand-pick some bad anecdotes and use them to tar a whole group, but it’s not accurate nor fair.
Keeping people locked up doesn’t fix the problem and is a lot more expensive.
The trouble with too many councillors is that when they raise a legitimate concern e.g criminal activity affecting the residents of their ward, they use such intemperate language they totally undermine their own case. If the case is based on facts, state the facts, ask questions and seek answers from officers and other partner organisations and don’t spout judgmental generalizations. If the case is just based on one or two anecdotes, then they should do a bit more research before they make any statement on the matter. A councillor is not a columnist in a newspaper after all.
Cllr Terry Evans is saying what the man in the street says BUT you cannot say that as an official without knowing the facts.
I do worry about prisoners being rehoused in Wrexham when they should return home. They take priority over other homeless folk as well as the rest on the list.
I agree with Tim when he says “Keeping people locked up doesn’t fix the problem and is a lot more expensive” but where do you think they should be returned to if not locked away? We don’t need extra bad ones on our streets committing crime to feed themselves or a habbit.
Prison leavers are a very small % and it detracts from the core story which is why a Cllr tars all people who become homeless in the manner he did and does not address the issues of people fleeing Domestic Violence, break down in family relations etc- Things that are no connected in any way to substances or anti social behaviour.
How many complaints is he getting from his constituents?
If WCBC are placing them in clusters as they do in Caia Park & Plas Madoc then you can’t blame him for being upset. Decent tenants, whether they be homeless or on benefits shouldn’t be a problem but there are those who bring areas down by their behaviour. Would you want one of them living next door to you?
The council spend a fortune on empty properties, completely gutting them & doing them up, unnecessary in many instances, for people who then trash them.https://www.oldleaderlivestory.co.uk/news/18896740.wrexham-council-turning-empty-properties-area-lifetime-homes-tenants/
The fact of the matter is Terry having an informal chat to his mates down the pub is perfectly entitled like the rest of us to make the comments he did – it’s a free world.
Unfortunately when he is being Clr Evans, a public servant elected by the good people of Chirk to represent all from the lowest of the low to the high and mighty and in his higher paying position of office on the Exec board as lead for the economy – the same comments are not acceptable.
It wasn’t that long ago that several councillors got sent for sensitivity training due to their poor choice of words regarding mental health, is this something that needs to repeated to educate them on other vulnerable members of the community?
Zinger, you are right – given the choice nobody wants to live next door to anyone they consider to be undesirable. It doesn’t even need to be a former criminal, homeless drug addict to trigger many a NIMBY – they might object to living next to a group of young individuals or perhaps even a family that is louder than they consider to be savoury or even someone with a barking dog or a crying baby.
The fact is everyone who needs to live in Wrexham needs to be housed somewhere and there’s no such thing as a street of good people or bad people – just a random set of people who have to decide individually whether or not they want to be neighbourly to each other or not – which is a two way street (no pun intended) – existing people being welcoming and in return new residents being social rather than anti-social.
Of course it goes without saying that the persistently intolerable and antisocial aren’t going to be welcome anywhere and they deserve no sympathy and have made a rod for their own back. However, it was a poor choice of words by Clr Evans to tarnish everyone with the same blackened brush, in fact going further and implying that anyone who receives any kind of housing benefits and isn’t paying their own rent (through employment or otherwise) is part of a bad bunch and will immediately be a bad tenant.
Private landlords, which includes some elected councillors in Wrexham actually receive an income for themselves potentially in some cases from housing benefit and the Universal Credit equivalent. Is it the case for them that they believe that their personal tenants in this situation are bad tenants? But are more than happy to take tax payer’s money rather than risk losing money by having an empty home not earning any income?
Lots of interesting information to pick over in this situation.
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