At 10am last Wednesday a Clavia Chambers and her two young children were evicted from their Brixton home and denied rehousing by Lambeth council.
Soaked and distraught, she dragged her belongings to Lambeth’s housing office Olive Morris House and refused to move until Lambeth provided emergency accommodation for herself and her two children, aged 2 and 8.
Despite the fact that Lambeth council are legally bound to provide a duty of care to a now homeless, vulnerable Mum and her two children, she was treated with utter contempt and heartlessness.
There was not even a pretence at empathy for her situation from the centre’s duty manager who threatened to call the police if they did not leave the building. The threat was made infront of Clavia’s children.
A member of staff from The Citizens Advice Bureau nearby who heard the woman was practically speechless at the tone of voice used and the unprofessional way in which she behaved.
I was there supporting Clavia, and the callous way she was treated is truly shocking and by no means unique.
Lambeth Council claims that the family have “made themselves intentionally homeless” by falling into rent arrears. However Clavia was on full housing benefit which should have been paid to her landlord. Her only crime is not being able to understand the labyrinthine intricacies of the system where full housing benefit can change from week to week if any tiny change in circumstances is perceived.
Clavia benefit was regularly changed despite the fact she earned less than £100 a week in retail and which was not sufficient to make her liable for more than a tiny percentage of her rent.
Olive Morris House, interestingly, has not managed to release the paperwork relating to the rent they have paid to the landlord. If they had done so, Clavia may still have been living in her home.
What happens now? Clavia has spent two nights at separate relatives homes, where she is not able to stay any longer.
She is hoping that the information provided at International House — that she is entitled to emergency accommodation after 5pm for the weekend — is going to take place.
Repeated visits since Wedndesday to Olive Morris House to ask for emergency accommodation have fallen on deaf ears. Housing is responsible for housing but instead council officials at Olive Morris House send homeless families to social services and insist that social services are responsible for housing them.
Clavia was informed today that if social services said otherwise then they are lying and misinforming her. This total disconnect between housing and social services would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic.
Meanwhile during the summer holidays two young children and their Mum are facing an uncertain future.
A protest took place this morning outside Lambeth Council Housing Office at Olive Morris House, and a petition has been launched here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/rehouse-clavia
Article by Torla Evans of the RehouseClavia campaign.