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A desperate mother of two kids has re-occupied the flat she was evicted from last week in Brixton. She is appealing to Lambeth council to let her stay.
Unite Community member, Clavia Chambers, was evicted by Lambeth Council who consider her ‘intentionally homeless’ because of rent arrears.
Lambeth Housing Activists have joined her in the flat and asked others to come along and support Clavia.
They told Buzz:
Clavia insists that the arrears are down to mistakes in calculating her benefits when she took up part-time work.
As a lone parent of 2 young children, who never earned more than £100 per week, she feels angry that the housing benefit she was entitled to was not paid and that the council are punishing her for their mistakes.
Campaigners who are supporting her protest occupation are clear that what’s happened to Clavia is a widespread issue.
‘When we protested with Clavia at the housing office last Monday we met three more people in the space of a few hours who were threatened with eviction for exactly the same reasons” said Grace Lally from Unite Community.
“The benefits system is clearly not designed to deal with the ‘gig economy’ where people are moving in and out of work or working different hours every week.
The Council should be helping people access the benefits they are fully entitled to, rather than punishing people like Clavia for falling foul of a rigged system that’s designed to trip them up”.
Lambeth have agreed to review her case but Clavia and her children have been sleeping on the floor of a relatives front room – including her 2 year old who, born at 32 weeks, has had serious health problems including bronchiolitis and pneumonia.
“I am extremely grateful and welcome the review, however it takes 56 days and Lambeth is standing firm on NOT rehousing us in the meantime, even though our home is sitting empty”
“When I got a job I was a proud mum. No longer signing on and providing for my family but I’ve come to learn that, trying to be a better you for the sake of your family will leave you worse off in 2017”
Clavia’s case is the subject of a petition set up by Torla Evans who she met at the foodbank:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/rehouse-clavia
For more information and to speak to Clavia and other campaigners inside the occupation
Contact lambethhousingactivists@gmail.com
Or 07834 828 292
Updates on housingactivists.co.uk