Thursday, October 23, 2014

Look Ahead Care and Support: Seeking to illegally break our contract with the Mayor of London's Greater London Authority (GLA) Housing First programme under threat of eviction

Part 1: Declan filed his claim against the Mayor of London in the High Court this morning

At the beginning of our tenancy we kept wondering why we were put in an accommodation under the tutelage of the Mayor of London when we had been evicted from our previous flat (see blog of 15 October, "Newham College: We reserve the right to terminate your course at any time") and forced to sleep on the streets of London for over a year, where we were harassed and threatened by the police (see blog of 2 October, "City of London Police: If you want to challenge our word against yours again, you need to make an application to the High Court for permission to apply for judicial review"). But the email below to the Single Homeless Project, one of three charities that run the Mayor of London's Greater London Authority (GLA) Housing First programme, might just provide a hint of the reason. It concerns Look Ahead Care and Support, another premier homelessness organisation, which is seeking to illegally break our contract as clients of GLA Housing First. Hopefully Declan has finished this email with an angle for the press upon our receipt of the threatened eviction notice:

Click to enlarge

Are we now going to be put through another three eviction courts for the second time? This is Declan's account of the last three eviction courts - two District Courts and a Circuit Court - in his updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
Paragraph 25 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations

25. On 17 October 2012, Deputy District Judge Peart issued an accelerated possession order granting Ms McKenzie possession of the Applicant and his wife’s flat on 1 November 2012 (see Annex 16, Belinda McKenzie: Accelerated Possession Order by Deputy District Judge Peart, p. 43). At an appeal hearing, District Judge Alderson acknowledged that there was a note in the file from Peart J stating that he had not read the Applicant’s defence. Alderson J conceded that Ms McKenzie’s claim for accelerated possession did not contain the correct paperwork; however, because he had all the paperwork relating to the tenancy in the Applicant’s appeal bundle, he set aside Peart J’s accelerated possession order and issued an ordinary possession order with the same effect, i.e. eviction within two weeks of his order (see Annex 17, Belinda McKenzie: Possession Order by District Judge Alderson, p. 44). On 11 March 2013, Circuit Judge Cryan refused the Applicant permission to appeal to the Circuit Court against a decision by the District Court to refuse him a stay of eviction. Cryan J had before him a statement dated 5 March 2013 from Ms McKenzie’s ex-husband, Dr Nigel McKenzie, a consultant psychiatrist in Highgate Mental Health Centre, stating that the Applicant and his wife’s flat was required for somebody with a mental illness. He dismissed the Applicant’s request for permission to appeal on the basis that it had no reasonable prospects of success (see Annex 19, Belinda McKenzie: Eviction Order by Circuit Judge Cryan, p. 50). Accordingly, the Applicant and his wife were evicted from their flat by the bailiff on 14 March 2013.


Human rights activist Belinda McKenzie speaking at the UK Rally Against Child Abuse, 4 June 2011, Trafalgar Square