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Subject: |
Homeless Bill of Rights for Brighton & Hove. Items referred from the Council meeting held on the 25 March 2021 |
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Date of Meeting: |
23 June 2021 |
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Report of: |
Executive Lead Officer for Strategy, Governance & Law |
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Contact Officer: |
Name: |
Mark Wall |
Tel: |
01273 291006 |
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E-mail: |
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Wards Affected: |
All |
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FOR GENERAL RELEASE
1. SUMMARY AND POLICY CONTEXT:
1.1 To receive the following deputation which has been referred from the full Council meeting held on the 25 March 2021 for consideration.
2. RECOMMENDATIONS:
2.1 That the Committee responds to the deputation either by noting it or where it is considered more appropriate, calls for an officer report on the matter which may give consideration to a range of options and writes to the deputation spokesperson setting out the committee’s decision(s).
3.
CONTEXT /
BACKGROND INFORMATION
3.1 To receive the following deputation along with the extract from the council meeting which is detailed in appendix 1:
(5) Deputation concerning the Homeless Bill of Rights for Brighton & Hove
Spokesperson David Thomas
The Homeless Bill of Rights movement started in the USA ten years or more ago. In Europe, FEANTSA, the umbrella organisation for homelessness organisations, became increasingly concerned by trends towards criminalising and excluding homeless people, and they launched their own version in 2017.
We, Brighton & Hove Housing Coalition, very much liked the European Homeless Bill of Rights, which was drawn up in consultation with organisations of homeless people. It is a compilation of basic rights from European and international human rights law made highly specific to the situation of homeless people. It starts with Article 1, which is a restatement of the right to a home. It does not seek to accept or institutionalise homelessness; that there is homelessness is already a breach of this fundamental right. It also contains some highly specific rights. No-one should ever be forced to sleep rough. Everyone should have access to sanitary facilities and fresh water. Homeless people should have the same right of access to public spaces as everyone else. There should be respect for their privacy and data, and they should not be discriminated against.
After consultation with our local rough sleepers, with FEANTSA’s agreement, we amended the European document a little to make the English more colloquial without changing the meaning, and we added two extra Articles; the right to respect for belongings and the right to have the deaths of homeless people recorded and investigated.
On 28th October 2018 the Brighton & Hove Homeless Bill of Rights was launched, at the Sunday Street Kitchen and at Brighthelm Centre. All three local MPs and Arch Healthcare sent supportive messages and Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP joined us at the Street Kitchen. Our much missed chair, Steve Parry, chaired the launch, and Maria Jose Aldanas of FEANTSA and Jamie Burton of Just Fair came and spoke in support. Many of the councillors presently serving the city were present, from Labour, Green and Conservative parties.
Both the Green and Labour Parties pledged to adopt the Homeless Bill of Rights in their manifestos. Following the election, we presented a petition with more than 2,500 signatures to Full Council on 25th June 2019, which was welcomed by speeches from all three parties. Accordingly the Council Plan 2019-23 states that “We will … adopt a Bill of Rights for homeless people”. The Homeless Bill of Rights was incorporated into the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2020-25 as an aspiration and a standard against which the Council and its partners will judge its policies and practices.
The Homeless Bill of Rights comes before Full Council now for adoption. It has been accepted by officers, the legal department, and the Housing Committee. Last autumn, it had been adopted by nine European cities, including Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela in Spain and Gdansk in Poland. Since then, it has been sweeping through Greece, where 35 cities (including Thessaloniki and Korinthos) have so far adopted it; as they say, “for these municipalities, endorsing the bill is only a starting point for continuous commitment, improvement, and engagement to defend rights of homeless people”. Councillors, it is time for the City of Brighton & Hove to become the first UK city to adopt the Homeless Bill of Rights!
This appendix introduces the organisations involved in the Brighton & Hove Homeless Bill of Rights.
We are a coalition of activists and organisations campaigning on housing issues in Brighton & Hove. Our coalition includes people who have experienced homelessness and activists who work with rough sleepers on a daily basis, including Sussex Homeless Support, ETHRAG, and Opsafe. We are involved in campaigns including the Brighton General Hospital Campaign, AGHAST (Brighton Gasworks campaign), SHS’s homeless pods, and in support of Arch Healthcare’s plans for a homelessness hub.
And, of course, we launched the Homeless Bill of Rights for Brighton & Hove. The full story of that campaign may be found on https://homelessrights.org.uk.
FEANTSA is the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless. We are the only European NGO focusing exclusively on the fight against homelessness. Our ultimate goal is an end to homelessness in Europe.
Established in 1989, FEANTSA brings together non-profit services that support homeless people in Europe. We have over 130 member organisations from 30 countries, including 28 Member States. Most are national or regional federations.
FEANTSA launched the European Homeless Bill of Rights in 2017 in co-ordination with Housing Rights Watch.
Housing Rights Watch is an interdisciplinary European network of associations, lawyers and academics from different countries, who are committed to promoting the right to housing. The right to housing has been recognised as one of the most important fundamental human rights and what we seek is the realisation of every person’s right to live in dignity and to have a secure, adequate and affordable place to live.
Registered as a charity since 2011, Just Fair exists to realise a fairer and more just society in the UK by monitoring and advocating the protection of economic and social rights (ESR).
Just Fair is committed to increasing public awareness of international and domestic human rights law and the capability to use it. Just Fair is also devoted to the advancement of high-quality thinking, training and practice to ensure that ESR are respected, protected and fulfilled.
Brighton & Hove City Council
Council
4.30pm 25 March 2021
Virtual
MINUTES
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Present: Councillors Robins (Chair), Mears (Deputy Chair), Allcock, Appich, Atkinson, Bagaeen, Barnett, Bell, Brennan, Brown, Childs, Clare, Davis, Deane, Druitt, Ebel, Evans, Fishleigh, Fowler, Gibson, Grimshaw, Hamilton, Heley, Henry, Hills, Hugh-Jones, Janio, Knight, Lewry, Littman, Lloyd, Mac Cafferty, McNair, Miller, Moonan, Nemeth, Nield, O'Quinn, Osborne, Peltzer Dunn, Phillips, Pissaridou, Platts, Powell, Rainey, Shanks, Simson, C Theobald, West, Wilkinson, Williams and Yates.
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PART ONE
121 DEPUTATIONS FROM MEMBERS OF the PUBLIC
(5) HOMELESS BILL OF RIGHTS FOR BRIGHTON & HOVE
121.1 The Mayor reported that five deputations had been received from members of the public and that he would invite the spokespersons to introduce their deputation and for the relevant Chair to respond. He noted that 15 minutes were set aside for the consideration of deputations.
121.14 The Mayor noted that the fifteen minutes set aside for the consideration of deputations had been reached and therefore the remaining three deputations would be referred directly to the appropriate committee for consideration.