CALL FOR URGENT MEETING ON HOUSING ISSUES
AN Angus councillor has called for an urgent, cross party, "round the table meeting" to thrash out once and for all a number of housing issues which are making the lives of many of her constituents a misery.
Forfar SNP councillor Glennis Middleton urged the Angus Alliance to face up to the challenge and the responsibility of providing appropriate accommodation for those requiring council housing after visiting six members of a family currently housed in a two bedroom home in Glenogil Terrace.
Paris Szillat, his partner Nicola Youngson and their four children Brooke (13), Jade (12), Kacey (2) and Hope (11 months), are cramped into their current living accommodation and are desperate for either a three bedroom home, or for an extension on their current home.
The couple lodged an application to be rehoused after Kacey was born but have been left bitterly disappointed that their frequent applications have been refused.
A recent assessment of their home found that, although they are "inadequately housed", they are not overcrowded and so there is no need for them to be rehoused.
Paris, who works with Don & Low in the town, has called for a change to the current legislation which he feels is outdated, and disputes the council's claims there is "no money" for housing when he has witnessed "thousands of pounds" of improvement work carried out on flatted properties on his doorstep.
The couple's desperate attempts to find appropriate accommodation resulted in Paris being taken to Ninewells Hospital by ambulance last August with a suspected heart attack, and Nicola is now threatening to move out to her mother's with Kacey and Hope.
Health problems
The couple currently sleep in a bedroom with their two youngest children who sleep in cots, and have had confirmation from their health visitor that the cramped living conditions and damp in the bedroom is causing health problems for the youngsters.
A letter sent out by their health visitor in April of this year confirmed the family was overcrowded and that two of the children have had recurrent infections, with one suffering kidney and bladder problems.
The health visitor's concerns have been sent to the council and to North Tayside MSP John Swinney and Angus MP Mike Weir.
Paris said: "Our assessment as having "no need" to be re-housed is based on an old statute which states you can use your living room as a bedroom.
"All we are getting is the run-around. We were on the housing list but have now been taken off because of this latest assessment which started in May, but this has been on-going for two years."
Their plight is the latest in a number highlighted in recent weeks in the "Dispatch" and Herald", and whilst Councillor Middleton accepts the constraints on councils in the current economic climate, she urges urgent action.
In Paris and Nicola's case she had requested they be considered for an extension to be built on the side of their current home.
She said: "That is the quickest, easiest and most appropriate accommodation and right away I was told that would not be considered as the budget for the next two years was spent."
Following last week's article in which local councillor Colin Brown admitted the local authority was facing a growing problem with a chronic lack of council housing, councillor Middleton stated it was "incumbent upon Angus Council and every other council to ensure the people within its area are appropriately accommodated."
"We all understand the economic situation but we live in Scotland, we don't live on the coast of the Mediterranean. We live in a country where the right to a warm, dry home and suitable sleeping accommodation is a fundamental right, a fundamental necessity.
"Everyone understands the shortage of housing and the current economic situation. What they don't understand is what I think they see as a lack of understanding and lack of support, and a lack of any effort at all to help them through a very stressful situation."
In calling for a complete review of the housing policy, Councillor Middleton said Councillor Bill Middleton was present at a meeting in Edinburgh with the Housing Minister when a number of issues were discussed.
"It is unfortunate that the convener of neighbourhood services has not called for the cross party working group, that was requested at that time, to look at all of this.
"This seems to me to be entirely piece-meal and there is no clear vision of what it is people are requiring and no clear vision of what needs to be done to meet those requirements.
"Months ago councillor Bill Middleton asked for the housing lists in each of the burghs to see how long they were, how long people had been waiting, what the homeless lists were, how quickly people moved there. We have yet to have sight of that information.
"I don't just have Paris and Nicola who have a problem, I have a list as long as your arm of people who are either inappropriately accommodated or who cannot get accommodation.
"That is where I think the balance is wrong. We have to have a cross party working group to look at that balance and ensure you shouldn't be penalised because you are an ordinary person."
Recent attempts to provide additional housing in the town has been delayed recently in two areas.
Councillor Middleton explained: "A report went to the neighbourhood services committee where the council agreed to give some funding to a housing association in return for nomination rights for 15 houses on the old Princess Alexandra House site. That has now been put on the back burner.
"It is years now since councillor Bill Middleton called for Newmonthill to be demolished and for new houses to be built there. Newmonthill is standing as it was, all of it empty, and nothing has happened.
"I know the economic situation is really very difficult, but surely together private developers, housing associations and the local authority could work in partnership to provide accommodation that is it really needed."
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Weather for Kirriemuir
Wednesday 08 February 2012
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