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Vulnerable groups need good, accessible services
• IN the headlong rush to reduce the cost of providing services for Camden Council tenants so that council tax rises can be kept under control, has anyone in council’s administration stopped to consider the effect on marginalised and vulnerable groups of tenants of increasing the barriers between tenants and service providers?
Our experience over a long period is that such groups need accessible services. This is incompatible with:
n centralised call centres (we already receive regular inquiries from tenants needing help accessing the repairs centre).
n access to the housing transfer system being limited to those who can fill in forms online or get information from the internet.
Groups also need local face-to-face services. These are incompatible with:
n local officers being overwhelmed with bureaucracy, office bound and communicating principally by computer generated letters on matters of their choosing.
And finally groups need continuity of service. And this is incompatible with:
n a rapid turnover of staff.
ncontracting out services to agencies whose priority is financial advantage, rather than a long-term commitment to the provision of service.
Continued progress down the road of contracting out, centralising and depersonalising services can only further marginalise these groups and lead to further isolation from the housing system.
Isolated and vulnerable groups need local accessible services run by the council with officers of all sorts (estate officers, caretakers, patch managers etcetera) armed with local knowledge and freed and encouraged to make contacts with the local communities they serve.
What price social cohesion?
UBAH EGAL
Somali Cultural Centre
Kingsgate Road, NW6
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