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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2013/jun/03/homeless-pensioner-offered-tent-by-council
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Homeless? Here, have a tent... | Homeless? Here, have a tent... |
| (4 months later) | |
| It's not pretty, in fact it all sounds pretty desperate: but there's a Coalition-era logic to Isle of Wight council's decision to offer a homeless 62 year old pensioner a voucher to enable her to buy a tent, by way of helping to find her somewhere to live. | It's not pretty, in fact it all sounds pretty desperate: but there's a Coalition-era logic to Isle of Wight council's decision to offer a homeless 62 year old pensioner a voucher to enable her to buy a tent, by way of helping to find her somewhere to live. |
| The council made its unusual offer after rejecting Dawn Martin's application for help with emergency housing. Martin was deemed not vulnerable enough to be formally accepted as homeless, so she was directed to the council's local welfare assistance scheme. | The council made its unusual offer after rejecting Dawn Martin's application for help with emergency housing. Martin was deemed not vulnerable enough to be formally accepted as homeless, so she was directed to the council's local welfare assistance scheme. |
| At this point, officials offered Martin a food voucher and a voucher to buy a tent. The council said in a statement: | At this point, officials offered Martin a food voucher and a voucher to buy a tent. The council said in a statement: |
| During our discussions with her we did - as a last resort which we accept is far from ideal - offer her vouchers with which she could, at the very least, buy a tent as a temporary shelter but she declined this. | During our discussions with her we did - as a last resort which we accept is far from ideal - offer her vouchers with which she could, at the very least, buy a tent as a temporary shelter but she declined this. |
| Now, it may sound cruel and insensitive, but it is not immediately clear what other options officials had available. In common with many other councils, it had decided that its new local welfare crisis assistance scheme, introduced in April following the abolition of the national Social Fund, should not offer cash help, only vouchers and in-kind support. | Now, it may sound cruel and insensitive, but it is not immediately clear what other options officials had available. In common with many other councils, it had decided that its new local welfare crisis assistance scheme, introduced in April following the abolition of the national Social Fund, should not offer cash help, only vouchers and in-kind support. |
| This is common, partly because most councils' local welfare crisis budgets are threadbare and they do not have the resources to offer or administer loans. It saves some money, but more importantly for the Coalition, localising welfare crisis support cements an ideological belief that crisis loans were too easy to get and created dependency. | This is common, partly because most councils' local welfare crisis budgets are threadbare and they do not have the resources to offer or administer loans. It saves some money, but more importantly for the Coalition, localising welfare crisis support cements an ideological belief that crisis loans were too easy to get and created dependency. |
| The disadvantage of cashless welfare, however, is that it is crude and inflexible: indeed, it could not help Martin to get what she needed, which was a deposit for a room in temporary accommodation. | The disadvantage of cashless welfare, however, is that it is crude and inflexible: indeed, it could not help Martin to get what she needed, which was a deposit for a room in temporary accommodation. |
| It seems the council wanted to help her. The only way, however, was to examine her case against the arbitrary and delicate gradations of poverty and deservingness that characterise the rules governing many new local schemes. | It seems the council wanted to help her. The only way, however, was to examine her case against the arbitrary and delicate gradations of poverty and deservingness that characterise the rules governing many new local schemes. |
| As a result, though Martin was not vulnerable enough to be offered emergency housing, she was vulnerable enough to be offered a tent: | As a result, though Martin was not vulnerable enough to be offered emergency housing, she was vulnerable enough to be offered a tent: |
| Martin, perhaps understandably, was baffled. She told local reporters: | Martin, perhaps understandably, was baffled. She told local reporters: |
| I don't know how they can say a 62 year old camping alone at night isn't vulnerable. | I don't know how they can say a 62 year old camping alone at night isn't vulnerable. |
| Isle of Wight's local welfare assistance criteria are nothing if not comprehensive. It seems Martin was lucky, given the strict qualifying rules, to get any help at all. Paragraph 7.7 of the council's local assistance scheme policy states: | Isle of Wight's local welfare assistance criteria are nothing if not comprehensive. It seems Martin was lucky, given the strict qualifying rules, to get any help at all. Paragraph 7.7 of the council's local assistance scheme policy states: |
| The authority will only make an award or give the claimant items if the authority is sure that this is the only way that the claimant can get the help they need. | The authority will only make an award or give the claimant items if the authority is sure that this is the only way that the claimant can get the help they need. |
| So the rules suggest it was a tent or nothing. In the circumstances, one is tempted to credit council officials with a little ingenuity. | So the rules suggest it was a tent or nothing. In the circumstances, one is tempted to credit council officials with a little ingenuity. |
| Having rejected the offer of a tent, however, and going to the press, Martin appears ultimately to have got what she needed. A council spokesman told the Guardian: | Having rejected the offer of a tent, however, and going to the press, Martin appears ultimately to have got what she needed. A council spokesman told the Guardian: |
| I can... confirm that as a result of ongoing discussions, we have found [Martin] a room in temporary accommodation for which no deposit is required. | I can... confirm that as a result of ongoing discussions, we have found [Martin] a room in temporary accommodation for which no deposit is required. |
| • Update: Tuesday 4 June. A full news report of the case of Dawn Martin appears in the Isle of Wight County Press, written by Emily Pearce. You can read it here: http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/homeless-pensioner-advised-to-buy-a-tent-49639.aspx | • Update: Tuesday 4 June. A full news report of the case of Dawn Martin appears in the Isle of Wight County Press, written by Emily Pearce. You can read it here: http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/homeless-pensioner-advised-to-buy-a-tent-49639.aspx |
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