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The Rt Hon Stephen Timms is currently the Member of Parliament representing East Ham, one of the boroughs in which a considerable number of our visitors live. He is also the Labour Party’s Faith Envoy.
On Thursday January 11th, MP Stephen Timms was invited by the Director, Sarah Hughes to tour Notre Dame Refugee Centre meeting clients, volunteers and advisors.
The visit gave us the opportunity to raise some important concerns :
The Reduction of Homelessness Bill and the impact this might have on our visitors.
The introduction of Universal Credit : with this new mechanism, clients have to wait 6 weeks before getting their first payment, which leads them into difficulties (running into debt and risk of eviction from their homes) Click here to kow morre about it
The lack of social housing: we asked him to be more proactive on social housing including upgrading the housing stock
The increasing costs of immigration : for instance « the further leave to remain » application cost of £933 for 2.5 years
Mr. Timms confirmed us that the Homelessness Reduction Act is due to come into force in April 2018. The Act will modify and extend existing homelessness protection in a number of key ways:
Mr. Timms was impressed with the scope of the Centre and its clear appreciation by visitors. Mr Timms with a visitor.
Thank you for your visit!