► Homeless shelters to open as twin protests attend council meeting

John Hadman, 77-year-old homelessness campaigner

Yesterday saw the first full council meeting of 2017, and in attendance were several protest groups looking to get their voices heard by Councillors.

Youth workers and young people presented a petition to try and stop the council following through on proposed cuts to the city’s youth services. The services face cuts of around 80% under current proposals, which could mean that some organisations will lose almost all of their revenue. Speaking at the council meeting, youth representative Raven Lee, 20, said that the cuts were “short-sighted economically as well as socially” and would “put young people in harm’s way”.

Tomorrow, at 1pm youth workers will be marching from the Old Steine to Brighton station in order to keep up the pressure on the council to save youth services. There will also be a public meeting on Wednesday the 1st of February 7:30pm at the Brighthelm centre auditorium.

Also protesting was a group of people looking to open spaces for rough sleepers during the cold weather. Led by 77 year old John Hadman, and accompanied by several of the cities homeless, the campaign aims to get Brighton and Hove City Council to open their cold weather shelters throughout the entire winter. The campaign met with some success, after Councillors backed a green party motion that will convert vacant council buildings into shelters for the homeless. Mr Hadman, however, is concerned that the policy won’t come into effect in time for some of Brighton’s most vulnerable.

Addressing concerns that the policy might not be implemented until next winter, Green Councillor David Gibson said that the council said “We’ve got it through, we want it as soon as possible, but that might be realistic given the speed at which the council works.”

There are other options that the council has in the meantime for helping those sleeping rough, such as opening existing night shelters more frequently.