And yet this Winter many people in Greater Manchester are homeless.
Legal advice is a vital tool to help people out of homelessness. Many people who are forced to sleep on the streets become homeless because of unresolved legal problems (evictions by rogue landlords, unlawful benefit decisions, unmet care needs and being wrongly turned away when they seek homelessness assistance from the Council).
Advice to address these problems is often the only way to ensure the rights of homeless people to suitable and long term accommodation.
By themselves, cold weather beds and food parcels are not a solution but a sticking plaster, a much needed attempt to prevent further deaths of homeless people on our streets.
Until every person who is homeless, living in unfit housing conditions, or at risk of losing their homes can access free, high quality, face to face legal advice then there will be no access to justice and the shame of homelessness in the UK and Greater Manchester has little hope of improving.
Our many volunteers and staff care passionately for the rights of this community and you can help, as well as tick off a number of gifts off your Christmas shopping list.
Go here to get your Gift Certificates and see how we helped Angela from homelessness to have a secure home for her and her newborn baby.
Legal aid ‘decimated’ This week, one of the nation’s top news stories is a topic too often overlooked: the decimation of the Legal aid advice network. Legal disputes affect our homes, our families, our treatment as employees and more. They affect our very survival, for example when unwell or disabled people are left destitute after being…
Racism has always been used to “divide and rule” Half a century of immigration laws in this country have reinforced this – Indian vs West Indian, African vs Australian, “good” (often white) migrants vs “bad” migrants. And “benefit scroungers” vs “bogus immigrants”. The scandal that has come to light affecting the Windrush Generation this year…
We have a monthly column in the Law Society Messenger. You can see the full December edition here. This month, GMLC volunteer Alex McColl writes about what drives him as an aspiring barrister pursuing a career in social welfare and human rights law. The Greater Manchester Law Centre is a campaign for free access…
We stand in solidarity with those affected by the appalling treatment of the Windrush generation. At our premises in Moss Side, Manchester, we have been receiving dozens of inquiries from our local community worried about their immigration status. Whilst GMLC currently does not offer immigration advice, we offer some guidance for those affected.
But we also say that this scandal was not an anomaly, but a consequence of the Government’s ‘hostile environment’ immigration policy. We are campaigning for a change in the law to protect people’s rights.
This page is regularly updated, as new information becomes available.
“We can’t just scrabble to give advice to people queuing out the door. The focus needs to be on challenging legislation and the treatment of migrants as a whole” says GMLC employee Roz Burgin.
https://www.gmlaw.org.uk/2018/04/30/we-need-new-laws-so-that-windrush-never-happens-again/
We ask, for reasons set out in our article, in addition to compensation based on individual circumstances, a minimum amount is given to everyone affected by the scandal with an additional set amount given to anyone who travelled back to the UK after a visit abroad.
We also propose that clear and simple details of the compensation scheme, and ways of applying for it, are publicised widely, including directly with all advice agencies working in the communities affected.
https://www.gmlaw.org.uk/2018/06/06/gmlc-response-to-the-windrush-compensation-consultation/
“We propose that the government agree to pay everyone affected by the ‘Windrush’ scandal a minimum level of General Compensatory Damages. This is in addition to compensation payments to be made based on a persons’ individual circumstances” – GMIAU
“There needs to be both a political and commercial response to right the tragic wrong[s] which has been done to far too many, by providing a reparative payment that truly reflects the harm done to all those who have been wronged. A baseline figure [£10,000] should be given to all and be increased on a case by case basis depending on the complexity of each case” – Kenworthys Chambers
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