Housing Matters in Camden

Housing is one of those issues that is universally important to all species on our planet. Camden residents are no exception to this rule. Indeed, Camden suffers from a lack of both private and council housing.

In my time as a Community Engagement Officer has alerted me to the varied housing issues by all communities in particular localities. BME housing issues in Camden present a profile of:

Overcrowding, leading to family conflict, adverse effects on school achievement.


Racism


Housing in state of disrepair,Difficulty in navigating the internet based bidding system.

However for the purposes of this article I wish to report on a more positive note.

Camden Council has recently been consulting with its tenants and leaseholders, and approched CBMEA to facilitate consultations with users of key BME community centres and organisations.

The consultation period has now ended, and the Council, in partnership with CBMEA consulted with members of the following communities.

Banladeshi


Somali


Irish


Chinese


Cypriot

The consultations were well attended with reasonable feedback from the tenants and leaseholders. For an update on the consultation, please see page 11 of this newsletter.

What I would like to comment on is the open and frank nature of the discussions that took place. I woud like to report on this work in order to illustrate a good example of community engagement in practice, and how vital it is for BME groups to continue to articulate the needs of their users on matters of importance. Of the service provider to meet service user face to face. Personally, I feel that this a model that is best for statutary bodies wishing to consult with BME communities.

Azhar Bhatti
Community Engagement Officer

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Revised on 22 Dec 2007