Eastbourne Council MP Caroline Ansell has levelled a warning at Brighton and Hove City Council over the continued transfer of homeless residents into the town’s hotels.
This issue has raged on for months following reports that Brighton had been silently moving over 300 of these vulnerable people throughout the pandemic in order to clean up its own streets and improve its own image, without any prior notice being given to Eastbourne Council.
Officials and other figures have continued to call out Brighton for its ‘irresponsible’ actions as the town lacks the resources or the support services to manage the extra residents who now inhabit the town, with the Eastbourne town centre now reporting increased incidents of crime and disturbance due to this new influx.
As a result of this, three people who had been rehoused in Eastbourne’s hotels have now died.
The MP has now written to the government’s housing minister Robert Jenrick to enquire just how the £3.3 million support grant that Brighton received to tackle its homeless epidemic had been spent, and to appeal for assistance in resolving this matter.
In comparison, Eastbourne received only £130,000 in funding from the same Rough Sleepers Initiative allowance.
The issue has been slowly improving since it was first designated a serious concern back in January, when over 200 of the population was relocated, however this is four times more than the approximately 50 residents believed to have been moved before the pandemic began.
The Council is believed to have continue to raise the issue, believing that Brighton should be using its money to build and convert accommodation to keep such residents within their own services and that Eastbourne simply does not have the ability to deal with them.
Being vulnerable people with complex needs, there is much more attention and care expected to support and assist them.
Brighton Council has responded to this issue, claiming that they were now moving people back into the city and had arranged meetings with security and Eastbourne Police to provide support and welfare officers to assist with these issues.
The council state they are exploring new accommodation options and believe it will be able to provide additional accommodation in the coming weeks, relieving the pressure currently put on Eastbourne Council.
This however is met with scepticism, due to this issue having been ongoing for the past five months.
Photo Credit: Joseph Pearson
