Words: Merlin Betts Artwork: Chris Sav @disappointman Well, it was a little more than a month to decide, and they’re backdating it so it’s more like the next 18 years, but you get the idea. The Local Plan is out for consultation, and our Hastings future is being decided. The decision-makers are a government in…
In August HEX supporters went with Thomas (not his real name) to protest at Hastings Council because he and his young family were being threatened with eviction. They were also stuck in a temporary housing limbo because the council had deemed them to be ‘intentionally homeless’. The protest was successful in stopping the immediate threat…
Words: Merlin Betts. Images: SGH The morning of Thursday 28 August we went to the Hastings Borough Council (HBC) offices, hoping to catch the housing department after their weekly meeting. Three of us were with Thomas, a homeless man who the council are fighting in court. As I joined the group, another person responding to…
Grace L After two and a half years in temporary accommodation, Thomas and Alice (not their real names) are appealing to Hastings Council to give them and their young child a secure home. Unlike other homeless families in temporary accommodation who are on the waiting list for social housing and can bid for places as…
Merlin Betts Hey reader. I’ve gone a bit rogue here and written you a 4,000 word article. I realise in this day and age that makes it less appealing to read. I’ll probably break down parts of it into other shorter articles, but in the meantime this is my best attempt at a proper overview…
Lizzie Beck It might take a minute for this to sink in. The latest statistics from a report carried out by homelessness charity Shelter reveal one in 64 are homeless in Hastings. Both shocking yet oddly unsurprising, these figures lay out in black and white the genuine crisis hitting our town. The cause for the…
No-one deserves to be removed from their home and abandoned to the streets. Having grown up in Hastings, Karl (not his real name) worked as a fisherman for many years, surrounded by a strong local community, and also spent some happy years living abroad. But everything started to go downhill after health problems in his…
Merlin Betts Hastings Housing Alliance has been formed to start fixing our local housing crisis from the ground up. But let’s not forget the lesson to be learned here: who can we trust to look after our housing, guaranteeing fair prices and good maintenance? Ourselves! Pictured above: 4 December launch day at the Observer Building,…
Lizzie Beck I’m not from these parts. Neither am I DFL, AFB, EDL or WTF. I didn’t actually choose to come here either, I was moved here for reasons that if revealed would result in assassination (of whom I don’t know). It was nighttime when I first saw this town. From a hill above what…