Monday, April 21, 2014

Sandra's New Flat!!!! Jersey Housing Department's seasonal joke in 4 parts...


Sandra  and her daughter have featured in several previous blog postings and even the JEP and other "accredited media" have reported on her housing and related problems.

The "black mould" of condensation was the most recent focus of attention but her difficulties are even more profound because Sandra has disabilities which require her to have specially adapted accommodation.
It's quite simple really. For example,  if you cannot open  windows  because they cannot be reached or are too stiff to operate - then good ventilation cannot be achieved and condensation results....

There is no point in blaming the tenant - the simple fact is that the flat is poorly designed for her specific needs - and after all, we all need to have windows that can be opened whether we are classed as "disabled" or otherwise....

Yet there are more specific design needs that follow from disability - such as grab handles in appropriate places - especially around toilets and baths - and there is a need for extra space to accommodate wheelchairs or other disability aids...and to use the toilet or bath or even to move around other rooms.

As we say now,  its not rocket science - but you would think that the Jersey Housing Department has never had to consider such matters before  because they have offered Sandra the key to the door of the flat as shown on the videos that follow...
The departmental staff seem to think that it's an improvement but in fact it offers worse accommodation than Sandra's current flat in Liberation Court (which is less than 20 years old).

As can be seen the latest flat is just simply not suitable for a person with her severe disabilities and as we have already told  Minister  Deputy Green many times before ( and he has personal knowledge of disability in his own family) - standard issue flats are just simply not suitable for this tenant or others with similar needs.

What is Sandra supposed to do with her (two) disability scooters - where can they be parked and charged from the electricity supply?
They are her legs after all so cannot be dispensed with at a whim....and they are very heavy and her daughter has already injured her back by trying to move them about ....and we have already complained to the Fire Department about the danger of parking these to block escape routes because there is nowhere else...

So  please look at these fours parts of our video and try to put yourself in Sandra's seat....





...and bear in mind that "Social Housing" is soon to be handed over to the private company called Andium from July and that Deputy Green the Housing Minister has already announced his intention to quit this office with his eyes on the Health Department - where the declared new policy is that people should care for themselves "in their own homes"...!

With Andium under the Chair of a UK resident receiving £40,000 for  his 30 hours annual attention to the problems of Sandra and thousands of others with real housing needs and the Health service already reeling from shortages and inadequacies and a similar planned "user pays" policy - the future looks ever more grim for those with specific needs and limited resources of their own....

And whilst we have your attention - why is Sandra's  18 years old daughter not treated as her carer and rewarded financially and given the appropriate support too...?


3 comments:

  1. Comments relevant to the current article are welcome in the usual way.
    If anybody wants to make contact regarding other matters I am the only Mike Dun in the J tel directory or can be emailed on mikedunjersey(at)gmail.com

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  2. The states put a problem family by which I mean always in trouble with the law. They housed them in a block of flats that has mostly senior citizens living in. Since this they have made the lives of the rest of the tenants horrible with loud noise and family members coming to visit them all day long taking up car park spaces and taking money that has been left out for the milkman. Why did they put this family living there? They have moved them around from one place to another knowing they cause problems. The elderly do not want to go to housing because of thinking this family will get to them.

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  3. This is the best informative blog post about housing. i like this.

    Supported Housing Essex

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