‘Quiet’ dad shot by police following eviction siege had fallen into rent arrears

I post this as yet another example of a tenant who was clearly extremely vulnerable being evicted. This man had brain damage. He should have been helped by his housing association. Instead they involved the police and he ended up being shot 3 times, and is still in a serious condition in hospital.   – Argotina

Nathaniel Brophy, who is of mixed race, was shot three times following a seven-hour siege at his flat in Brixton last month

Last month, a 34-year-old mixed race man was shot three times by Metropolitan Police firearms officers outside his front door. It was a shockingly violent end to an incident which had initially shown no sign of taking such a dramatic turn.

The use of deadly force by police on British streets is extremely rare – there were only two operations where firearms were discharged between 2013-14. But the shooting, on a housing estate on the edge of Brixton and Clapham in South London, attracted little in the way of media attention at the time.

Today, the Mirror can reveal his identity to be Nathaniel Brophy, a father and former delivery driver described as “quiet”, “introverted” and “polite”.

He was shot three times by police marksmen; once in the right femur, once through the bowel and another in the back. He required three operations to save his life and remains in a serious condition in King’s College Hospital, under 24-hour police guard according to his family. His father Patrice Duval, 52, says it has been touch and go whether he would survive ever since. An infection in the exit wound caused by the third bullet has added to complications.

It is understood Nathaniel had lived at Tilson Gardens in Lambeth for around seven years, renting it from Metropolitan, one of the country’s largest housing associations.

His problems started when he suffered a brain injury in 2010 which left him with occasional speech difficulties and partial paralysis in his hand. After losing his job, he began to run into arrears on his flat and was eventually evicted, his family say. But it is understood on the morning of Friday, August 21, he was able to re-enter his property because the locks had not been changed.

Scotland Yard says the incident began when unarmed officers escorted housing officials to an address at Tilson Gardens as part of a “pre-planned eviction”. At around 9.45am, they gained entry to the property and a man was seen emerging from one of the rooms. A spokesman said officers were “threatened by the suspect” who was “believed to be in possession of a firearm”. The officers withdrew and the firearms squad were called.

A seven-hour siege unfolded, during which the third-floor flat was surrounded by police marksmen and dozens of residents were evacuated. Nathaniel Brophy was shot as he came out of the front door of his flat at around 4.45pm.

As a matter of course, the Independent Police Complaints Commission has been asked to investigate. They say a non-police issue firearm was recovered from the scene – understood to be a 0.177 calibre air pistol. They have also downloaded footage from CCTV cameras in the area and, significantly, from the body cameras worn by officers during the siege.

Mr Duval, who is himself battling cancer, says so far he has not been shown any footage or given any briefing by the IPCC as to what happened.

As Nathaniel continues to recover, his family say the situation could have been defused without shots being fired.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pictured-quiet-dad-shot-police-6447161#ICID

New rules in the Universal Credit scheme could leave 200,000 claimants waiting six months for their benefits

The changes have caused concern over a potential rise in rent arrears.

( I found this on Landlordnews.co.uk, so clearly it is of concern to Landlords!)

The new regulations were laid in Parliament last week and have been described by social housing providers as likely to lead to an increase in difficulty and evictions.

At present, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) calculates a person’s Universal Credit monthly. If they earn over a certain threshold that month, their entitlement is reduced or removed. Under the new rules, the DWP will take six months of previous earnings into account.

This means that for a claimant who earns a higher amount in one month, but nothing the next month, they may be unable to claim for up to six months. The change only applies to those making repeating claims within six months of a previous claim ending.

The DWP predicts that up to 200,000 claimants will be affected by the change when it comes into force on 6^th April 2016. This would be almost ten times the number hit by the £26,000-a-year benefit cap. The change will see claimants receiving irregular income having to plan and set savings aside for when they are not working, as they may not be in receipt of their benefits.

Responding to a previous consultation on the rules, the National Housing Federation says: “Any additional delay in tenants’ ability to access the right support will further increase the possibility of poverty.”¹

London housing provider Peabody said that there will be an “obvious area of hardship” for claimants who work seasonally. They added: “With the accruing rent arrears, there is every chance of people facing eviction.”¹

Other groups expressing worry are Community Housing Cymru, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), Golden Gates Housing Trust, and Wheatley Group.

Last week, the Government announced that it has changed the finalised regulations to let claimants earn up to £300 more in one month than the next without being affected, halving the amount of people expected to be hit. The changes hope to stop those who can choose when they get paid from maximising Universal Credit.

¹ http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/policy/welfare-reform/universal-credit/new-universal-credit-rules-will-hit-200000-people/7008572.article?adfesuccess=1

Tenant slashes wrist in housing office after being driven to despair by bedroom tax

TORMENTED former miner attempted suicide in front of staff because he couldn’t cope with running up rent arrears as a result of the hated tax.

A MAN driven to despair by the bedroom tax attempted suicide in a council housing office yesterday.

Staff looked on in horror as tormented Lawrence Keane slit his wrists in a reception area after asking for help with rent arrears he had run up as a result of the hated tax.

The vulnerable 58-year-old said: “I stood up and asked them if they wanted my blood because that’s all I had left to give. I started hacking at both my arms.”

Former miner Lawrence made the suicide bid at Lochgelly Community Centre in Fife at 9am. After cutting his arms, he stood with his arms at his side, letting blood drip on to the floor. He was treated at Victoria Infirmary in Kirkcaldy and released.

Lawrence, who suffers from severe depression and anxiety attacks, fought back tears as he told how the bedroom tax and rent arrears pushed him over the edge.

Surrounded by his family, he said: “I got a letter from the council last week and I have stayed inside for 10 days worrying about it. It told me I owed a lot of money and that my rent was going up £28 a fortnight because I had an empty room in my flat. I didn’t know what to do. I was getting more and more angry and stressed about it. I woke, got a vegetable knife and went to the community centre.”

Lawrence, who has a grown-up son, was speaking with the full support of his furious family.

In the letter, Lawrence was told he owes Fife Council £399 and that his rent for his two-bedroom flat has increased because he lives alone.

Like many others, he just can’t afford to pay the bedroom tax. Lawrence is on disability allowance and receives a small miner’s pension. Once he’s paid his utility bills, he has very little left to live on. He has lived alone in his ground-floor flat for 14 years. He has few possessions and his tiny home is sparsely decorated and furnished. He rarely drinks and “treats himself” to a roll-up cigarette and a small bottle of beer “every now and again”.

When our reporter visited, Lawrence’s fridge was virtually empty. He didn’t even have tea bags or milk to make a hot drink.

Last night, his brother Michael, 60, and sister-in-law Harriet, 57, said the bedroom tax and welfare cuts were hitting vulnerable people the hardest.

Michael said: “We support Lawrence as best as we can. I don’t know what I would have done if he’d succeeded in his suicide attempt. The extra rent he was asked to pay was the final straw. He was so stressed he couldn’t even tell us about it. We’ve been trying to get him help for weeks – medically, psychologically and through the council – but no one has really listened. How many Lawrences will it take for the Government to realise how dangerous and unfair the bedroom tax is?”

Harriet added: “We asked the council to move him to a single-bedroom bungalow but they haven’t. They now hit him with this new rent demand. The bedroom tax targets the weakest in society. Lawrence and other vulnerable people like him are just names and numbers on a computer screen.”

by James Moncur in the ‘Daily Record’, 30th August 2013. Read more here: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/tenant-slits-wrist-housing-office-2237582