Pariticiple and The Circle Movement comes to Hammersmith and Fulham

For further information read the article here.

Hunt Close - Hammersmith and Fulham - W12. Who cares? The answer is NO ONE!

If you read the last post you would have been familiar with developments regarding S.A.A.N and the LBHF. To give some background to this, lets go back and consider the following points:

• The LBHF council have identified that there are a litany of issues that relate to the Somali community in the area
• There is an issue with engaging with Somalis in the borough
• S.A.A.N have been asked to facilitate the re-writing the community strategy for the LBHF, the last version was produced in 2007 and had a seven year time frame.
  

It is the position that S.A.A.N have stated for the last year that a comprehensive re-assessment of community relations for a number of the borough councils in London is key to developing a relationship with the Somali community that is positive. However, political expediency is a major obstacle to pushing a progressive agenda. The meeting this week was like a number of meetings that S.A.A.N have had with organisations that are in charge of the public service. It is quite clearly the case that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.

An example here that paints a picture of the grim, dystpoic society that we live in was relayed recently to a S.A.A.N member. A Somali single mother from Hamlet Gardens in Hammersmith contacted the LBHF due to the poor condition that her flat was in, rising damp had rendered the flat almost unlivable. This became a complicated internal battle for the LBHF; between the Housing department, the legal officers and the community liaison professionals charged with upholding the rights of the most vulnerable members of society. Detailed exchanges were considered as to whether a family was being left to live in a dilapidated home due to their ethnic origin; their Somaliness was the reason for their arrested development. Exploited by a public service authority who are struggling to maintain a social housing agenda for all. It was only after legal action was threatened that matters were resolved, when the woman in question was re-housed in a new-build three bedroom flat in the borough. It is unsure why such swift action was taken once the woman's legal representatives got involved, but I think one can guess the reasoning behind the LBHF's actions.

This is an example of why problems tend to persist and are not tackled with due diligence. It is with this in mind that S.A.A.N were told that policing is at the top of the agenda for the LBHF council; all other matters are subsidiary. The authorities are anxious for information regarding a community that they have deemed to be too difficult to decipher from the outside. They need an inside angle; representatives who would benefit from a positive relationship [funds] in return for services rendered. It is the case that other community groups are engaged in this kind of relationship, but have hitherto failed to show they are competent to perform the simplest of tasks. This is a sobering thought; people from the Somali community are willing to perform for food but invariably have proved to be 'not good enough'. The perpetrators of the criminal acts in Hunts Close have been apprehended. There is however a need to identify other suspicious members of the community who are wanted for questioning for their alleged involvement in other incidents.

I hope this piece serves as a warning.

Hunt Close - Hammersmith and Fulham - W12. Who cares?

Anyone who is familiar with the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham appreciates that this is a barometer for the condition of the Somali community in the nation's capital and the United Kingdom as a whole.

This non-descript part of the borough has been a hot spot for simmering tensions between what has been as 'local residents' and the Somali community. So much so that things have taken a turn for the worse recently and it has been confirmed that members of the Somali community have been violently attacked. Two incidents recently have sparked the interest of the Police and the Hate Crimes Caseworkers in the borough; they appear to have been pushed into action. Their need to quell the rise in violence in Hunt Close has led to a change in approach. They now seek to engage members of the Somali community in the borough; to use as a conduit to understanding the concerns of the Somalis in the estate. The Police would also hope for a guide who can help them navigate a path towards closing outstanding criminal cases.

To this end, S.A.A.N have been contacted to help engineer this outcome. S.A.A.N sit on the Community Relations Group in the borough and are a key component in helping to develop a new strategy with the authorities with promoting social cohesion a key component. S.A.A.N would be more than happy in helping to be part of the solution rather than the problem; the Somali community is its key constituency. However, a piecemeal approach to solving a complicated matter would be of use to no one. To my surprise, I have found this to be the case.

From the Somali communities perspective, in Hammersmith and Fulham issues are of a fairly complex nature. Should the local authorities wish to revise their approach in engaging with this social group, they would have to consider the full gamut of reasons as to why matters have stooped to new lows. It is with some concern that our suggestion that a solution to the problem should involve the education, housing, youth services and health departments of the local authority was deemed unsuitable. The theory here being that casework should involve caseworkers and no one else. A criminal act involving members of a community requires immediate attention, this however is to the detriment of understanding the underlying issues and symptoms of the problem. Financial pressure, with a majority of borough councils having to cut costs due to the recession, also constricts the degree to which local authorities wish to act.

A meeting on Monday 2 August will take place to discuss our differing views on these matters and a post on this blog tomorrow evening will provide a summary of these discussions.