'Street Seen': Belfasts own Homeless Paper

antrim | arts and media | press release

Saturday October 16, 2004 17:47

by Jon Glackin - Street Seen

streetseen04 at hotmail dot com

0774 327 5533

making the invisible visible

The official launch of the Belfast newspaper ‘Street Seen’ is to take place at the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre, Donegal Street at 3.30pm this Tuesday 19th October. The paper is to be a local street paper for homeless people in Belfast and apart from advice and support for homeless people; it will cover politics, culture and many issues relevant to society. The first edition is now on the streets

The official launch of the Belfast newspaper ‘Street Seen’ is to take place at the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre, Donegal Street at 3.30pm this Tuesday 19th October. The paper is to be a local street paper for homeless people in Belfast and apart from advice and support for homeless people; it will cover politics, culture and many issues relevant to society. The first edition is now on the streets

Jon Glackin – Coordinator of Street Seen says ‘ that this is an essential project to attempt to bring the real and growing issues of homelessness to wider society while providing a support network for those on the street’.

Davy Carlin – Editorial Committee {Street Seen} and Chair of the Anti Racism Network says’. ‘As you walk about the streets of Belfast the faces of the homeless are becoming ever younger and more numerous, it is time that those voices find a hearing and that the underlying problems that has laid to their homelessness is now prioritised and urgently addressed’

Paddy Hughes – Deputy President, Queens University Belfast says ‘It is our responsibility as students to raise awareness, not only of problems particular to students, but also those present within the wider community with the aim of effecting genuine social change. It is for that reason that I am delighted to be lending my support to ‘Street Seen’.

Terri Hooley - Editorial committee – {Street Seen} says ‘It is time that those that are on many occasions ‘invisible’ in voice, that they should now become visible and vocal with the issue of homelessness brought to the front of the agenda.. Street Seen is an initiative taken to attempt to raise the very voices of those that have been to long ignored’

Mark Thomas – Comedian, ‘This is an important initiative and I offer my support and hope Street Seen goes from strength to strength in bringing to light such an important issue’.

Contact the Editorial Committee of ‘Street Seen’ in the first instance for any further information.

Jon Glackin on 07743275533,
Davy Carlin on 07974632485,

Streetseen04@hotmail.com

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Comments (2 of 2)

Housing hell

by never trust the rich

Sun Oct 17, 2004 00:11

Greedy private landlords prefer to rent their 2 up 2 down fire trap terrace properties in the Holylands to rowdy anti social middle class students, and cram 8 gormless students into their HMOs, to make quick exorbitant profits charging £160 per student per room, this not only causes a fire and health hazard but also is making permanent holyland residents lives a living hell.

This coupled with the Housing Executive imposed private rent shortfalls/capping and legislation which requires those on DHSS to apply for Discretionary hardship payments every 3/6 months to top up private rent shortfalls, instead of the previously applying just once a year, has made many families/working class people homeless, despite the fact that the Housing executive has not got the affordable public housing stock to rehome families and children that their nonsensical policies make homeless. In fact it costs more to house families in 'temporary' homeless hostels/B&B than it does to top up private rent short falls.

Many families and children find themselves living in such 'temporary' homeless accomodation for 8 months to 2 years, because the HE has not got affordable public housing stock available to rehome them in the first place. Instead of investing in reburbishing their existing stock of Housing executive properties and increasing the affordable housing stock in working class areas, the Housing executive prefers to let their properties run down, and sell these off to private developers for profits, in the hope of ultimately destroying working class communities and forcing these communities to relocate to places away from the center of belfast to allow private developers to move in to make profits building empty white elephants office blocks/luxury apartments that nobody can affford, which the private property developers then sell back to the HE at a profit, to house old people and the homeless.

The days of the HE being allowed to build and house families in the likes of Divis/unity flats have gone but you can bet, eventually desperate homeless families and young people will find themselves crammed into those luxury white elephant apartment blocks along lagan side/ central station, and for families with young children, high rise apartments are anything but luxurious.

Bravo!

by jon glackin - street seen

Sun Oct 17, 2004 15:13

Couldnt have put it clearer.. mail me if you have more to say and do...

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'Street Seen': Belfasts own Homeless Paper

Comments (2 of 2)