By William Coleman
I am a firm believer in that if you are in a position to help someone in need you should. But like the old adage goes, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Recently in Havant a kind hearted samaritan decided to convert an old caravan into accommodation for the homeless but now faces backlash from neighbours and a fine from the local council. What has this world come to?
Becky Catchpole, 35, from Hampshire has done something that not a lot of people would do for another person and is now facing the brunt of the law for doing so. Her local council has decided that she should be subject to a £5,000 fine and the mother of 2 is “outraged” at what has gone in.
Not too long ago I wrote a short article on the rules and regulations of storing a caravan on a freehold or shared property and I did mention that there are some people out there who do have a bit of a stigma toward caravans. Now combine housing the homeless in one and you will soon see some eyebrows raised.
Such is life that a neighbour of Becky’s actually complained about the situation which was then been followed up by the communication from the council who claim that she has ‘breached planning law’.
The 1960s caravan which sat peacefully on Becky’s driveway was converted into a fully functioning living space, and listed on AirBnb, which was then opened up to house a elderly rough sleeper and their dog free of charge. Something that I think is a very honourable thing to do for someone who is in such need of help. It is also just a temporary solution until the local council can house the homeless man.
Following her kind hearted act council officers have accused her of breaching planning laws and have insisted that she remove the homeless person or face this enormous fine. Not sure the crime, if it is one, fits the punishment.
Morally and ethically speaking I find several things wrong with this situation. As far as I am aware a local council has the task of reducing the amount of homeless people and to protect people of its boroughs. So in this instance the local council are insisting that a person is put in harm’s way and made homeless, or they will accept a payment and all will be forgotten.
Becky has said: “I’m trying to do a good deed and help someone off the street and now I’m being threatened with a £5,000 fine. It’s absolutely outrageous.
“It’s the council’s fault this man is homeless in the first place. They haven’t found him anywhere to live.
“I’m letting him sleep for free while he waits. Now the council want to throw him back on the street.”
The ruling made by Havant Council was on the grounds that the caravan is actually a separate dwelling on her property, which I am guessing they feel should be subject to some form of taxation. Following the letter from the council there is now only a couple of weeks to fight for the to use the stationary caravan to help our most needy.
Councillor Narinder Bains said: “We risk a dilemma of setting up those who are homeless to fail. You can give anybody somewhere to stay but with it has to come with the support to manage them and you can’t get that by staying in a caravan.
“Everybody has got guidelines to abide by. As much as we wanted to be kindhearted, we have to understand rules are there for a reason. In this case, it’s about safeguarding.”
On a personal level I do understand that there are some safeguarding concerns and rules in place to protect the vulnerable. But I point blank refuse to believe that safeguarding is “safer” for someone when they live in a doorway than in a temporarily housing someone in a caravan, where they will not get rained on, freeze or even worse come to some serious harm from other people.
It seems that the whole situation has stemmed from one neighbour who just took issue. Do they dislike caravans or do they have some sort of issue with the homeless? No matter how you may feel about those less fortunate than us who have to sleep rough you should never go out of your way to put someone back on the streets. What harm was actually being done to the neighbour who complained?
I guess we will never know!
Story credit- www.thesun.co.uk
Photo credit- Solent News
