#refugewomen. Ceiling collapse in womens refuge.

[HelenaDove]

I think this may have been partially resolved now but am sharing it here so MNers on twitter can retweet if they wish to .

HelenaDove Mon 31-Jul-17 01:43:20
From FB but is on twitter #refugewomen

"Need help from my journalist/blogger/legal friends. I am currently in a women's refuge in central London managed by Notting Hill Housing Trust. Last night our ceiling crashed in. Luckily no one was seriously injured but there are 7 vulnerable families living here who have fled domestic violence (8 children in total) and we have no electricity and cannot access our rooms/belongings due to flooding. Kensington and Chelsea are attempting to move us out of London tonight. We are all refusing to leave because we know that it means we will out for good. Can anyone help/advise/spread about what is happening here. From 7 desperate women."
Add message | Report | Message poster HelenaDove Mon 31-Jul-17 01:44:20
" We have been told that if we stay here and die (due to fire) then it is our fault and housing association will take no responsibility, despite the fact that where they are trying to house us is a danger area for a few of the residents here"

twitter.com/RefugeWomen

Why are they refusing to leave if the ceiling is falling down?

Because they want alternative accommodation 1) in London and 2)not back in the areas where their abusers are.

If they agree to be moved to a different area, that's where they'll be housed long term.

Women have been offered accomodation in Barking even though some of their partners are there and have threatened to kill them.

From Dawn Fosters twitter account.

Dawn Foster‏Verified account @DawnHFoster 4h4 hours ago
More
The conditions are awful and @Hestia1970 and @NottingHillHG need to sort it. There were mice and cockroaches beforehand

I don't blame them. I'll have a look.

So they are refusing to leave a dangerous building? Seems they're gambling with their children's lives to prove a point.

Surely they can move just for a short time? Their abusers aren't going to know where they are. Must be better than staying in s dangerous building?
Not sure what OP is asking for here?

Maybe an assurance, in writing, from Refuge/Women's Aid/The housing association that they'll be moved back after repairs would be enough to reassure them?

It's possible that they're more afraid of their husbands than they are of being without hot water in the dark.

I'm sure women with oomph enough to leave violence have been resourceful enough to choose a safe room in the building and take precautions.

I'm sure women with oomph enough to leave violence have been resourceful enough to choose a safe room in the building

I'm not sure there's any correlation between being a structural engineer and leaving an abusive relationship. In fact, I'd suggest that these women are less likely to be thinking clearly and rationally than most.

OP

What was your objective with this thread? I don't support these women staying put and risking their children's lives in a building which professionals have condemned as dangerous.

Thank you for raising attention to this matter OP!

I can understand their point though, if they leave and are housed either miles and miles away, or back in dangerous areas, the council can wash their hands of further responsibility.

Having escaped a violent relationship and currently fighting to protect my kids from him I have masses of sympathy.

It seems to me that they're refusing to leave because they know once they leave the council won't act. They can't be put back in areas where their abusers are, that's horrific. And they've already lost their homes once, and had to uproot their children, I don't blame them for wanting to be housed locally to where they are at all.
It's shocking that this is happening.

Is Cash Carraway one of the women in the refuge, or just someone highlighting what is going on?

I do not trust Kensington and Chelsea council as far as I can spit.

Was Grenfell not enough for you K&C? Absolute shame on this utterly incompetent council!

With this ceiling collapse, K&C had the opportunity to act quickly and correctly, which they certainly didn't do with Grenfell. Did they do this? Did they fuck! This is how out of touch its' leaders are, that they are expecting extremely vulnerable women and children to go and live where ex-partners and families are. They do not care about the lives of people in it's council, especially if you are one of the poorest or most vulnerable.

K&C really are hoping to sweep this under the carpet and hope nobody notices their neglect. They're relying on and exploiting the fact, that these women and children are vulnerable and need to conceal their identities, and can't very easily publicise what has happened by emailing The Sun and having their photos and names printed in a report.

I wonder how many of us will be shocked to learn that Kensington and Chelsea have been cutting corners again, as with the Grenfell cladding, and that this caused the ceiling to collapse? It wouldn't surprise me.

Thank God no one in your refuge was seriously hurt op. I live 10 minutes away, and if I wasn't staying with family elsewhere in the country, I would come and visit to offer any practical support I could. Are they keeping you all warm and dry? Food, clothes etc? Is there anything you think any of you will need immediately or asap?

Please keep us updated on this case op.

I've retweeted.

K&C are a shower of shite. These women should be rehomed within the borough in safe, decent accommodation. It's a fucking disgrace and the worst part is that they're having to publicise this, which makes them visible and vulnerable to the abusers they've escaped from.

The council want to move them because the house is unsafe and the women are refusing to leave. What part of that is difficult to understand Argeles and Floellabumbags?

They are refusing to leave because they fear being put somewhere their abusers could get to them or their children, or be sent hundreds of miles from everything they've ever known 13reasons, can't you see why they're refusing?

:21 Heratnumber7

Surely they can move just for a short time? Their abusers aren't going to know where they are. Must be better than staying in s dangerous building
Not sure what OP is asking for here?

kareningalasmith.com/counting-dead-women/

on New Year’s Day, 2012, 20-year-old Kirsty Treloar got a text from her boyfriend Myles Williams

Okay wer all gud now and my new yrs ressy is that I aint going to hit u again and I won’t hit u 4 this yr next yr the yr after that the next yr after that

The next day he broke into her family’s home, stabbed her brother and sister as they tried to help, then he dragged her into the back of his mother’s car and drove her away. She was found dead 2 miles away, dumped behind a wheelie bin. Kirsty had been stabbed 29 times

Michael Atherton, 42, also sent a text a New Year text. Shortly before midnight, he sent a text to his partner, Susan McGoldrick, saying he was going out and would spend the night away because he didn’t like her sister Alison Turnbull, 44, with whom she was spending the evening. But Susan and Alison came home before he had left. Atherton, who held a gun licence despite a history of arrests for domestic violence dating back 10 years, shot Susan, Alison and Alison’s 24 year old daughter Tanya, before killing himself

On New Year’s Day, Aaron Mann, 31 repeatedly hit Claire O’Connor, 38, with a blunt object before smothering her with a pillow. Her badly beaten body was found wrapped in her son’s sleeping bag and covered in a dirty sheet in the boot of her car on January 2

On the 2nd January 2012, 48 year-old Stephen Farrow stabbed 77-year-old Betty Yates in the head and neck and beat her with her own walking stick

On 3rd of January John McGrory used a dog lead to strangle 39-year-old Marie McGrory. Garry Kane, 41, killed his 87-year-old grandmother Kathleen Milward, though 15 blunt force trauma” injuries on her head and neck

So, in the first three days of 2012, 8 women in the UK were killed through men’s violence. Three days, eight dead women: 3 shot, 2 stabbed, 1 strangled, 1 smothered and one beaten to death. Eight women aged between 20 and 87, their killers aged between 19 and 48 were their husbands, partners, boyfriends or ex’s, sister’s partner, aunt’s partner, robber and grandson

So if you had fled leaving your home friends and family for the safety of you and your children, then maybe just maybe you would be shit scared of returning to an area were you could be recognised and word get back to the abuser you escaped.

Yes, men are violent rapists. Misogyny, patriarchy blah blah. I get that.

That doesn't mean that these women should endanger their children in an unfit house while other people on the internet blame the council for allowing them to be somewhere like that when the women are refusing to leave.

What part of that is difficult to understand Argeles and Floellabumbags?

What part of they're likely to be moved miles away from their jobs/support network/children's schools with no option to return do you not understand? What part of they might be forced to live in the same area as their abusers are you unable to comprehend?

Yes, men are violent rapists. Misogyny, patriarchy blah blah. I get that.

There speaks someone who has absolutely no idea what it's like to escape an abusive relationship. Blah blah? Fuck right off.

Aren't their jobs, support network and children's schools likely to be in the same areas as their alleged abusers?

I'd have thought it quite likely that you leave the area and 'life' behind or not. Which one is it?

I can't imagine accepting living in the same town as an abuser. I would imagine being delighted in moving across the country. I've often left children's schools and work to move long distance. It has advantages.