As a journalist, it is part of our job to go out and meet people, carry out face-to-face interviews and see first hand what it is we’re writing about.
In reality, the pressures of daily web deadlines, general workload and not being on patch mean that isn’t always possible and sometimes we have to resort to sitting firmly behind our desks with the phone in constant use.
When Melissa Lennox contacted me a few weeks ago to tell me that she was being forced into a cockroach-infested flat in Tottenham, I knew this was something I had to see for myself. I am not a glutton for punishment but this was definitely one of those occasions where seeing this with my own eyes was an absolute necessity. And no discredit to Melissa, but I had to see if this was really true or just an exaggerated story in a ploy to get moved.
I can safely say that the day I visited the Russell Road hostel was the saddest and hardest day of my journalism life. When I said in my initial story that cockroaches roamed the corridors, leaving their egg sacks everywhere, I was sparing the readers the details. I was horrified that anyone lived in this sad excuse for accommodation and even more horrified that the council seemed to believe it was suitable living conditions. I wonder if any of them had actually been down to Russell Road and seen what I saw.
It was easy for me. I interviewed Melissa, the photographer took photos and we walked away as she cried at her predicament. It took me 24 hours to feel physically rid of the effects of the block. My shoes are still outside my house though as I’m scared I stepped in an egg sack and could infest my house with cockroaches.
It took me 24 hours but for the people living there the nightmare continues.
Last week another resident contacted me from the same block. She told me that she had lived there for years. She has a child. She sent me pictures of the mice she had caught in a glue trap she put down. Those were the mice she caught, I dread to think about the ones that escaped.
As the story has unfolded and I have spoken to more residents the picture I am building up of this hostel is disgraceful. Rats, mice and cockroaches seem to be roaming freely, leaving their droppings and egg sacks along their way. I’ve seen and heard enough to know that this place should be shut down for good. But it won’t be, because there’s nowhere else to put these people who have been waiting for some more permanent accommodation for years.
Haringey has nearly 5,500 people in temporary accommodation and I am sure Russell Road is not a one-off story. I have already spoken to another man in temporary accommodation in Tottenham who has been dealing with a cockroach infestation for the past three years. It’s a really sad reality that these people can do very little else but accept their fate and it’s even sadder that Haringey Council, for all its attempts to be seen to be doing the right thing, is failing these people.
Everyone deserves a clean and safe roof over their head. Rich or poor, old or young, it’s really not much to ask. The Russell Road block is nothing short of an outrage and whoever is ultimately to blame should hang their head in shame for allowing anyone to live even for one night in these conditions. No one deserves to live among vermin and disease.
Of the hundreds of stories I have written for this paper, and the hundreds of people I have interviewed, this tale is the single most distressing I have come across. This isn’t about exclusives or hard-hitting headlines, this is about real people and real lives being affected daily by incompetence and disregard.
I’ve never felt more strongly. Haringey Council, do something. Now.
Posted by: Carter Young at 3:29pm on Wed 19 Mar 08
So true. How can we live in a modern society, be one of the world's superpowers and allow our own citizens to live in such squalor.
It makes me ashamed to call myself a Londoner.
So true. How can we live in a modern society, be one of the world's superpowers and allow our own citizens to live in such squalor.
Caron, as i read your article my skin started to crawl as if invisible insects were on me. I am distressed just reading that article, i cannot even begin to imagine what it is like for the residents.
Haringey council - instead of sitting in your offices drinking coffee - perhaps you should look at the places you are asking people to reside in. Change it for these people - do your job. I wonder if it was your families living there would things be done a little quicker.....
Caron, as i read your article my skin started to crawl as if invisible insects were on me. I am distressed just reading that article, i cannot even begin to imagine what it is like for the residents.
Haringey council - instead of sitting in your offices drinking coffee - perhaps you should look at the places you are asking people to reside in. Change it for these people - do your job. I wonder if it was your families living there would things be done a little quicker.....
Your compassion has transcended beyond the page. Really good blog! I'm even more grateful for my wonderful insect-free home.
In fact, I think you deserve an award Miss Caron.
Your compassion has transcended beyond the page. Really good blog! I'm even more grateful for my wonderful insect-free home.
Posted by: Saroozy Pessek at 6:32pm on Wed 19 Mar 08
As a homeless person, I empathise with these people and what they have to go through. No-one should live like this. Everyone should be entitled to decent living.
I pray for a quick resolution of their situation and mine.
As a homeless person, I empathise with these people and what they have to go through. No-one should live like this. Everyone should be entitled to decent living.
I pray for a quick resolution of their situation and mine.
Dear Caron,
The experience of Melissa Lennox is a single case of a much wider problem affecting many thousands of families across the United Kingdom.
Our Labour run council, and our Labour run government, have clearly failed to deliver on promises to build more social housing. There are people still living in temporary accomodation, whilst residing in this country for over ten years. It is a complete disgrace! That is it, I am off to the US, where at least, and to some extent, I will have a decent standard of living!!!!!!!!!
Dear Caron,
The experience of Melissa Lennox is a single case of a much wider problem affecting many thousands of families across the United Kingdom.
Our Labour run council, and our Labour run government, have clearly failed to deliver on promises to build more social housing. There are people still living in temporary accomodation, whilst residing in this country for over ten years. It is a complete disgrace! That is it, I am off to the US, where at least, and to some extent, I will have a decent standard of living!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Clive Carter at 12:02pm on Mon 5 May 08
This is a shocking story in Europe's biggest city, in a wealthy country in the 21st century. The output of services Haringey Council is not what it should be because of waste. This story ought to be shaming to the Council. It should not happen and the tragedy is that Haringey has huge monies to play with.
Unfortunately, much is spent on PR and self-promotion and trying to persuade the public how excellent everything is, when they know it is not. This is a Council that never apologizes, never admits mistakes and against much evidence, is convinced of its righteousness. Heavily into self-congratulation, this is one story that they won't mention.
If there was less waste there would be more money available for real services at the sharp end.
A year ago, the Council wanted to spend £8,000 paying a favoured artist to paint wavy coloured strips on eight privately owned shop shutters near Haringey railway station. A council officer announced this price tag to a small public meeting in a matter-of-fact voice as if this kind of thing was normal. In a relatively wealthy part of our Borough, this was met by some with amazement at the cost, waste and extravagance. One suspects that this kind of waste was not an isolated example.
On a far bigger scale, for example, is the chronic waste at the Council-controlled facility of Alexandra Palace, where millions have been lost by poor Council leadership and judgement.
At the other end of the scale, some law firms and a PR company have done exceedingly well out of council taxpayers' monies, all in pursuit of a misconceived policy of selling the People's Palace to a property developer for a reported £1.5 million. Only.
What hope is there for those at the bottom of the heap when Haringey Council carry on like this?
The human tragedy is the price some of the poorest pay for gross incompetence and mismanagement elsewhere in the council empire.
This is a shocking story in Europe's biggest city, in a wealthy country in the 21st century. The output of services Haringey Council is not what it should be because of waste. This story ought to be shaming to the Council. It should not happen and the tragedy is that Haringey has huge monies to play with.
Unfortunately, much is spent on PR and self-promotion and trying to persuade the public how excellent everything is, when they know it is not. This is a Council that never apologizes, never admits mistakes and against much evidence, is convinced of its righteousness. Heavily into self-congratulation, this is one story that they won't mention.
If there was less waste there would be more money available for real services at the sharp end.
A year ago, the Council wanted to spend £8,000 paying a favoured artist to paint wavy coloured strips on eight privately owned shop shutters near Haringey railway station. A council officer announced this price tag to a small public meeting in a matter-of-fact voice as if this kind of thing was normal. In a relatively wealthy part of our Borough, this was met by some with amazement at the cost, waste and extravagance. One suspects that this kind of waste was not an isolated example.
On a far bigger scale, for example, is the chronic waste at the Council-controlled facility of Alexandra Palace, where millions have been lost by poor Council leadership and judgement.
At the other end of the scale, some law firms and a PR company have done exceedingly well out of council taxpayers' monies, all in pursuit of a misconceived policy of selling the People's Palace to a property developer for a reported £1.5 million. Only.
What hope is there for those at the bottom of the heap when Haringey Council carry on like this?
The human tragedy is the price some of the poorest pay for gross incompetence and mismanagement elsewhere in the council empire.
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