Since becoming a Trustee at CDA and being part of their engagement work with the council, I’ve seen how the local authority tries to include Disabled people in its processes and decisions.
While their efforts and their support for CDA are important and encouraging, I believe they still have some internal work to do to fully understand and be able to implement more radically inclusive ways of working and using trauma-informed approaches.
That means acknowledging and addressing institutional, as well as physical barriers, and making all their services fully accessible by consistently consulting with, and actively listening to, Disabled people early on and throughout the whole process. Even if that means hearing critical feedback that may be challenging.
Their track record on housing shows us why more inclusive ways of working are so urgently needed. The Housing Ombudsman has published a damning report on the conduct of Camden’s housing department. The paper says the department has let residents down with its handling of complaints and repairs and its responses to ‘vulnerable’ people.
When interacting with residents living with impairments or conditions, says the report, the landlord showed a lack of recognition of their needs. It also lacked a policy regarding reasonable adjustments, which resulted in communication barriers.
In one case, a deaf resident’s request for an in-person British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter was delayed for four months. In another case, an elderly man racked with arthritis and other serious health conditions was forced to live in a wooden shack because Camden Council failed to fix the lifts in his flats.
In yet another example, the landlord neglected to provide an autistic person with written back-up of verbal conversations, as per their request, until a discrimination claim was threatened three months later.
The report also exampled instances of rude and/or dismissive attitudes of officers towards Disabled people, including when they made disclosures about their conditions.
In response to the criticisms, the council said: “We have experienced many years of under-investment from government and there is a critical shortage of affordable housing. We are pleased the report acknowledges our commitment to the long-term improvement of housing and repairs services.”
The Camden 25 Vision states: ‘Together we want to make Camden a better borough – a place where everyone has a chance to succeed, where nobody gets left behind, and where everybody has a voice’. Yet, the complaints in the ombudsman report show the landlord has sometimes not heard its residents.
Sadly this report is telling of some ongoing long-term issues mentioned previously. Since joining CDA I have also not always felt heard by them or like my feedback really mattered.
Working with us properly means more than a performative ticking off of some boxes to say ‘CDA visited, job done’, or maintaining ineffective bureaucratic processes just because that’s how they were done before.
It means systemically changing the way they work and communicate to fully include us from the beginning to the end. Only then can the council start to fully regain the trust of its Disabled residents.
