“A truly inspiring organisation”

Hastings MP Sally-Ann Hart visited HFS to find out more about furniture poverty on Saturday 11th January.

As we showed her around our Hastings store, we talked about how important it is for people’s dignity and independence to have a choice of affordable furniture and white goods, how providing furniture helps people recover from crises like domestic violence, homelessness or a home fire, and outlined our partnership work furnishing homes for resettling households.

We explained how the loss of LWA (Local Welfare Assistance) funds from the Government had removed the safety net for people setting up or maintaining homes after crisis.

Hastings MP finds out about furniture poverty at HFS

Sally-Ann says “ HFS is a truly inspiring organisation!”

“It was great to hear from the staff about the work they are doing to help the lowest paid, but also support those individuals currently out of work by getting them the training and skills they need to gain employment.”

“I will be advocating for improved early intervention and prevention services, particularly for children, young people and families. Early intervention can prevent further problems from developing. As it is more effective to provide early help when problems first arise than to intervene later, we need to focus more closely on early intervention holistically, looking at the wider needs of an individual or family. This might require more funding initially, but will save money in the long term. More importantly, successful early intervention will give our local residents the best chance of thriving.”

vote in Hastings and Rye

Your vote counts!

We asked parliamentary candidates in East Sussex whether they would pledge to campaign to save Local Welfare Assistance (LWA) funding and ring-fence it to protect the services it funds.

LWA is a safety net that enables some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged households to get through a crisis, obtain and set up a basic home including beds and bedding, emergency food and rent deposits.

At HFS we see the direct results of this support because we source and deliver brand new beds, bedding, cookers and fridges for people in Hastings and Rother who apply to the County Council for this help (click to read more about the scheme).

Separate, ring-fenced LWA funding was abolished in April 2015. The Government said that Councils would allocate funds for the services from their core grant; they suggested amounts but refused to ring-fence funds. Council core grants are reducing each year (local Councils say their budgets have been reduced 40% since 2010) so the lack of separate, ring-fenced funding puts LWA services at risk.

If you haven’t yet decided how to vote on 8th June, please bear in mind that the candidates’ intentions on issues like this can make a real difference to local households in need. 

These candidates have pledged support:

Peter Chowney – Labour – Hastings & Rye

Colin Stocks – Green Party – Wealden

Nicholas Wilson – Independent (Vote Ethical) – Hastings & Rye

Angie Smith – Labour – Wealden

Caroline Lucas – Green Party – Brighton Pavilion

 

We’ve not yet heard from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or UKIP.

 

 

 




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