Again

So here I am, this is the second time I’ve been in court and what I notice is although I’m feeling a bit nervous, I also feel a bit more confident this time round.

I’ve been practising my barrister’s name; she’s a sweetheart, and we talk about the facts of the case. We get into shared stories of homelessness and the realities of temporary accommodation. She talks about navigating exams in temporary accommodation and being able to speak as a woman, we share stories of the women around us, near and far and those who came before us.

We talk about the realities of a job market with ageism, how it works against women with children too.

We talk about the advice given to my tenant, how if it were followed she would incur more costs and put off the inevitable that wouldn’t serve either her or my interests. We recount stories of where the police were unhelpful unless truly pressed to move beyond the posters on their walls.

We talk about her and my costs and the requirements of the insurance company. How if I’d come by train it would have cost in more time and £24.00 return.

She raises the advice given, and fortunately the judge gets it.

I don’t know about her, but I ponder how it might serve a council, choices about supporting women, landlords or investing in social housing…

I’m reminded of inattentional blindness and can’t now think it’s that given what I wrote during the homelessness “consultation” all those years ago. Though so often we discover the right hand doesn’t seem to know what the left hand is doing, so perhaps I’m being too critical. Perhaps I’m not being critical enough.  Somewhere in between?

Meanwhile, I reach out to Be More Dandelion and others to see if they have any social housing contacts. Like we keep saying, not my job and yet…

The above question was posed the other day in a different context but it’s equally relevant here. What is the problem we are looking to solve? Homelessness, domestic violence, climate change, social determinants of health, support for women?

I was a bit stumped as to what to write next, perhaps it’s the heat? Perhaps it’s the circular nature of things and as I too often do, I lean into LinkedIn and stumbled upon Sasja Beslik’s post 205,000 people die preventable deaths in Europe over four years, hundreds died in the heat despite detailed plans, the authorities knew addresses, knew names but failed to reach out, their extensive plans came to nothing. European governments had forecasts, evidence, plans and legal obligations, everything except the will to act.

what is the value of solving these things?, what is the cost of not? More adverse childhood experiences? Something else?

What would you add?