Lawyers Lana Adamou and Aneela Samrai, with Streets Kitchen’s Jon Glackin at the meeting

THE criminalisation of homelessness through police powers has become a “particular problem in Camden”, a community meeting heard last week.

Lawyers from Hodge Jones and Allen and Liberty, joined by the co-founders of the Museum of Homelessness and outreach group Streets Kitchen, met at St Michael’s Church in Camden Town on Thursday night to discuss how rough sleepers are being targeted by the police. Camden’s deputy leader Councillor Pat Callaghan and council officers also attended.

Lawyer Lana Adamou from Liberty, the largest civil liberties organisation in the country, represented Anthony Sinclair in his challenge against the Met Police after he was evicted from his sleeping spot outside University College Hospital.

Mr Sinclair slept in a tent for nine months by the warm air-conditioning vents until he was handed a dispersal order and arrested while his tent was thrown away.

Ms Adamou said at the meeting: “The police apologised, which is incredibly rare. I’ve been working in action against the police for about 15 years and it can take two years to get an apology. They admitted that the use of dispersal powers had been unlawful.

“This is a fantastic outcome for Anthony. He no longer faces any repercussions and rightly so. It shows that people experiencing homelessness can stand up for their rights.”

But alongside dispersal orders, she said community protection notices, which stop people from doing something or going somewhere, are becoming “routine” in Camden.

She said: “They are used as a way to sanitise the high street. Some of the CPNs Liberty have seen include stopping people from holding a cup in public, sitting on the floor, going into a shop, being in a residential property, all things that the rest of us do without any repercussions because we’re not homeless. It’s actually not that hard to challenge them because often they’re so incredibly unreasonable.”

She said the fact that the council’s own homelessness outreach, done by Routes Off The Streets (RTS), sometimes takes police officers with them was “counterproductive” and ruins trust.

Gillian Marston, director of supporting communities at the council, said: “RTS do about 20 outreach a week, about three of those are with the police in particular high profile areas. I do think there is more of that work that we can do with Streets Kitchen without the police, dare I say, to have that different type of relationship. We’re open to doing all of those things and looking at things fresh which is also part of the review that we promised we would do to look at the way we operate.”

Paul Renny, a Unison rep and Streets Kitchen volunteer, said working with the police is “not showing solidarity with the homeless”.

Streets Kitchen gave out 129 breakfasts last Saturday morning but Mr Renny said: “That’s not the extent of it. You can’t wish that away. It’s a disgrace. It’s a disgrace in a rich borough like Camden. If there’s a will there is a way.”

Streets Kitchen told the New Journal this week: “While it was disappointing to have no representation from the commissioned outreach teams, it was good to have some senior Camden Council staff present, which is encouraging. “We have initiatives that we need people to help with, like assisting with homeless applications. Email us at getinvolved@ streetskitchen.org.”