Call for a ‘Kane’s Law’ to help the homeless
BIRMINGHAM MPs are set to unite behind a calls for the government to create a ‘Kane’s Law’ requiring public services to work together to prevent homelessness.
It follows the death of Kane Walker, the homeless man who died in a Birmingham underpass in January.
The idea was developed in a summit involving Birmingham’s MPs, Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Homeless- ness, Councillor Sharon Thompson, and the city’s homelessness charities. At the moment, local councils have a legal duty to try to prevent homelessness.
But the proposed new law would place a general duty on all public services like the NHS and Department for Work and Pensions – which is responsible for benefits – to work together to stop people becoming homeless.
The summit was convened by Liam Byrne MP, the MP for Hodge Hill. He said: “The safety net that stops people falling onto the streets is being broken apart – and what’s clear is that we’re running the risk of Kane’s death happening again.
“Birmingham City Council is doing the best it cane in the face of enormous cuts but unless we require the DWP, NHS, mental health services, council and housing providers to work together, its clear more deaths on our streets might happen.
“On top of the almost 3,000 homeless people who have died in the last five years.”
Andrew Mitchell, MP for Sutton Coldfield, said: “This is a good initiative and fits in well with the work our West Midlands Mayor Andy Street is doing, which is bearing down forcefully on the causes of homelessness.”
Mr Walker, aged 31, died under Smallbrook Queensway, close to the Bullring.
The emergency services were called but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
An estimated 45 people die while homeless in the West Midlands every year.
In five years there have been at least 223 deaths on the region’s streets and in temporary hostels, refuges and shelters.