Your Place residents in Canning Town told to leave flats

The group were locked out of their flats in Anchor House, Barking Road, which is run by homelessness charity Your Place, yesterday morning (November 4).

They are the last of 25 residents who were told this summer that they would have to leave the block after the charity was commissioned by the Greater London Authority (GLA) to renovate the rooms.

The project will see the flats converted into self-contained units for rough sleepers.

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Rooms at Anchor House are due to be renovated as part of a project to combat rough sleeping (Image: Supplied)

This meant that people already living in the block were forced to find somewhere else to live – but many say this was not possible by the moving out date.

Amanda Carroll, who has lived at Anchor House for more than two years, told the Recorder that she returned to her room yesterday morning to discover that the door was locked.

She said today (November 5): “I have nowhere else to go. They let me back into my room last night, but the police are now here to try to remove us.

“I’m a disabled person with mental health issues and I’ve not been offered a place to live anywhere else.

“We were allocated a worker so we can help be moved on but that did not help. Newham Council has also not made me a priority.”

Another resident, Mai Kanyi, added that she had to sleep at a hotel last night after she was locked out of her room – but did not have anywhere else to go for the long term.

“I do not have access to my medication or my inhaler in my room,” she said. “They threatened to call the police, but I am not a criminal.”

Mai Kanyi says her medication and inhaler are locked in her room (Image: Supplied)

Your Place has said that the rooms which will be renovated are “move-on flats”, claiming that those who lived there are “ready to move into longer-term accommodation”.

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A spokesperson added that residents were served notice in August, and that the charity had recruited an additional support worker to help affected residents find new accommodation.

They claimed that the remaining residents have “refused all accommodation options presented to them”, but some, including Amanda, dispute that they have had any housing offers.

The charity said that its resident services team held one-to-one meetings in October with people who had not yet found a new home.

Newham Council has been approached for a response.