Council cuts accommodation for 'non-priority' homeless people after 'unprecedented' demand
Homeless people in Trafford will only receive emergency accommodation in accordance with its council's legal obligations following a senior officer's decision.
The move announced on the authority's website said the borough is currently experiencing 'unprecedented levels of homelessness' with a 'significant increase' in the need for temporary housing and bed and breakfast accommodation.
Trafford's corporate director of place Richard Roe said in a report that the problem is 'creating substantial budget pressure for the council'.
READ MORE: Man's body found after police close off road
READ MORE: Night of violence erupts in town centre as shop workers attacked and abused
As part of the Homeless Reduction Act 2017 the authority must provide emergency housing if the applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance and in 'priority need'.
Priority need is where people have certain vulnerabilities, including pregnant women, people with dependent children, victims of domestic abuse, 16 or 17-year-olds, and 18 to 21-year-olds who were previously in the local authority care, and who may be at risk of sexual or financial exploitation.
Rough sleepers, disabled people, those with a mental health condition, elderly people who are terminally ill and people who have served in the armed forces also fall into this category.
Mr Roe's report said: 'For those individuals who do not fall into the priority need category, we do not legally have a duty to accommodate them.
'However, Trafford has been accommodating non-priority individuals since the Greater Manchester Mayor's A Bed Every Night (ABEN) initiative was established in 2018 and we are only funded by Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to provide 11 units under ABEN.
'But all individuals have continued to be housed in B&B/temporary accommodation - including non-priority - even when ABEN provision is at capacity.
'As placements increase and B&B costs continue to rise to unsustainable levels; while limited resources need to be targeted at those which the council has a statutory duty to support, Trafford will now only place those homeless individuals where it has a statutory duty to do so - priority.'
This decision comes against a backdrop of an expected 7.49 per cent increase in council tax for Trafford residents.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Epoch Times
6 days ago
- Epoch Times
Trump Administration Removes Hospital Guidance on Emergency Abortions
The Trump administration announced that it was ending Biden-era guidance that directed hospitals to provide emergency abortions for women across the country. Issued in 2022, the guidance was an effort to preserve abortion access nationwide for women in extreme cases in the wake of the Supreme Court issuing the Dobbs Decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned rulemaking on abortion back to the state level.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Trump administration rescinds guidance on emergency abortions in hospitals
The Trump administration announced on Tuesday it is rescinding Biden-era guidance that uses a federal law to require hospitals to stabilize patients in need of emergency care -- including by providing an abortion. In July 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidance that, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), doctors must perform abortions in emergency departments -- even in states where the procedure is illegal -- particularly if it serves as a "stabilizing medical treatment" for an emergency medical condition. Emergency medical conditions included, but were not limited to, "ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features." MORE: Biden administration announces new steps to protect contraceptives, abortion medication on Roe anniversary EMTALA, which was passed in 1986, ensures that emergency patients receive services and treatment regardless of ability to pay. Hospitals that refuse to provide "necessary stabilizing care" or "an appropriate transfer" can face civil monetary penalties. The HHS guidance was one of the attempts of the Biden administration to preserve abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, ending federal protections for abortion rights. However, HHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rescinded the guidance, as well as an accompanying letter from former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, saying they "do not reflect the policy of this Administration." "CMS will continue to enforce EMTALA, which protects all individuals who present to a hospital emergency department seeking examination or treatment, including for identified emergency medical conditions that place the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy," a press release from the agency read. "CMS will work to rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration's actions," the press release continued. MORE: Woman sues Kansas hospital over alleged denial of emergency abortion Abortion rights groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized the administration and accused President Donald Trump of walking back on a campaign promise not to interfere with abortion access. "By rescinding this guidance, the Trump administration has sent a clear signal that it is siding not with the majority, but with its anti-abortion allies -- and that will come at the expense of women's lives," Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, deputy director of the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement. "The ACLU will use every lever we have to keep President Trump and his administration from endangering our health and lives." The Biden administration's guidance has faced legal challenges in the past. In January 2024, a federal appeals court ruled that Texas hospitals and doctors are not required to perform emergency abortions despite the guidance. Meanwhile, earlier this year, the Department of Justice dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Biden administration against the state of Idaho, claiming its near-total abortion ban violated EMTALA.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Trump administration rolls back guidance specifying that ERs must offer abortion care when necessary
The US Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Tuesday that they were rescinding 2022 federal guidance to health care providers specifying that people should be able to access an abortion in the event of a medical emergency, even if state laws restrict such procedures. The previous guidance from the Biden administration does not 'reflect the policy of this Administration,' according to an announcement of the policy change. CMS added that it will continue to enforce the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, known as EMTALA, and it specified that the policy included 'identified emergency medical conditions that place the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy.' However, it remains unclear exactly what the change will mean for emergency care, particularly in states with highly restrictive abortion laws. EMTALA requires all US hospitals that have received Medicare money — essentially nearly all of them — to screen everyone who comes into their emergency rooms to determine whether the person has an emergency medical condition without regard for their ability to pay for services. The 1986 law also requires hospitals, to the best of their ability, to stabilize anyone who has an emergency medical condition or to transfer them to another facility that has that capacity. The hospitals must also treat these patients 'until the emergency medical condition is resolved or stabilized.' Pregnant people were singled out in 1989, after reports that some hospitals were refusing to care for uninsured women in labor. Congress expanded EMTALA to specify that it included people who were pregnant and having contractions. In 2021, the Biden administration released the Reinforcement of EMTALA Obligation, which says it is a doctor's duty to provide stabilizing treatment that 'preempts any directly conflicting state law or mandated that might otherwise prohibit or prevent such treatment,' although it did not specify whether an abortion had to be provided. In July 2022, weeks after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that gave pregnant people a constitutional right to an abortion, the Biden administration's guidance further clarified that EMTALA included the need to perform stabilization abortion care if it is medically necessary to treat an emergency medical condition. If a state law banned abortion and did not include an exception for the life or health of the pregnant person, that law was preempted by the federal statute. After Roe was overturned, several states passed highly restrictive abortion bans. Thirteen have total abortion bans, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights. Twenty-eight states have abortion bans based on gestational duration: seven ban it at or before 18 weeks' gestation, and 21 states ban abortion at some point after 18 weeks. Idaho has one of the more restrictive laws, making it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy unless it was necessary to save the life of a pregnant person. In 2024, the US Supreme Court formally dismissed an appeal over Idaho's strict abortion ban. The decision was interpreted as meaning that pregnant people should be able to access an abortion in a medical emergency under EMTALA, but experts said that in reality, pregnant people were still being denied care. Some doctors even advised pregnant patients to buy life flight insurance in case they had an emergency complication that the doctors could not treat and the patient had to be flown out of state. In March, the Trump administration took a major step in support of states with abortion bans when it dropped a Biden-era lawsuit against Idaho that sought to protect abortion access in medical emergencies. Tuesday's announcement from CMS says the agency will 'work to rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration's actions.' The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a professional organization that represents the majority of practitioners in the United States, was critical of the move. 'Rescinding guidance clarifying protections for the care of pregnant people experiencing emergencies is a poor decision that will undoubtedly endanger the lives and health of pregnant women, who are already facing difficulties accessing needed abortion care during obstetrical complications,' Molly Meegan, the group's chief legal officer and general counsel, said in an email Tuesday. She said the announcement will 'deepen confusion' about when emergency care is legal and exacerbate 'overwhelming barriers to care' for people across the US. 'Abortion is an essential part of medical care, and EMTALA protections should be afforded to all patients in need of emergency care, including abortion,' Meegan said. The ACLU, Democracy Forward and the National Women's Law Center, organizations that have advocated for pregnant people's right to an abortion, were also critical of the new decision, characterizing it as 'caving to its anti-abortion allies' and saying it's a reversal of Trump's campaign pledge that he wouldn't interfere with abortion access. 'The Trump administration cannot simply erase four decades of law protecting patients' lives with the stroke of a pen,' Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, deputy director of the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a statement. No matter where a person lives in the United States, Kolbi-Molinas said, they should have access to emergency care, and the ACLU will 'use every lever we have to keep President Trump and his administration from endangering our health and lives.' Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center, called the administration hypocritical for its push for a new American 'baby boom' while making a decision that the group says will put people's lives at risk. 'To be clear: this action doesn't change hospitals' legal obligations, but it does add to the fear, confusion, and dangerous delays patients and providers have faced since the fall of Roe v. Wade,' Graves said in a statement.
