Fears at Dudley community centre that cuts may cost lives for the worst off
People on the breadline in Dudley fear they might pay with their lives as the cost of living continues to rise.
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Service users at the Cadrene Supported Living Centre said that they fight a daily battle against grinding poverty and council services cuts will only worsen matters.
Ferristina Peart-Smith, from Dudley, is facing eviction from her home at the end of the month and may end up on the streets.
The 57-year-old, who has a heart condition and is living with her 22-year-old son who has mental health problems, said: “Everything is just escalating, this is the last straw. We need help, and the main place we can get help from is the council. If the council is not helping, where are we going to go?”
Dudley Council is currently debating £42m in savings for the next financial year and along with an increase in council rents and a reduction in council tax relief work working people, the authority is also considering cuts to the Welfare Rights Team and mental health services.
Gary Morgan, aged 58 and from Dudley, said: “I struggle and in April they are going to kill us again, what are the council doing? Where does the money go?”
Mr Morgan has been looking for a job for the last year and says his situation is so bad he has considered suicide.
He added: “I was sat in the dark for seven days, I have £13 a week after bills and food and that is gone after two weeks – it’s not working, it is broken Britain.”
Another service user, a former prison inmate recovering from serious medical problems who did not wish to be identified, said he is broke for two weeks every month.
The Dudley man, who despite his medical condition is now looking for a job, said: “I go to a mate’s to shower, I heat or eat and I never watch TV.
"I feel like a tramp on the street and all the things they are cutting is going to make it harder and harder.
“I need help but I am having to do it all myself, I nearly died last year.”
Councillor Caroline Reid, who runs the centre in New Street, Dudley, said: “Our concern is, with all the rises that are going to go on and the reduction in help with council tax, we are going to see a lot more people with mental health and are in crisis with food and welfare benefits.
“How are they going to survive? I fear I’m going to see more people attempting suicide.”
Dudley Council leader, Councillor Patrick Harley, rejects the suggestion cuts will impact on services.
He said: “We have gone through that budget painstakingly, we have identified where departments are double counting and providing the same service, they are just not talking to each other.
“In mental health services there is a lot of duplication and a lot of savings there where they are doing the same task with the same people but spending several different pots of money, we are bringing that to an end.”
“There will be a reduction of service because some departments have been delivering the same service without talking to their counterparts but, will there still be a high level of service for those people that need it? Yes there will be.”
Whatever the outcome of budget discussions, which will conclude with a vote at Dudley Council in late February, for some people there is no time for delay.
The former prison inmate said: “I’ll find my own job or do my own business and if it kills me, it’s better than living in the gutter.”
