91 dean st is a direct access hostel situated just off Oxford street in the very heart of london. as you would expect for an address right at the centre of one of the most cosmipolitian cities in the world the rent is expensive: $367.50. per week. Unfort

GIVING PEOPLE AN ADDRESS

AND ADDRESSING PEOPLES NEEDS

We recently had a meeting with upper management. In this meeting we were informed that they had heard from the previous 91 Dean Street Hostel's manager that she was unhappy that her name was used on this website.
We appologise for the inclusion of her name and it has now been removed. We thank upper management for informing us that she decided not to take legal action again us.

Introduction

91 Dean street is a direct access hostel situated just off Oxford street in the very heart of London. As you would expect for an address right at the centre of one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world the rent is expensive: £376.50. per week. Unfortunately, this is where your expectations need to be put aside because the conditions inside the hostel can only be described as squalid.

Dean street is likely to be one of the most expensive B&B's in the U.K but with workhouse living conditions and the negative bonus of becoming institutionalized. Admittedly the canteen furnishings are to minimum standard, if only too small to accommodate the men, but the rest of the hostel is pretty much an insult to its residents for one of the richest, if not the richest capital city in the world.
We would like to say there are positive aspects to living in our hostel and that we have something positive to say about the company that runs Dean street hostel, but we are afraid that we are morally bound by our duty as residents to each other to bring awareness of our plight to a wider audience. We think there are a few things to vocalize about our home. The purpose of this homepage is to display the facts, as it is not the fictional wonder palace the annual reports display.

If you end up having to resort to Dean Street the outlook is bleak to say the least. Many people prefer the street and go back. Expect a stay as long as you can bare to stay. You are unlikely to be resettled to any place you can afford as the only housing option now is through private not-so-cheap landlords. Westminster council do not nominate social housing to Dean street residents. You will find moving on a slow and uninformed waiting game. The housing support worker is not hungry enough to hunt down suitable places for people. He seems to work alone and very much in the background.

The furnishings within the hostel are tatty to say the least. The paintwork is filthy, the lavatories disgraceful, the showers broken for months and sub-standard repaired only to fail again in the near proceeding future then to take months to get repaired badly again (due to 'funds'). Outer stairwells are full of trash including hypodermic needles, syringes, plastic plates, trays, socks, cans and the like. Some area near toilets contains rubbish and dead animals that have been decomposing for months. The hostel smells pretty much like a decaying swamp.Problems are increasing, things rarely change.

The recreational facilities consist solely of two televisions one of which is not working properly. The 127 residents can get the opportunity to experience television when 1 of the 10 (shredded) chairs becomes available. A local bar recently held an auction and raised £1300 for the residents welfare fund unfortunately we have been waiting for a cheque from the fund for nearly 2 months. Apparently this is the usual procedure for getting a cheque from the hostel’s management company. Some amusements in the form of board games were ordered by the residents in July and we are still waiting.
Pictures on our gallery will show our unusable table football and smashed, ripped pool table, that have been useless for years. The room is unused space. The hostel is very tight on space and has plans to reduce the number of occupants to 83 persons and for each person to have their own room, which has been government policy for for some time now.

Around half the people here share a room with someone else. There is no choice on who you share with here and the management look at it "that if a bed is available for a homeless person they would be happy to get it because it would be better than the street". Our view is that they are more concerned with filling rooms and bypassing the mental and physical well being of a citizen of our society for the opportunity of a ‘quick buck’.

Sharps bind are provided in toilets. These are not emptied often; this results in needles and such strewn over the floor. The bins seems to encourage users to use the toilets for their drug taking and brown phlegm is apparent on walls from smoking heroin (chasing the dragon). Many toilets have blood sprayed on the walls and ceilings from syringes. The cleaners are not doing their job and are not being supervised. This is apparent all around the hostel. Toilets and areas that should be cleaned are not.

Kitchen staff have a kitchen that many a Soho restaurant would envy for equipment. Though the staff are not even qualified to operate the grill to make toast. We rely on one 4-slice toaster to accommodate all the people for breakfast. This causes problems in long queuing times and confrontation between residents. This has been ongoing for years but still the staff do not resolve. We have given up on asking for at least one extra toaster.

We recently, and for the first time have had toilet brushes in toilets. This was arranged after many meeting with ourselves and hostel management to debate cost over loss for our needs. Management were of the opinion that the toilet brushes would be stolen , our argument was what do 50 toilet brushes cost for the needs of 127 human beings sharing toilets?

Management at Dean Street has undergone changes recently. Which brings us to an ideal time to say farewell and good-luck to the hostel's manager who has recently left employment of the company. We tracked down and arranged meeting with her over many many months, explaining the pressing problems and pointing out all that needs immediate change, but never mind.

We feel that though many staff lack enthusiasm and the correct attitude to deal with homeless people that this may be due to understaffing and irregular team meetings / training with their manager and their team leaders. This is a serious infrastructure breakdown that affects the residents. The only people to benefit are Novas when they have fewer wages to pay.

There are many things that are badly wrong at Dean Street, they could not all be listed here. Health & Safety have visited many times this year and we know they are not happy with the slow almost non-progression of repairing / cleaning the building to a minimum standard. Why the H&S executives have not taken firmer action we do not know. They wouldn't mind 127 homeless people flooding out onto Oxford street and Tottenham court road would they? lol.

The management and staff say there is a hostel here because of demand. Demand goes elsewhere. Why would homeless people want to be in Soho? Milk is 50p a pint. We have little money left after service charges to go 'shopping'. The building is as it is because a high rent can be commanded.

One thing that the Dean street staff do on time and well is requesting a copy of our proof of income and claim every fortnight.

Key workers are required (by hostel management policy) to make an appointment with their client (resident) at least once every two weeks. This hardly happens. Some people don’t even know whom their key worker is or that they even had one. (some key workers have 15 residents and their regular daily duties to attend too).They are on the hole unapproachable mainly due to daily workload.

From booking in, showing a resident around, key working sessions, supporting people, re-settlement/ advice, physical and mental needs, this hostel fails miserably in helping people gain any respect for themselves and reintroduce them back into their society.
It fails at assessment of peoples mental and physical well being initially and continually.
Why would they want to help people move out? £400 per week per person is alot of money. That's nearly £21,000 a year or you could look at it as a working wage.

Catering
Fancy names such as Navarine of Lamb, sauté potatoes, jaloff rice and the results are diabolical. Its lamb stew again.
The food is repetitive, unimaginative, tasteless, lowest quality and mostly foul to taste and digest.
If you were shipwrecked and ended up in a lifeboat alone for 8 months and all you had was hardtack at least you could rejoice if you had plenty of it. The portions here are very rationalized.

There will be individual report areas starting up soon for the area for Catering, Key worker Session progression, Maintenance, Cleaning, Resident Welfare, and Recreation.
The area will be of course confidential in that no real residents names will be used as we respect our privacy. Other than that the view will be unbiased and as it is. We will give credit only when credit is due.

We have not mentioned the staff at Dean street much mainly because we have to live with them. Though they are very company. There is no staff picture board / name tags telling residents who is who and what roles they undertake(though we have requested).If people knew who they were and what they did then undoubtedly they would be inundated with requests for help so it is in their interest to keep a very low profile.
We feel their role is to do their job. If they cant cope then we would like people who can. The overall state of the hostel, lack of staff, and their commitment etc affects 127 men that should be getting help not a road to nowhere.
Staff circulate and get involved with residents very infrequently.

Thank you for your time. Please feel free to email us with any questions.

regards

The Residents.

Alternative header.

The first thing you see upon entering 91 Dean St is the reception, you will be taken through the reception and induction process, you will be given countless pieces of paper to sign and you will be given a letter to take with you to the job centre, this must be returned to the hostel with a stamp on it to prove that you have made a claim, you must then take another letter down that you must return within 10 days of the date of your check-in, if you fail to do either, then you will be evicted, once you have completed both of these then you will be asked by your key worker if you need any help(?!). you will not be considered for a room move if your rent is in arrears, which rather belies the statement above the reception which states:

GIVING PEOPLE AN ADDRESS

AND ADDRESSING PEOPLES NEEDS