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Camden News - by SIMON WROE
Published: 13 November 2008

Richard Carr-Gomm

Carr-Gomm residents fear for future of vital services

Speculation mounts just weeks after death of philanthropist founder

TRIBUTES have been paid to Richard Carr-Gomm, the philanthropist founder of the housing charity Carr-Gomm, who died a fortnight ago.
But speculation continues to mount over the future of vulnerable tenants in the group’s Camden homes.
Charity chiefs announced they will terminate all services in the borough in the new year, withdrawing their support from homes in Delancey Street, Camden Road and Fordwych Road, in West Hampstead.
Carr-Gomm residents – people with learning difficulties and drug or mental health problems – now fear they will have to find a new place to live.
With a January 10 deadline drawing near, worried residents said they are still in the dark about what will happen and angry about the way they have been treated.
They claim the company is leaving Camden after failing to improve services in their properties and receiving a C-grading – the lowest pass rating – from the council’s Supporting People programme, the Town Hall unit which funds social support for people in need and inspects facilities.
Alan Reynolds, 58, a resident at the Fordwych Road home for 13 years, said: “We’ve seen Carr-Gomm in their true colours now. We are prepared to squat if they can’t find us another place.”
A Carr-Gomm spokesman would not be drawn on whether they had received a C-grade rating, saying they had come to a “mutual agreement” with the council to end the contract in July based on the suitability of and demand for services.
Carr-Gomm has 23 tenants in Camden.
The spokesman added: “We appreciate this is an unsettling time. We will support each person throughout the process and ensure the transfer of services to another provider will be as smooth as possible.
“Discussions on all the options available to them are ongoing and clients will be supported and kept informed throughout the process.”
Richard Carr-Gomm earned the nickname of “the scrubbing major” after he quit the army to care for old people.
He founded Carr-Gomm in 1965 to combat the isolation, mental health problems and other difficulties faced by people of all ages.
He died last month from a heart attack. The charity now cares for thousands of people across the UK .

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