Asylum at HomeFront (part 2)

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“I never thought running a small housing charity would be like this”, Ben, CEO of HomeFront said wearily to his partner Christa that night over Buster’s midnight feed. “How could I have ended up with a racist Chair?” 

Confronting Hugh

The next day, Ben met Hugh in the MillPot Café and showed him the letter from the solicitor. Hugh rounded on Ben defensively.  “Absolutely ridiculous! Just ignore it. They’re just fishing for business. The point is, Ben, the sheer number of people coming into this country every month claiming asylum, it’s literally hundreds. Hundreds! And where are we supposed to put them?  …. AND this woman’s just had a baby – on the NHS no doubt.  Who pays for all this eh? … tell me that.” 

Ben in shock

Ben was stunned. His mind raced. How could he have missed that their new Chair held such views! He just couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

A picture flashed into his mind of how Hugh was recruited. “More like not recruited,” he thought ruefully. Ben remembered that it was really a done-deal when Hugh took the Chair’s position. It had all happened so quickly. Someone had suggested him as a good candidate and that was it really. And it all happened just around the time when Buster was expected to arrive! He rubbed his forehead to try to think more clearly. What about the other committee members? Only Lorna seemed to have tried to stop the discussion and Trish would never stand up to anyone, certainly not the trustees.  “Some sort of mad group-think obviously took over,” he thought.

Ben looked up and realised that Hugh was still speaking, trying to justify the decision not to offer the flat to the young Afghan couple but was suddenly sounding less confident.  “Look, I want to house people who deserve to be housed, who’ve got the right to be in this country. We can’t keep on like this - we’ve got to make a stand  …and ummm, I think we took one the other night.” He trailed off finally noticing that Ben was just looking at him in stony silence. 

Ben pulls himself together

“Hugh, have you forgotten our mission statement? HomeFront “aims to offer a roof over the heads of all those in need in Millcaster, whatever their circumstances.” How does the rejection of this extremely needy couple fit with this? They’ve been in the hostel for months – they certainly met our points criteria. I’m appalled by this. It goes to the heart of what we do and I’m deeply ashamed that we’ve let this young couple down when they came to us for help”.  

“You’ve got to be realistic Ben. This is just the start – before you know it, HomeFront will only be housing asylum seekers – word will get round. Admit it, you’re just feeling soft because your wife’s just had a baby.”  

Ben took a deep breath and said, “She's my partner, Hugh, partner. But more to the point, I’m deeply and truly shocked to hear your views. I’m afraid I cannot see how you can continue to Chair our organisation when you obviously hold strong, possibly racist, opinions on how we should operate our housing policy. This just can’t go on. I have no option but to ask you to resign”.

Hugh flushed red and got up. As he left, he said, “You’re making a big mistake Ben. I’m not going to be pushed out just like that”.

Taking action

Ben went back to the office. His phone was ringing as he went into his room. His face fell as he heard, “Hi Ben, this is Ollie from the Mercury. I wondered if I could come over and see you.” Ben’s heart sunk. “Oh God, it’ll be all over the press next week!” he thinks. “The thing is Ben,” continued Ollie, “I’m researching housing provision in Millcaster and we’re doing a special feature on housing associations. I know yours is faith based and it would be great to include you. Do you have any time today?” 

“Sure” said Ben, grabbing his BlackBerry “what about after lunch ….?” Feeling a great deal happier, Ben called Trish into the office.   “We’ve got a lot of work to do.  We’ve got to do what we can for that couple. I’ve asked Hugh to resign but if he doesn’t I’ll call for a vote of no confidence. Now what about that solicitor’s letter. What are we going to say….. and please arrange for me to go and see that young couple.  We’ve got to do something for them”.    

Have your say

• Should the Board have asked for references before appointing Hugh to the Chair’s role?  Do you take up references for trustees/chairs in your organisation?
• Should Ben have asked Hugh to resign? Did he have the authority to do so?
• Many people transfer from large organisations to more senior roles in smaller organisations. What type of issues do they encounter? What has been your experience?  What advice would you give others?
• How should Ben have dealt with the press? 
  

Have your say on the Millcaster Tales forum.

Useful links

• About homelessness (Shelter)
• Tenant Services Authority

Other episodes

Catch up with past episodes of Millcaster Tales.

Read the first part of this story - Asylum at HomeFront (part 1).