A women’s help centre in Handsworth, Birmingham, is facing being shut down after 30 years of being the sole source of help for women struggling with various issues in the surrounding area. The centre was founded in 1988 by Usha Khera, who continued her work there until it’s closing (with the help of her daughter Daisy).
Usha has been crippled by the government’s austerity measures. Its function is to offer support to women of all ethnicities in the area who had suffered from abuse, depression, loss, anxiety as well as those struggling to raise children. It offers computer classes and English classes to help the women, whom often speak English only as a second language, to apply for benefits, increase their employability and integrate better into English society. It helped approximately 3,000 women per year.
Usha was inspired to open the centre partly by her own ill health. A blood condition which saw her half an hour away from death. She was told by a doctor that she would live for four years but, much like the centre, she has defied odds and fought to survive for thirty more years. However, it now looks inevitable that the centre will be forced to close.
The centre has suffered as funds have dwindled over the years. Upon its opening, it received government funding to carry out crucial functions in a community that had been damaged by racial tension and poor relations between the police and the population (it opened a few years after the riots of 1985). However, in recent years, austerity measures put in place by the government have meant that grants are few and far between. This caused the centre to become more and more reliant on volunteers and charitable donations from its clients. One of the few functions that has still received funding, the teaching of English as a second language, was not to receive funding beyond April.
To make matters worse, the new owners of the building have began charging the centre at increased rates of commercial rent, whereas the Methodist church that previously owned it had only charged charity rent. This further increased financial strain which could not be lifted by the donations, which were often too small to realistically contribute to saving the centre. A decrease in the number of staff employed by the centre has caused it to struggle even further. Furthermore, a lack of funding for the local area, due to the council not receiving as much money, means that demand is higher than ever and many of these people will have nowhere to go.
Councillor Paulette Hamilton’s hands are now tied after previously supporting the centre. She has said that “It’s a unique service, helping a lot of women who are struggling. The problem is that because of austerity cuts there is just no funding” (Birmingham Live). Cuts amounting to £690 million since 2010 have meant there is no room for smaller, individual facilities like Usha’s centre any longer.
Will Rymer
