Housing

Rent rises in Lambeth!

Lambeth council wants to increase council tenants’ rents by 6.5%. This is far higher than the increases in other boroughs and equates to around £250 a year extra for the average property. How does this council expect tenants to afford this, when food and energy prices are also rising? The increase is far more than the increases in pay, benefits and pensions that most Lambeth tenants will receive. The people making these decisions are consultants each “earning” £800 per day! They will never have to worry about not being able to pay their rent! The council’s housing department squanders £4.6...

No to big rent rises and privatisation in Lambeth!

Lambeth want to increase council tenants’ rents by 6.5%... This is far higher than the increases in other borough and equates to about £250 a year extra for the average property. How does this council expect tenants to afford this, when food and energy prices are also rising? The increase is far more than the increases in pay, benefits and pensions that most Lambeth tenants will receive. The people making these decisions are consultants each “earning” £800 per day! They will never have to worry about not being able to pay their rent! The council’s housing department squanders £4.6 million...

Shelter Staff Await Strike Ballot Result

On Thursday the 21st of February, we will find out if some 450 members of the TGWU/Unite have voted in favour of national strike action, an event which would be a first in Shelter's 41-year history. They are faced with a package of cuts which will result in all 800+ staff working two and a half extra hours per week (unpaid) and without the current incremental pay scale which they are currently entitled to (worth £2k-£3k on top of starting salaries). On top of this, scores of frontline advice and support staff are to be made redundant and "redeployed" into lower-paid jobs in a "new operating...

Keep Estate Cleaning Public!

Hackney Council is carrying out an appraisal for estate cleaning and ground maintenance services, and are considering three options:

  1. Full outsourcing of contractors for both services across Hackney Homes.
  2. Bringing all estate cleaning services back in-house as the external contract elapses.
  3. Entry an...

Olympic Games Displace Millions

Here's an interesting source of information. Apparently, the Olympic Games and other 'mega-events' have displaced some 2 million people from their homes over the last two decades, disproportionately people who are poor, vulnerably housed and/or ethnic minority.

Margaret Hodge says white workers lose out - Decent homes for all!

By Robin Sivapalan MARGARET Hodge, Labour Minister for Industry and MP for Barking, has sparked another row over immigration and housing. Last April, in the run-up to the local elections, she provided a rallying call to the BNP by claiming that eight out 10 people she spoke to on the doorstep were considering voting for the far right. She explained that this mass rejection of New Labour was due to its failure to address the shortage of council housing available to her white working-class constituents, while at the same time providing housing to asylum seekers and migrant workers. She described...

Shelter and the housing crisis

By Stuart Jordan As you take the escalator out of Euston underground in London, the new hi-tech video advertisements display a load of badly-clothed children pressing on the screens, trying to get out. The advert then switches to plain red background with the familiar Shelter logo and the caption “These kids need a home. Text ‘Houses’ to join Shelter’s online petition.” This advert refers to Shelter’s current housing campaign which is lobbying John Prescott (and will be lobbying his successor) to build 20,000 new “affordable social rented” homes on green and brownfield sites across the UK...

No to the Lambeth ALMO!

By Heenal Rajani, Lambeth Unison housing convenor and Lambeth Defend Council Housing The last few weeks have seen a stepping up of the campaign against Lambeth Council’s plans to hand over 30,000 council homes to a semi-private “Arms Length Management Organisation”. In the run-up to the council’s elections for an ALMO shadow board, we leafleted every estate in the borough, calling on residents to write “No to ALMO” across their ballot papers. On 26 April, an open public meeting called by Larkhall Labour Party to debate the proposals drew an audience of about 90, with every speaker from the...

Hackney: Estate Plus?

Hackney Council has apparently rebranded its estate regeneration policy. It is now called 'Estate Plus'. Plus what, though?

... plus privatisation ... plus overcrowding ... plus community fragmentation ...

There are a few minuses as well though ...

... minus council housing ... minus green space...

Packed Meeting Pledges to Defend Hackney Estates

Over 70 Hackney residents packed into a public meeting on Monday evening to protest against Hackney Council's plan to fragment, privatise and over-populate their estates.

I gave the opening speech, largely an updated version on this blog entry from a while back. There was then plenty of...

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