Housing

Why UCL students are on rent strike

Kasandra Tomaszewska, a first-year University College London (UCL) history student, rent striker, and activist with the UCL Cut the Rent Campaign, spoke to Solidarity . I got involved in the rent strike very randomly and late in the process. My roommate gave me some leaflets. I didn’t get very involved but thought “it is actually a very good idea, and if it starts I will join”. Then the rent strike started and I joined. After a week or so I took part in an interview, then another one, because they needed people to speak to the public and I was willing to do it . I got in touch with organisers...

Affordable, available, assured: Homes for all!

Already, on average, in England, rent takes 43% of the income of households renting privately. (That’s 43% of average gross income of the main householder and partner including housing benefit, it’s 52% of income excluding HB). Tenants in London pay 60% of income (including HB: 72% without). And on current trends, in nine years’ time there will be more households renting privately than households in their own home with a mortgage. (Figures from PriceWaterhouse Cooper). Private tenants have no security, and small and difficult redress if their landlord neglects repairs or offers only poor...

Landlords to be border cops

Renting rules introduced under Right to Rent at the beginning of February mean that landlords who let property in England will have to carry out checks on tenants’ immigration statuses to establish whether they have the right to be in the UK. Landlords that are found to be letting a home to tenants who don’t meet the criteria to stay will be fined up to £1,000 for a first offence, and up to £3,000 thereafter. Results from the West Midlands, where this scheme was trialled, suggest that the scheme will certainly lead to an increase in racist profiling of tenants, and to a rise in homelessness...

Two wins against bedroom tax

Two victories have been won in the Court of Appeal against the bedroom tax. A woman who was a survivor of abuse from her ex-partner and had a panic room fitted by the police, and was then forced to pay the bedroom tax on it, won her case; so did Sue and Paul Rutherford, taxed for the spare room used to store equipment for their disabled grandson and to allow carers to stay over. Rather than give its victims some respite, the DWP will keep trying to overturn the verdict. The cost to the DWP of the legal fees in fighting the panic room case is several times more then it would cost to scrap the...

Tory housing scandal

On Tuesday 12 January, a Labour amendment to the Housing Bill, which would have ensured that all rented accommodation was suitable for living in, was defeated in the House of Commons by 312 votes to 219. Local Government Minister, Marcus Jones, said the amendment would cause “unnecessary regulation and cost to landlords”. Tories don’t think landlords should be obliged to repair mouldy, damaged, unsafe or otherwise unsuitable housing. This was just the latest example of Tory promotion of cut-throat landlordism. But 39% of Conservative MPs are landlords themselves! That includes David Cameron...

Fight to save social housing

With the Housing Bill, and various associated ancillary legislation, the Tories have launched an all-out offensive to destroy social housing, especially council housing, once and for all. There are a number of provisions put forward including the ending of security of tenure and the ruling that all council tenants must submit to a review of their tenancy every two to five years. The Tories do not specify what happens after their housing status is reviewed, but George Osborne and several other cabinet ministers have given every indication they “will be required” to move into private rented...

Court victory for council estate

On 24 November 2015, the High Court ruled in favour of the residents of the Cressingham Gardens Estate in Lambeth. The court found the council offered insufficient proof that refurbishment rather than demolition would be too expensive, and forcing the council to reopen the consultation process. Lambeth Council has saying since 2012 that it doesn’t have the money to make basic repairs and it would be cheaper to “redevelop” the estate’s 300 homes. This would mean residents are turfed out, luxury apartments built in their place, half of them not even lived in but used as financial investments, a...

Gentrificiation for all

The capitalist housing market predominantly separates “nice” areas from “rough” areas. In the “nice” areas, people pay higher prices; bigger and posher houses and better shops and amenities and transport facilities are built. In the “rough” areas, only cheap and poor-quality housing is built; shops, amenities, and transport remain poor. The social divide, once established, tends to grow. But the market has cross-currents. Inner cities combine bits where rich people afford high prices to be near to city-centre facilities, and nearby bits where poor people can’t afford not to pay for cramped and...

Free Education: how will we win?

The u-turn on South African tuition fees gives us reason to be in good spirits as the UK student movement mobilises and sets outs its demands for a free, fully-funded, accessible education system. With the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) national demonstration for free education and living grants on 4 November and the NUS-called student walk-out on 17 November, it’s worth asking: how will we win? When George Osborne’s July budget scrapped maintenance grants for the poorest students, it was rightly said to be one of the most regressive policies in the budget. Maintenance grants...

Tories in tangle over tax credits

Chancellor George Osborne looks set to go ahead with cuts to tax credits which will see the income of low-paid workers drop by an average of £1,300 next April, despite opposition from Tory backbenchers and voters such as the woman who confronted a Government minister over the issue on BBC TV's Question Time. The changes to tax credits would save around £4.4 billion, or just over a third of the £12 billion the Treasury is seeking to cut from the welfare budget. Tory backbench opposition to the cuts stems from electoral calculations by MP's in marginal seats (it is significant that the measure...

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