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Sell-off will threaten our affordable rents
• A RECENT article by Rose Hacker referred to the possible disposal of council housing by any means possible, to avoid the council having to support costly maintenance for which, incidentally, it collects rents and council tax.
By any standards, this is a deplorable situation. The provision of council housing has been an essential part of council activity for as long as I can remember, and I am catching up with Rose at an alarming rate (she is 101).
It is worth reminding council tenants it took many years to build and buy housing stock. It is therefore up to us, as council tenants, to make sure our council does not get anywhere with its devious plans.
By selling off to private ownership, which by the way includes housing associations, it will release the government from any commitment to release our money for the refurbishment of council homes.
Many tenants may not realise that their long-term residency at an affordable rent is in jeopardy.
Rather than pressurise the government to release capital for refurbishment that will benefit existing tenants, the council is making every effort to sell some of the most valuable housing stock in the country, and not necessarily to the highest bidder.
This is Thatcherism at its highest and most deplorable level.
The net result is likely to be that affordable housing will cease to exist in Camden and those of us living comfortably in affordable council housing will be ripped off unmercifully by unscrupulous landlords, some masquerading under the banner of housing associations, which are, in fact, private owners and developers.
We did not elect councillors to dissipate our housing stock. It is a valuable asset and should not, under any circumstances, be sold off, either in bulk or to individual purchasers.
On our estate, a small one in Gray’s Inn Road, at least two flats were bought by sitting tenants who then moved out and bought properties elsewhere, financing their new acquisitions from inflated rents they charge for the former council property.
There are probably more. This has got to stop or be stopped. It is depriving many families in desperate need.
Although I am not an active member of the Defend Council Housing organisation, I appreciate the sterling work it does in putting pressure on the council, and trying to keep us informed. I distribute its literature on our estate.
STAN FREED
Sidmouth Mews estate, WC1
• HOW can Labour continue to defend its shameful council housing record in Camden?
The Labour government refuses to allow direct investment in council housing. Labour in Camden didn’t challenge the policy until tenants voted down its Arms’-Length Management Organisation (Almo) proposals. The outcome is that thousands of council homes don’t meet basic standards of decent housing. How can Labour defend that?
Last year, Camden’s residents voted Labour and its do-nothing policies out of office.
The Lib Dems’ housing chief is taking steps to bring Camden’s council homes up to decent standards. A small number of council properties will be sold off to fund repairs to the rest.
That’s not selling off the family silver, it’s good management of the council stock. It will end the shameful conditions that Labour has left council tenants suffering for far too long. Labour should see sense and support this initiative instead of arguing for even more neglect and inaction.
PHIL WAINEWRIGHT
Berridge Mews, NW6
• I VERY much welcome your Comment calling for extra investment in council housing (While Gordon Brown eyes up No.10, the housing crisis worsens, May 24).
This council is 100 per cent committed to good-quality council housing. Significant investment is exactly what we need.
Regrettably, our meeting last week with the Housing Minister confirms this government is not going to help. Her position is unchanged from when our Labour predecessors met her before.
This absence of help from government is precisely why this council has agreed to work on new plans, as we can’t wait any longer. We have to get on with improving the 10,000 homes which are sub-standard.
But I must disagree with the suggestion in your editorial that we propose selling whole estates. Other councils may be doing this but not us. No such proposal has been put to me, or made by me. I have stated that our policy is about a strong, positive council housing sector – and not the privatisation and stock transfer adopted by other London boroughs.
We are reluctantly proposing selling a maximum total of 500 individual homes over the next six years, to finance these improvements, but this will still be fewer than the previous administration sold in just one year under right-to-buy.
By dedicating 100 per cent of this new income to decent homes and regeneration, Camden’s council housing will be transformed from some 10,000 homes in good condition to more than 20,000. We firmly believe this is the best way forward, a major step to the good-quality housing our tenants deserve.
CLLR CHRIS NAYLOR
Lib Dem executive member for housing
• CAMDEN’S Lib Dem leader, Councillor Keith Moffitt, is now set on bullying voters, tenants and leaseholders into his policy of selling off council housing (Town Hall ready to sell off its homes in bid to cash in, May 24).
He must have a bad lapse of memory, because it was just a year ago that his party promised voters that, if it was elected, there would be no sell-off of council-owned properties and no Almo policy. It now appears the Lib Dems cannot be trusted.
All we get from the main political parties are false hopes and backtracking. This council has refused to give tenants and leaseholders a vote on this subject. Maybe the truth hurts, especially when 77 per cent of voters have already strongly opposed Almos and the sale of properties and estates.
This council might as well close the housing waiting list, because empty properties will be sold. Social housing is being destroyed. Tenants and leaseholders will have a bleak future. I say stand and fight to defend council housing.
ELLEN LUBY
Rosebush Court, NW3
• IT beggars belief that the Lib Dems and Tories in the Town Hall have decided to sell off our council homes, following next to no consultation with tenants and the wider community.
This cannot be the same Lib Dems and Tories who complained so much about the way Labour consulted with residents when the party was in power. Or the same Lib Dems and Tories who promised open government.
Neither party mentioned anything about selling off precious council housing stock, Camden’s family silver, in their election manifestos. They have absolutely no mandate for this rushed decision.
Tenants on estates like Denton, St Silas and Maitland Park have told me about their anger at the plans – and at the backdoor way in which the council has gone about telling people about them.
It is clear the majority of tenants and community groups don’t want to see our council housing sold off by council leaders who are starting to resemble estate agents more than councillors.
Aside from the practical effect of taking social housing out of the supply chain at a time when we have a growing waiting list and need all the stock we can get, there must be a full and meaningful public consultation before proceeding.
The Lib Dem-Tory executive must think again.
MIKE KATZ
Prospective Labour candidate, Haverstock ward
Gladys Road, NW6
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