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 Holly Lodge |
Don’t sell off council housing
Meric Apak presents the case for expanding council housing schemes while protecting existing ones from outside investment
COUNCIL housing is unique. We want more, not less. Does this council really believe it has any other way of dealing with its housing problems apart from selling homes?
At an open meeting of Camden Federation of Tenants and Residents Associations on Tuesday July 17, council tenant representatives said that they believed it was political suicide for the new administration to capitulate and offer a solution to the backlog of repairs, selling off council flats to raise the money needed.
To play all their aces just as the new government is reversing its policies on housing is naive, especially given that this is the first time in years that government is talking of council housing as a top priority.
Residents were astonished at Camden’s apparent lack of negotiation skills, on the one hand telling ministers “we want direct investment”, and without even taking a breath saying “we have a plan B if you don’t give us the money”.
Relying on our members who attended the general meeting and speaking to the Tenants and Residents Association members in Camden who did not attend, we now call for an immediate reversal of this naive policy, as it is clear that tenants are prepared to wait for the Direct Investment from government.
We all recognise that some of our properties need urgent, massive repairs. By carefully prioritising and managing contracts effectively within the cash available, we believe we can achieve what tenants in this borough have been fighting for.
Camden says it hasn’t got the money to meet its commitments to tenants to carry out essential repairs and that, according to a survey it commissioned, more than 50 per cent of properties owned by Camden are below the government’s Decent Homes target.
Tenant representatives maintain that Camden is presenting the survey to tenants as if the repairs situation is in a melt-down crisis, and are questioning both the integrity of the survey and the way it is being interpreted by officers in Camden.
They claim that tenants have fought very hard for years to turn around government policy and that at last Gordon Brown is showing some tangible signs that the cash for Direct Investment could be on offer.
Camden has signed a Tenant Participation Compact giving tenants certain consultation guarantees. The provision of information, asking tenants to give their views on proposals, participation in developing proposals jointly, and delegation of service delivery form the backbone of this binding agreement.
When it comes to consulting residents, we are still none the wiser as to whether or not Camden is fulfilling its duty either under the compact, or under its own Capital Works Consultation Policy obligations. We shall keep a close eye on local consultations like Holly Lodge, Maiden Lane, Rowley Way, and Chester Road.
When Camden sets out its options locally, will it be on two sides of A4? Or will it spell out the pros and cons of each option in detail to all tenants so that they can make informed decisions? In reality, does the council believe there are any options apart from sale?
At our general meeting our members called for the adoption of a number of resolutions.
We will lobby the government by writing to the Department for Communities and Local Government, making it clear that Camden Council has no democratic mandate to submit a stock options proposal and that the joint DMC meeting and two tenant workshops organised by the council opposed the proposals.
We will reach out to Camden residents by producing a leaflet for distribution to all tenants and place an advert in the Camden New Journal explaining the policy of the joint DMC, why we oppose selling off homes and land and why ‘regeneration’ is a dishonest term for asset stripping and privatisation.
We demand that any council home that becomes vacant is offered to people on the waiting list, and we support the ‘fourth option’ – direct investment – and initiatives called for by Defend Council Housing.
We will also examine the validity of the stock conditions survey, the council conclusions on costings and produce a model cost of improvements by getting independent professional experts to look at three sample estates and a group of street properties. We are proud to be council tenants and protect our housing for good reason.
No other form of housing has the rights council housing gives us: security of tenure, the right to inherit our tenancies, to be consulted and rents which are within reach of working people.
By investing directly in council housing, government invests in building stronger communities
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