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THE GREAT SELL OUT
Town Hall plans to put housing stock up for sale
CAMDEN’S cash-starved housing department is considering hiving off estates one by one to the private market because it can’t afford to refurbish them.
Officials are mulling over a new ‘estate regeneration’ package which would see housing associations take control of the “most run down” and “least desirable” blocks in the borough.
The controversial plans have sparked fears that Camden’s housing stock will be broken up and sold off estate by estate, brick by brick.
Under the scheme, housing associations would get the chance to redevelop Camden’s estates with current houses and flats demolished in some cases and replaced by a mix of affordable and private homes.
Tenants have fiercely fought all plans to transfer control of their homes in the past and the proposals have already provoked an angry reaction.
Campaigners have raised the possibility of another borough-wide defence of council properties, the like of which was last seen in 2003 when residents beat away government policy to privatise homes.
The housing department is struggling to keep up with repairs and, due to a dire lack of funds, is stranded in its attempts to meet the government’s pledge to bring all council homes up to national standards by 2010.
Other ideas to raise revenue now being considered at the Town Hall include selling off council-owned properties such as flats and shops and actively promoting right to buy applications from tenants.
Housing chief Councillor Chris Naylor said on Monday: “We will do everything we can to lobby the ministers but we have to look at the options and see what we can do. I’ve been to estates where there are rats running around, seen flats with no heating. I’ve seen sewage welling up in flats. People can’t be expected to live like that.”
Possible strategies for Camden’s estates are spelt out in a new Town Hall dossier being considered by councillors this week.
It said: “Typical schemes would involve forging a partnership with a Housing Associations to redevelop some of the least desirable or most run down housing on the estate and to replace it with a mix of affordable and private housing… This is a possibility on some estates with urgent investment needs.”
Officials said Camden would retain full nomination rights over who gets the homes but added that “the higher the emphasis on affordable housing, the lower the cash available for reinvestment in the estate”.
Crucial to the debate is the government’s refusal to invest directly in Camden’s homes on the grounds that tenants have voted against national policy of transferring control to housing associations or an Arms-Length Management Organisation (Almo), a company of appointees. Ministers have accordingly left Camden with a £300 million headache, the total sum roughly needed to bring all its homes up to scratch.
The suggestion of allowing housing associations to take control of even a small number of estates is bound to awaken the same protests from Camden’s respected tenants movement. Housing campaigners have repeatedly told the Town Hall that it needs to take the fight for direct investment to Whitehall – rather than dream up alternative plans. They now fear that if the council is seen to be considering other schemes, the lobby for direct investment will be compromised.
Alan Walter, a tenants leader in Kentish Town who helps organise the Defend Council Housing pressure group, said: “It will undermine everything that tenants and everybody else in the campaign have worked for so far. You can’t go to the government and say we will only have direct investment but we will consider other options as well.”
Brian Pordage, head of the Camden Federation of Tenants, said: “I don’t like the way the council is trying to pick of estates one by one, they are trying to isolate certain groups. Camden’s tenants need a collective voice. I believe in tenant’s choice and tenants have made it clear that they are opposed to any form of transfer.”
Labour councillor Roger Robinson, the party’s housing spokesman, said: “We don’t want any of these options. We must not sell off our housing. It’s all we’ve got. We must tell the government we want the fourth way – direct investment. Nothing else will do.”
But Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors now in charge at the Town Hall want the ongoing stalemate to be brought to a swift conclusion.
They have agreed to continue to lobby ministers for direct investment but suggested this week that it was their duty to consider other options – including the estate regeneration model.
Many feel that if Labour councillors couldn’t convince its own government to change its stance over three years then the time has come to try something new.
Conservative councillor Chris Philp – elected to stand in the Hampstead and Kilburn seat at the next general election – told a scrutiny meeting on Monday: “The problem of repairs is acute, it is desperate and if we don’t do something about it now then the problem is only going to get worse. Every year the cost will go up. I really think we have to look at what is possible now.”
Cllr Naylor said he was hoping to meet ministers but added: “The money (from government) might not come. We have to be prepared for that.” |
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