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We need joint approach to Johnson over housing
• WE met the housing minister Iain Wright last week to discuss amendments to the Housing and Regeneration Bill.
The minister was upbeat about the outcome of the government review of the Housing Revenue Account subsidy system so I challenged him to tell councils like Camden who are proposing to privatise estates and sell individual homes to “hang on”.
He replied: “I won’t say ‘hang on’ but local authorities will know full well the point of this review.”
Launching the review back in December, ministers promised it would “ensure that we have a sustainable, long-term system for financing council housing” and “consider evidence about the need to spend on management, maintenance and repairs”.
Everyone knows that government has used reviews before in this long-running dispute over funding council housing to buy time so we’re not holding our breath.
Rather we should step up the pressure.
The private housing market is in disarray and the case for investing in first-class, secure and low-rent council housing makes more sense than ever.
Ken Livingstone as mayor opened a dialogue promising part of the London housing budget that the London mayor now controls would be made available to Camden Council to enable it to carry out improvements and modernise our homes.
We now need to make a joint approach to the new mayor asking him to continue this discussion and fund the improvements we need.
I hope that all tenants’ organisations and political parties in Camden will unite behind this proposal so that we can quickly move to invite Johnson to come to Camden Town Hall to meet us all.
Alan Walter
Chair Peckwater Estate Tenants & Residents Association and chair Defend Council Housing
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