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We simply want what is ours
COUNCIL tenants in Camden should be glad for the new works to their homes. So why are we unhappy?
First, it’s true you can’t make omelettes without cracking eggs – if only our problems were limited to some cracked eggs! In this relationship tenants are the only constant factor, and we have long memories.
Each time we participate in the council’s countless training courses, and monitoring panels, we are told we must accept teething problems, and lessons will be learnt.
It is unfortunate that these “lessons” are not engraved on the marble walls of the Town Hall, alongside the names of its leaders.
The second issue is the council’s sell-off policy to pay for these works which tenant representatives condemn as immoral, based on fundamental principles.
We want Camden to fight for direct investment from the government instead, and explore other acceptable funding options with us in the interim, particularly now that government has announced extra cash for councils to build new homes.
Many councils have joined their tenants in lobbying the government for direct funding, however our repeated plea for the same has been rejected by Camden Council.
Councillor Naylor talks about a “major consultation”, saying that “the majority” agreed with the council. What he doesn’t say is that this purported consultation in fact failed to ask tenants a direct question; and that barely 6 per cent of the 24,000 tenants were sent this.
What was the return rate, and the proportion of respondents allegedly supporting this policy? Despite manipulated consultations, Camden’s purported mandate reaches a dismal 2.2 per cent. We say this is no mandate, and it is dishonest for Camden to claim otherwise.
Councillor Naylor is keen to highlight that he has discussed the “private rental” proposal with District Management Committees but again avoids mentioning that he got the thumbs down from tenant representatives in a democratic vote, and that properties transferred to a private company for renting at market prices would be lost to us for 35 years.
This two-stage privatisation process, like an Almo, flies in the face of a democratically accountable landlord, and is an insult to the 17,000 on the waiting list.
Governments have scrounged off our rents for years, presumably subsidising Ministers’ expense portfolios.
We are not asking for a handout and we refuse to play political games and be used as political pawns. We simply want what’s ours, and the council should be joining us in this quest instead of rolling over just as government is reviewing the future of council housing finance. Our mandate comes from our tenants, the vast majority of whom say that they would prefer us to lobby the government, and wait for a new kitchen if it meant selling council flats to pay for it.
Camdenfed have now joined the “No Sell Offs” campaign group and sent a letter asking councillors if they agree with us, which we intend to publicise widely and regard silence on this important matter as a refusal to support our campaign.
Meric Apak
• Meric Apak is chairman of Camden’s Federation of Tenants and Residents Association
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