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Pictured left to right: residents Eddie Reiddy and his wife Marie with tenants’ association chair, Mary Fitzpatrick, in front the new privatised block |
The housing of haves and have-nots
Former Mayor slams the half-and-half council and private estate dividing tenants
A FORMER Mayor accused the Lib Dem council of “housing apartheid” this week, following the privatisation and sale of half an Islington council estate.
The scheme to divide Forrest and Amber Courts in Holloway into two separate estates – one council and one privately run – will, it is being claimed, create serious disharmony among the residents, and major technical problems.
Eleven of the tenants in council-run Forest Court use wheelchairs.
“It’s the housing equivalent of what they did to British Rail and all the utility services and it just doesn’t work,” said St Mary’s ward Labour Cllr Joan Coupland.
“How can the council justify selling off a block of flats for private rent when we have more than 13,000 people on the council housing waiting list?”
Until recently both blocks, built as one estate in 1976 on the corner of Ellington Street and Liverpool Road, shared common entrances, lifts, gardens and a caretaker.
That all changed when Homes for Islington – the housing agency for Islington Council – decided to sell off Amber court’s 32 flats for private housing.
Many of the mainly elderly tenants at Amber Court were subsequently rehoused while flats where residents had died were left empty.
Then workmen virtually sealed the two blocks off from each other by bricking up joint access doors.
There are now plans to make a lift used by both blocks only available to the private Amber Court residents.
The private flats, managed by Mosaic Homes – all currently still empty – in Amber Court are to be rented for between £200 and £300 a week.
Cllr Coupland said: “This is a perfect example of privatisation by stealth. The obvious aim is eventually to privatise both blocks.
“In the meantime they have designed this housing apartheid which will create a ‘them and us’ atmosphere where once there was harmony between all the residents.”
She said that both blocks will share the same electricity and water supplies which has added further complications when it comes to repairs and maintenance.
“If something goes wrong in one block they will need to get permission to enter the other for repairs,” she said. “It’s confusing and it’s mad.”
Full-time carer in the block and resident, Anthony Cenci, 48, said: “It’s a nightmare for everyone but particularly for the 11 people in wheelchairs.
“When the blocks were together wheelchair users from Forrest Court had access keys to Amber Court to use their lift when ours broke down. That will no longer be the case.”
Mary Fitzpatrick, chair of the tenants association, described the scheme to divide up the residents as “diabolical”.
She added: “There was never any consultation with us. We don’t know who will be moving in. But whoever they are we will have no contact with them because the blocks have been divided and sealed off from each other.
“We’ve also got lots of maintenance problems on our side which are not being done while they have been refurbishing the private flats next door.
“We’ve had no front door connected intercom for two years.”
Former Lib Dem councillor Bridget Fox now a Parliamentary candidate for Islington South and Finsbury has met the residents.
“Amber Court didn’t meet modern standards so it was sold off to raise money for brand new state of the art sheltered accommodation.
“It’s never nice for residents in Forrest Court to be living next to a virtual building site.
“The last time I spoke to the them they wanted to know about when the work would end and who would be moving in.
“The important thing is that the residents understand what’s going on.
“They are also worried that their block could also be sold off but that is not my understanding.”
And a spokesman for Homes for Islington said that Forrest Court has only ever had a single lift.
He added: “But to ensure continued good and reliable access for residents now that they cannot access the lift in neighbouring Amber Court, a brand new state-of-the-art lift has been installed to replace the original lift.
“This new lift is fitted with an independent power supply to ensure it continues to work in the event of a power failure.” |
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| Your Comments: |
Of the lift outages in the borough - how many were due to power failure? I work as an Estate Manager on a South Islington TMO run Islington council estate with seven lifts. I ha ve probably reported in excess of 100 lift repair requests, only one of these was due to power failure - it's a pathetic attempt at false reassurence for the dissabled
residents.
Thomas Cooper
This is happening 'daily' thoughout the country where sheltered homes are being sold off for their land value. I believe it is to do with the new method of funding through Supporting People. Nationally c. 80% of people living in sheltered housing are in receipt of benefits and changes to funding mean that the scheme owner will not now receive a contribution towards the scheme manager's salary for all of them. In many cases, because of contractual obligations, the landlord would have to continue to provide a scheme manager, increasingly, at their own expense . This measured against lucrative profits to be made from, often, quite large areas of land in inner cities, occupied by sheltered housing, is hard for them to resist. please check the website www.shelteredhousinguk.com to find out more.
Vernon Y |
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