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TENANTS FEAR HOMES POLICY
Council wants to ‘airbrush social housing out of Westminster’ says MP
CITY Hall leader Colin Barrow has met senior Tories to discuss scrapping long-term rental tenancies and a plan to evict unruly council tenants.
Leaked minutes of a meeting hosted by think-tank Localis, attended by Councillor Barrow and former Westminster City Council leader Sir Simon Milton, reveal they discussed removing lifetime assured tenure, and advocating a “zero-tolerance” approach to problem tenants in a bid to turn around “failing neighbourhoods”.
As critics raised concerns about how tenants will be treated by City Hall in the future, Cllr Barrow played the meeting down, saying he attends dozens of meetings throughout the year and stressing that it has no bearing on housing policy in the borough.
The assurances failed to convince opposition leaders and tenants groups.
They say the meeting is a reflection of hard-line views at the council and fear it could spell a purge across the borough’s housing estates.
Labour MP Karen Buck said it was “ludicrous” to pretend the meeting, which took place on March 3, would not have implications for the borough’s 12,000 council tenants. She said the council wanted to “airbrush social housing out of Westminster.”
Among the most controversial notes from the meeting are:
The existing social housing model is broken and failing to achieve social mobility whilst entrenching dependency
Stronger powers are necessary to demote secure assured tenancy
“Porteresque” accusations of gerrymandering and social engineering need to be faced head on
regeneration should not be stymied by the few who object on spurious or ideological grounds
Social rented housing is a “dead end”
Participants including Stephen Greenhalgh the leader of Tory controlled Hammersmith and Fulham council agreed that the policies would help create “mixed and sustainable communities”. Cllr Greenhalgh has been criticised in Labour circles for his support of the so-called “bulldozer policy” of demolishing council estates without guaranteeing tenants a home elsewhere in the borough.
The minutes of the meeting were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act following a request by the labour group in Hammersmith and Fulham.
Ms Buck, MP for Regent’s Park and Kensington North said: “To say it is just an innocent meeting is simply not true. If Colin Barrow attended this meeting with those people then it is significant. If it isn’t going to affect council policy, whey don’t they come out and disown it. I’ve spoken to tenants and they are absolutely appalled by this. Security is one of their daily fears and take it away would be dangerous. It’s also a complete lie to claim that our housing estates are ghettoes. They are already mixed.”
Eileen Short, chairwoman of Defend Council Housing said: “quote from JW”
Leader of the Labour group Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg said: “The notes of the secret meeting have now been made public and they make grim reading for council tenants. This shows the Conservatives’ true intentions. The Conservatives want to increase council rents to private market levels and want to end security of tenure for council tenants and housing association tenants.”
He added: “In addition the Conservatives want to knock down parts of council estates in Church Street, Maida Vale, Westbourne and Pimlico of regeneration. This will mean that many long-standing tenants and leaseholders will be forced to move away from Westminster against their wishes.”
Leader of Westminster Council Colin Barrow said: ““I attend numerous meetings throughout the year to discuss ideas across a very
wide range of issues. Many options are discussed but this does not mean
they will become council policy.
“We have some very exciting housing plans which will be rolled out
across Westminster in the months and years ahead. Not least of all our
scheme to build almost 500 homes and tackling the issue of overcrowding
head on by helping to rehouse 1000 families living in cramped conditions
in the next five years.
“Housing is very much top of our agenda as good quality social housing
is clearly key to making a real and tangible diffence to the lives of
local people.” |
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