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Defend Council Housing

guinnessdrinker said:
peabody has also been selling flats. I believe there is a campaign by peabody tenants about that. anyway, the next national conference of defend council housing is on thursday the 12th of July in great russel square at the TUC, congress house.
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Yep, involved in it - as a peabody tenent - just had a small victory in getting peabody to back off from sale of an entire block near the tate modern (on the southwark road estate).

They are selling off individual houses at market value across south london including the flat directly above me (where the new tenants - 4 of them in what was a two bed flat divided into single room bedsits - are paying as much individually as i pay for the entire flat downstairs. Some 'developer' is making a mint out of them...)
 
Just facilitated a meeting of about 40 concerned tennants about the upcomming vote on "stock transfer" in our area.

The amount of effort the council have put into this sham is obscene.

Question: If / when they continually phone tennants asking them if they have voted, at what point can it be constituted harassment?
 
Taffboy, be prepared for some nasty stuff from your council see what happened at Sefton where Nigel Flanagan of DCH and Unison got sacked and accused of harrassing tenants. Camden council tried to ASBO Alan Walters of DCH.
Which authority are you under? And good luck:)
 
In Middlesbrough a local group Priestfields Estate Tenants and Residents Association invited a Defend Council Housing speaker Mark Weeks to a public meeting. He spoke alongside a council representative who pushed stock transfer and a so called Independent advisor Mark wiped the floor with them. I knew no one at the meeting before it started about 40 people. It came to the Q&A section the chair announced there would be none because the council rep had come unprepared so it would be unfair. I intervened saying that it would not be right to have brought Mark all the way from London and not let him take any questions. Virtually to a person everyone in the room backed me and Mark took Q&A and the tenants whooped and roared as he tore into the councils position on stock transfer. The council reps were squirming. Priestfields was the local fiefdom of Bob Brady Labour Deputy Mayor and chair of housing and later Erimus housing.
The chair of Petra was telephoned by a council employee the next day and gently warned any more stunts like last night and you may see your council funding be stopped.
So be warned it will be dirty.
 
guinnessdrinker said:
peabody has also been selling flats. I believe there is a campaign by peabody tenants about that. anyway, the next national conference of defend council housing is on thursday the 12th of July in great russel square at the TUC, congress house.
Click to expand...

They've sold a few on my estate and I wrote to Peabody to express my disgust. Their excuse is that they have to sell these properties to pay for the Decent Homes refurbishment program. Though afaik, they get money from the Housing Corporation for this. They are also letting out some flats at market rents! This is another worrying development and Peabody haven't offered any excuses for why they have decided to charge some folk the local market rent.
 
Geoff kerr-morg said:
Taffboy, be prepared for some nasty stuff from your council see what happened at Sefton where Nigel Flanagan of DCH and Unison got sacked and accused of harrassing tenants. Camden council tried to ASBO Alan Walters of DCH.
Which authority are you under? And good luck:)
Click to expand...

An anonymous northern town associated with a top rating soap-opera :-)

I am known to the local Labour, having come 2nd in a local election for The Greens in a campaign where they were...er...highly disingenuous to say the least.
 
taffboy gwyrdd said:
Just facilitated a meeting of about 40 concerned tennants about the upcomming vote on "stock transfer" in our area.

The amount of effort the council have put into this sham is obscene.

Question: If / when they continually phone tennants asking them if they have voted, at what point can it be constituted harassment?
Click to expand...

i had some involvement in the consultation on that a few years ago (on the council side) they did put a lot of effort into the yes vote, initially didn't want to give the tenants the option of voting for the status quo, although tenant pressure did make them change their mind - you do need a high turnout to get a no vote tbh,
 
Geoff kerr-morg said:
Taffboy are we talking Hollyoaks, Coronation St, Emmerdale, Brookside? I must admit I stereotyped you by your name I thought you were from Scotland?:)
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A local team just got bought by a chap from Thailand.
 
Manchester, Are you going to Lobby Browns Coronation [ St ] on Sunday?
Are you going to the Defend Council Housing Conference on July 12th in London?
From: Defend Council Housing
Date: 06/22/07 19:37:19
To: [email
Subject: If not today then when Gordon?


View this email as a webpage

'Fourth Option' - investment to improve existing and build a new generation of first class council housing
If not today then when Gordon?


Gordon Brown told the UNITE (Amicus) conference "I cannot promise to implement the fourth option on council housing today [a demand from the Defend Council Housing group for the last six years] but what I will tell you is that councils will be allowed to build homes again" (Guardian Unlimited, 18 June). 800 delegates welcomed Brown waving the new DCH "Hands Up for the Fourth Option". Organise a 'Hands Up for the Fourth Option' event in your area and contact the press (Order 'hands' £10 for 50 inc p&p)
Amicus and UNISON conference delegates this week put their "Hands up for the Fourth Option". Margaret Wilkinson (pictured at UNISON) is a council tenant and councillor from Vale of Glamorgan who is speaking at the DCH conference on July 12. (photo Marcus Rose, Insight Visual)
DCH supporters are saying 'If not today then when Gordon?' - and in the meantime there must be a moratorium on all transfers and ALMOs. Councils cannot be allowed to continue to bully tenants on the basis that government policy won't change when it clearly is!
It follows "Mr Brown has an 'open mind' about the fourth option for council housing, as an alternative to transfer, arm's-length management and the private finance initiative, his spokesperson said this week." (Inside Housing, 8 June). See Press Archive.
Help turn sound bites into concrete proposals with a clear timescale for implementing the 'Fourth Option' to:
1. Improve all existing council homes and estates
2. Start a new council house building programme
3. Ensure sufficient funds to maintain all council homes in future years
Download model motion latest DCH newspaper new posters DCH July 12 conference flyer 'Fourth Option' 2006 Labour Conference composite motion.
Around 200 authorities would directly benefit from 'Fourth Option' changes to revenue and capital funding including those retaining their homes, those with ALMOs and those where tenants have rejected privatisation or not yet voted. And all authorities across England, Scotland and Wales would gain from the opportunity to build new council housing.

Make sure tenants in areas facing privatisation use this knowledge to stand up to bullying and blackmail and ensure there a broad delegation from every area attending the DCH national conference on July 12 to discuss how to take the campaign forward.

Defend Council Housing has posted a 'Fourth Option' for council housing
e-petition on the Downing Street website.

Forward on this email to help collect signatures

Help step up the pressure to bring this campaign to a successful conclusion:
Pass this model motion Word .doc or pdf in your organisation
Help campaign against any stock transfer, PFI or ALMO proposals in your area
Organise a delegation of tenants, councillors and trade unionists to attend the DCH national conference on July 12
Order and distribute campaign material in your organisation and area (new DCH newspaper and 'Case for Council Housing in 21st Century Britain' pamphlet)
Sign the e-petition and encourage others to sign too
Ask your MP to sign EDM 136 Funding Decent Council Housing and join the Council Housing group of MPs at Parliament
Distribute campaign material at tenants and union conferences and other events (email to get material posted to you)
Organise a 'Hands up for the fourth option' event in your area and contact the press (Order 'hands' £10 for 50 inc p&p)
Affiliate & donate to DCH

DCH is holding a national conference, July 12 at TUC Congress House, London
Download conference Flyer & Programme, circulate locally and organise a delegation of tenants, trade unionists and councillors from your area to attend. Propose to your council that they sponsor the delegation - they always say they want tenants to be well informed and regularly fund tenants to attend other 'similar' events (individual tenants £5; sponsored tenants, trade unionists, councillors, etc £20)

Further information from www.defendcouncilhousing.org.uk
To stop getting DCH email newsletters reply with UNSUBSCRIBE in subject.

Have you organised a delegation of tenants, trade unionists and councillors from your area to attend the DCH Conference on July 12 at TUC, Central London?

Send details to make planning easier...
Sign the 'Fourth Option' for council housing
e-petition on the Downing Street website;
Pass this model motion (pdf) in your organisation (Word format).

Bulk order copies of the latest DCH newspaper to distribute to tenants, trade unionists and councillors in your area (£18 per 100 / £100 per 1000);



Ask your MP to sign EDM 136 Funding Decent Council Housing - show them the Daily Mirror article.

Affiliate & donate to DCH
 
Brian Hubbard a supporter of Defend Council Housing was recently elected as councillor in Middlesbrough defeating Bob Brady the chair of housing and also chair of Erimus the new landlords of council housing in Boro. Brian was a Labour member who left Labour and stood as an Independent he and Brady had represented the Priestfields area see above message about PETRA.
Now Brian has recieved a letter from The director of Erimus saying that he is no longer invited to attend area forum meetings of Erimus tenants due to complaints of his negativity and disruptive behaviour.
Brian has asked where in any of the minutes of the meetings has his behaviour or negativity been questioned?
So much for democracy
 
and another bump for the DCH conference on thursday the 12th. the article in the indy, this morning, suggested that yvette cooper thought all the new council housing possibly coming would be mostly mostly almos rather than full on council housing. she thought of families living next to young people buying their own flats. what happens to single people, often older, who cannot afford or do not want to buy their own flats, yvette?
 
At the World Development Movement conference, i came across a stall by the leeds tenants federation, they seemed well sussed, organised and hinted there may well be a national demo soon. Crucially, they now include private tenants within their remit.

So, why can't DCH open up to the rented sector as well, we need support, etc as well.
 
I have read this letter from a member of Crawley Defend Council Housing campaign if true the implications are enormous over past Stock Transfers .

"The real home truths
The advertising Standards Authority (ASA) recently delivered a damning judgement on Crawley council’s campaign to sell off council homes. The ASA judged that a DVD distributed to tenants by Crawley council in West Sussex to promote the privatisation of housing stock had denigrated the membership of Crawley Defend Council Housing (DCH).

In doing so it had breached the ASA code in respect to substantiation, truthfulness and unfair advantage.

In a separate complaint made by Crawley DCH, the ASA considered that an earlier Crawley council newsletter was misleading in claiming that it would cost £60 million to bring council homes up to the minimum Decent Homes Standard as that sum also included future maintenance costs.

The ASA therefore concluded that the council had breached their code in respect to substantiation and truthfulness.

Crawley council had informed the ASA that the contents of the newsletter and the DVD were approved by their lawyers, the Independent Tenant Advisor (TPAS), the government office and the housing corporation.

It should come as no surprise that council tenants who speak out against the privatisation are vilified by a council with the support and knowledge of the government and a so-called “independent” tenants’ advisor.

A council spokesman commented in Inside Housing magazine that the authority was “baffled and disappointed” by the ASA’s decision.

The judgement raised issues for all local authorities running controversial consultations. He said, “We’re disappointed because our materials and methods were no different to those used in the 400 or so transfer consultations undertaken by other councils before ours.”

So there you have it. Thousands of tenants have been apparently misled into surrendering their secure council tenancies for an uncertain future in the private sector.

These tenants have been lied to and disbelieved in support of the government’s unethical rush to ensuring the future delivery of social housing is related to a profit-centred activity."

Michael Barratt, Council tenant and Crawley DCH

Perhaps some local councillors could ask whether this happened with local sell offs?
_________________
 
I have just recieved an email from a Teesside councillor saying he has heard that Erimus housing in Middlesbrough is proposing to merge with Tees Valley Housing Group. TVHG are the largest Housing Assn on Teesside following the merger of other local housing assns.
Nothing is public on this latest possible proposal as yet
 
I have just recieved this email from another local councillor following my request asking her/him if they had heard any rumours.

'Yes, apparently they (Tees Valley) have looked through the company details (E.H) and had a meeting last week with all Board members, top officers, i union member present.
Erimus were clearly hoping for good news of a merger, T.V verdict was that 'they had never seen such an uneducated management as Erimus before' - and said a merger would not be taking place.
Erimus, acting on normal impulse, issued a statement to all its frontline staff saying that 'they would have to start performing at a higher standard'!
The union rep who was present took the statement back into One North East and told the bosses that the frontline staff were not criticised, it was them who was in the firing line so they should up the anti - I don't think it went down too well!'


I wouldn't rule anything out
Geoff
 
Defend Council Housing????!!

Why, it's shit!

One of the things Thatcher was clever about with her right to buy scheme was that working class people don't aspire to council housing, to having the council lay down the law on what you can do or not do to your house, as such the right to buy was held out as a carrot to lead into the big stick of atomised mortgage discipline, and yet still most people desire to have their own house because the simple fact is council housing is shit. We should not defend council housing one bit, we should be demanding much better, whilst at the same time making clear we will resist any further attacks on working class living conditions, not on the basis of defending council housing but defending working class living conditions.
 
We should not defend council housing one bit, we should be demanding much better, whilst at the same time making clear we will resist any further attacks on working class living conditions, not on the basis of defending council housing but defending working class living conditions.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing your local council didn't spend alot on education.
 
This is a letter I have sent out to the Evening Gazette and Northern Echo as well as many local activists and councillors. I have had some positive responses so far.


Dear Editor,
I have heard from two local councillors that a meeting has taken place between Erimus Housing and Tees Valley Housing Group with a view to possible merger of the two organisations. If this merger goes ahead the implications for social housing in the local area will be huge.
The stock transfer of council housing from Middlesbrough Council control to Erimus ownership a few years ago wasted a massive amount of money promoting the benefits of Erimus to council tenants, at least £750,000 I seem to recall. I was part of a group of Middlesbrough residents who campaigned against stock transfer around the Defend Council Housing organisation.
Now it would appear that the ownership of the former council homes could change again or evolve, what will happen to all of the promises that were made by Erimus and the Labour councillors who supported this new organisation?
Tees Valley Housing Group are I think the largest housing association in the Tees Valley area this would mean that Erimus or it's offshoot would have a much larger geographical area to cover as opposed to just Middlesbrough. This will put massive pressure on smaller local housing associations to join together or merge. Recently Sunderland Housing Group who took over Sunderland housing stock attempted to take over the Sedgefield council housing.
Imagine any enlarged company the bigger the company the harder the fall plus there are national and international pressures to open up closed markets to private investments. This may seem irrelevant now but this was the subject of a Defend Housing conference workshop a few years back. The World Trade Organisation through various Gatts treaties is pushing to make it illegal for any country signed upto the WTO to prevent take over bids of these new companies. So hostile bids cannot be ruled out in the future.
How would any organisation borrow money from the financial markets? Certainly it would have to put forward some collateral ie housing stock perhaps? what would happen if this company defaulted.? The financial markets will only invest if they get a decent rate of return on their investment so where will this rate of return come from?
Again with any newer larger organisation the executives would want comparable salaries and perks commensurate with their new status and to attract the 'right sort' to run such organisation.
Erimus promised greater consultation with it's tenants I wonder if tenants were consulted on any possible merger talks?
Finally I wonder what the implications are for other local housing organisations such as Coast and Country, Hartlepool First and Tri Star? Many questions need to be asked and a campaign organised to bring social housing back into the democratically controlled council sphere.
Yours Faithfully
Mr Geoff Kerr-Morgan
 
revol68 said:
Defend Council Housing????!!

Why, it's shit!

One of the things Thatcher was clever about with her right to buy scheme was that working class people don't aspire to council housing, to having the council lay down the law on what you can do or not do to your house, as such the right to buy was held out as a carrot to lead into the big stick of atomised mortgage discipline, and yet still most people desire to have their own house because the simple fact is council housing is shit. We should not defend council housing one bit, we should be demanding much better, whilst at the same time making clear we will resist any further attacks on working class living conditions, not on the basis of defending council housing but defending working class living conditions.
Click to expand...

Not all of us can afford to buy our own homes nor do many of us want to. No one "aspires" to live in social housing but such housing should always be available.

Thatcher wasn't "clever", she helped to create the housing crisis that we have today. I never saw people sleeping on the street when I was a kid, when Thatch came to power, there were homeless people everywhere.
 
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