A Pivotal Moment In Housing - When The Tories Take Our Home

[Sasaferrato]

It's not a question of absolute numbers - plenty of expensive housing has been built and is still being built in Greater London, but there's next to none which is affordable on anything like ordinary earnings.

Land prices in London don't help.

 

[cantsin]

And rightly so. Corbyn is a dangerous fucking idiot. An utter and absolute clown.

Oh yes, we build the next generation of nuclear tipped subs, at vast expense, but drop the nuclear tips.

can't you f+ck off somewhere people are interested in your whining, repetitious drivel ?

 

[Sasaferrato]

can't you f+ck off somewhere people are interested in your whining, repetitious drivel ?

Were you always a rude arsehole, or did you have to go on a course? Pillock!

 

[Crispy]

Through developing low-to-mid rise (3-10 storeys), we could probably get a third to a half of that sorted. We've got this daft situation in London where for the last 40 years "the market" has dictated that individual houses and small low-rise developments are the way to go, because that's where the money is. Go to most German cities, and everything is still reversed. Houses are a relative rarity compared to low and medium rise apartment blocks, and hence the cities are smaller, and yet more densely-populated than British cities, with fewer of the social problems you might assume would accompany such density.

Yep. Basically fill this:

And this:

With loads of this:


(all images at the same scale)

The trouble is that loads and loads of "inner" London is full of this:


Low density Victorian terraces with gardens. Nobody can knock swathes of this down like they used to.

 

[oryx]

Low density Victorian terraces with gardens. Nobody can knock swathes of this down like they used to.

Yes, it would be almost unthinkable now.

OH and I were re-watching 'The Secret History of Our Streets' about Deptford last night. My partner finds it quite upsetting as he was from one of the redeveloped streets and is of the view that refurbishment rather than redevelopment was possible, and that redevelopment destroyed communities.

Nowadays we wouldn't think of destroying streets of Victorian houses in London as they are popular with gentrifiers.

I was saying to him that it's still going on only this time it is council estates. The term 'social cleansing' is recent but it has been going on for years - people treated as expendable, homes treated as commodities.

 

[DotCommunist]

Yes, it would be almost unthinkable now.

OH and I were re-watching 'The Secret History of Our Streets' about Deptford last night. My partner finds it quite upsetting as he was from one of the redeveloped streets and is of the view that refurbishment rather than redevelopment was possible, and that redevelopment destroyed communities.

Nowadays we wouldn't think of destroying streets of Victorian houses in London as they are popular with gentrifiers.

I was saying to him that it's still going on only this time it is council estates. The term 'social cleansing' is recent but it has been going on for years - people treated as expendable, homes treated as commodities.

i remember that prog. Got right angry about middle class wankers from the council going round peoples houses and classifying them for a slum clearance because they had an outside shitter or someone hadn't swept the yard that day. Those still standing that escaped the 'march of history' are worth millions now

 

[Lurdan]

Facing being priced out of social housing in London because of cuts to your income, the bedroom tax, the forthcoming Pay to Stay, the redesignation of your rent as 'affordable' rather than 'social' etc. etc. etc. Thinking of following the 'logic of the market' and 'getting on your bike' to look for a cheaper social tenancy somewhere else ? It's now proposed the bar to getting a social tenancy in a different area be raised even higher.

Social housing: tenants will need to live in an area for four years to be eligible - Guardian

New tenants trying to get council and other social housing are to be required to live in the local area for four years instead of the current two, according to a white paper on European reform published on Monday.

The white paper, The Best of Both Worlds – Our Special Status in a Reformed EU, makes clear that the change in the “residency test” will not just apply to new migrants but also anyone moving within Britain.

“This is aimed at ensuring that sufficient affordable housing is available to those among the local population who are on low incomes or otherwise disadvantaged and who would find it particularly difficult to find a home on the open market. We will extend this period to four years.”

The Foreign Office paper says that existing official guidance to local authorities in England already makes clear they should require a potential tenant to live in the area for at least two years before they are considered for social housing.

(In London itself I assume 'different area' will as usual mean different borough no matter how close to where you are currently).

 

[stethoscope]

Clegg can fuck right off obviously but even so. Tory cunts.

Clegg: Tories blocked social housing as it produced Labour votes | News | Inside Housing

David Cameron opposed increased funding for social housing in the last parliament because it would “produce more Labour voters”, Nick Clegg has claimed.

The former deputy prime minister said both the prime minister and the chancellor privately rejected Liberal Democrat calls for more money for social housebuilding under the coalition government.

An interview with the former Liberal Democrat leader in The Independent described Mr Clegg’s account of his attempt to allocate more money for social housing: “When the Lib Dems pushed repeatedly in the last parliament for money to build social housing, the prime minister and chancellor rebuffed them with the stark message: ‘All it does is produce more Labour voters.’”

Downing Street did not deny that the comments were made. However, a spokesperson said: “People at the election voted for a plan to deliver more affordable homes to buy and this government will deliver the largest affordable housing programme since the 1970s.”

The interview follows the Autumn Statement last year, in which the chancellor shifted the majority of government affordable housing funding away from affordable rent and towards subsidised home ownership.

The Liberal Democrats have previously said that they watered down a number of coalition policies related to housing in the last parliament.

Mr Clegg said in October he “dissuaded the Conservatives in coalition from fiddling with social rents to cut the housing benefit bill because it would have had a disastrous effect on the ability of housing associations to raise the money to build new homes”.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Does he expect us to look on him more favourably for saying this, given that he helped the cunts do it at all?

 

[stethoscope]

Does he expect us to look on him more favourably for saying this, given that he helped the cunts do it at all?

Quite. It's that Downing Street didn't deny it either

 

[stethoscope]

Government back down over social housing benefit cap, for now at least.

Social housing benefit cap deferred for a year

 

[Lurdan]

Waste management firm Biffa advertise the possibilities offered by the CCTV camera system on their bin lorries which "gives the driver the opportunity to check for contamination and check to see if there's anybody in the waste".

Government to announce crackdown on "health and safety gone mad".

The 'growing issue' of homeless people sleeping in bins - BBC

 

[stethoscope]

Piece in today's Grauniad ('Tale of two Cities: winners and losers in the London's social housing divide') mentions a new series starting tomorrow night (15/3) on BBC One - The Estate We're In.

Situated beside the beautiful Welsh Harp Reservoir, the West Hendon Estate was built in the 1960s to provide housing for families on low incomes. Today, the local council have deemed that the estate's 'grotty' buildings are beyond repair and, in partnership with private developers, the estate is being demolished to make way for a multimillion-pound regeneration which will transform the area into a luxury housing development.

For many of the residents, the regeneration has caused uncertainty and stress. Council tenant Katrina, who has lived on the estate all her life, has been told that she and her daughter are being evicted from their flat. Pensioner Joe will have to sell the maisonette that he has lived in for 30 years and saved up to purchase under right to buy. If the council do not increase their offer he will have to leave London - and the three generations of his family who live locally - to afford a home elsewhere.

Filmed over a year, The Estate We're In follows homeowners and council tenants as they fight to save their homes and campaign against a planned multimillion-pound regeneration, which they claim is forcing low-income families out of London. Council leaders argue that there is no public money available and that private investment is the only way to supply much-needed housing.

Through the experiences of the residents, the film gives an intimate perspective on the housing crisis and raises broader questions: What makes a community? Is it possible to fight the system? And are the rights of the poor being ignored for the benefit of the rich?

Can't vouch for whether it'll be any good, but giving a heads up anyhow.

 

[stethoscope]

This has been good and worth watching, if that it also makes me so bloody angry I so want to punch the Tory leader of the councillor as he smirked whilst a resident remonstrated about the lack of replacement housing provision.

Fuck all support for those on non secured tenancies but have lived there for many years, those on secured tenancies losing homes and neighbours they loved and lived amongst for many years also and not getting 'like for like'. And even those who did buy their flats on RTB also get fucked over as they get offered £150-200k compulsory purchase for their current homes but the new flats going up in the area start from £300k.

 

[ViolentPanda]

This has been good and worth watching, if that it also makes me so bloody angry I so want to punch the Tory leader of the councillor as he smirked whilst a resident remonstrated about the lack of replacement housing provision.

Fuck all support for those on non secured tenancies but have lived there for many years, those on secured tenancies losing homes and neighbours they loved and lived amongst for many years also and not getting 'like for like'. And even those who did buy their flats on RTB also get fucked over as they get offered £150-200k compulsory purchase for their current homes but the new flats going up in the area start from £300k.

Same has happened elsewhere. Here in Lambeth, when the council PFI'd the "regeneration" of Myatts Fields North, residents were promised "like for like", but didn't get it. They then tried the same tactic here on my estate, implying like for like while having no actual intention to stick to it. They are also treating leaseholders and freeholders the same as Barnet did. It's a landgrab by councils, plain and simple. They see market rents from new developments as a lifeline in the face of central government cuts, and serving up the poorest and most resource-intensive borough residents means - they hope - less noise and argument than if they fucked over the chattering classes.

 

[oryx]

Caught up with this tonight. A good, moving and anger-inducing programme.

I'm annoyed it was shown so late as this issue deserves a much wider audience - it should have been on around 6.30 - 9-ish.

 

[stethoscope]

Piece here about the fiddling of housing waiting lists…
Why council waiting lists are shrinking, despite more people in need of homes

 

[stethoscope]

As per Pickman's post here, and despite Bob Kerslake with a final intervention, the Housing Bill goes through

Fuck all though in the media as far as I can find.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Piece here about the fiddling of housing waiting lists…
Why council waiting lists are shrinking, despite more people in need of homes

The Tory at the Lambeth scrutiny meeting on Monday mentioned that "you're always going on about 21,000 on the waiting list, but we all know that 6,000 have priority, so talking about 21,000 is you playing politics", so it seems to work both ways/whichever way benefits the incumbent council most.

 

[stethoscope]

The Tory at the Lambeth scrutiny meeting on Monday mentioned that "you're always going on about 21,000 on the waiting list, but we all know that 6,000 have priority, so talking about 21,000 is you playing politics", so it seems to work both ways/whichever way benefits the incumbent council most.

Aye. See my post here too VP. Newham Labour seem to be doing the same thing - and it's Lambeth and Newham Labour that are ultimately the divisive counts to all those in housing need

 

[marty21]

As per Pickman's post here, and despite Bob Kerslake with a final intervention, the Housing Bill goes through

Fuck all though in the media as far as I can find.

awful news - will completely decimate Social Housing - the only silver lining I can see is that the current discounts make rtb in central London very difficult (£102k on a flat worth £500k + in Westminster, Camden, Islington, etc is still beyond the reach of most)

 

[stethoscope]

awful news - will completely decimate Social Housing - the only silver lining I can see is that the current discounts make rtb in central London very difficult (£102k on a flat worth £500k + in Westminster, Camden, Islington, etc is still beyond the reach of most)

Yep. Don't know if you saw this piece I posted too, Marty, but that I think sums it all up.

 

[oryx]

awful news - will completely decimate Social Housing - the only silver lining I can see is that the current discounts make rtb in central London very difficult (£102k on a flat worth £500k + in Westminster, Camden, Islington, etc is still beyond the reach of most)

This ^.

 

[ViolentPanda]

awful news - will completely decimate Social Housing - the only silver lining I can see is that the current discounts make rtb in central London very difficult (£102k on a flat worth £500k + in Westminster, Camden, Islington, etc is still beyond the reach of most)

"Destroy" is more apt than "decimate", sadly.

 

[bi0boy]

I see Labour are proposing that local councils act as mortgage lenders so people can get mortgages more easily

Labour calls for councils to help first-time buyers

 

[snadge]

And rightly so. Corbyn is a dangerous fucking idiot. An utter and absolute clown.

Oh yes, we build the next generation of nuclear tipped subs, at vast expense, but drop the nuclear tips.

Have you ever heard of rods of god, if not, maybe you should look it up.


Same devastation as Nukes with none of the fallout, we don't NEED nukes to level a place.

 

[bi0boy]

Have you ever heard of rods of god, if not, maybe you should look it up.


Same devastation as Nukes with none of the fallout, we don't NEED nukes to level a place.

Are you suggesting Corbyn is interested in starting up a UK offensive orbital space wars program?

 

[snadge]

Are you suggesting Corbyn is interested in starting up a UK offensive orbital space wars program?

No I am not but saying there are alternatives to nukes.

 

[nino_savatte]

An utter and absolute clown.

You're projecting.

 

[bi0boy]

No I am not but saying there are alternatives to nukes.

In the same way that fusion power is an alternative to Hinkley C