Brixton news, rumours and general chat - October 2012

[Manter]

The thing is, it's really hard for anyone under the age of about 35 to buy a place in London without any parental help/inheritance, unfortunately.

True- and the same in most of the South East. Maybe we need to look at the continental model where ownership is less common but tenancies are more stable/secure?

 

[Orang Utan]

Sorry, but I'm just fed up hearing about my friends being forced out of Brixton. Another good friend told me he's leaving next week.

The Brixton community has already lost most of Rushcroft Road and all of Clifton Mansions, and many people I've known in Brixton for years on end are desperately trying to ride out the rent increases or they're reluctantly planning on going elsewhere.

That hideous Brixton Square development seems to be attracting nothing but buy-to-letters who are going to further inflate rent prices, and with the council now looking at the $$$ potential of doing Guinness Trust-style 'redevelopment' deals on council estates, I don't think it's going to be too long before I'm pushed out.

Quite a few long term residents on my estate are worried about their future here too. And that pisses me right off.

Why resent the people who move in though? We all move to places for the same reasons.

 

[Ms T]

True- and the same in most of the South East. Maybe we need to look at the continental model where ownership is less common but tenancies are more stable/secure?

Absolutely. My friends in Graz rented the same flat for years at a very reasonable rent before eventually getting their own place.

 

[Onket]

I can be grumpy too, you know. But never as grumpy as you

But I'm not grumpy.

 

[Badgers]

But I'm not grumpy.

You are more surly I find

 

[editor]

Why resent the people who move in though? We all move to places for the same reasons.

Where did I say I 'resented' them?
I'm sure some are very nice people, just as there'll be some right cocks in there too.

What I do resent is seeing friends being priced out of the place they love, with buy to letters helping push them out.

 

[Orang Utan]

I say you resent them. Resentment is dripping through your every comment on newcomers and Brixton Village

 

[Onket]

You are more surly I find

I have disagreed with the ed and the mods when they have been clearly incorrect. Certainly not grumpy, though.

Sadly there are a lot of simpletons who post here.

 

[editor]

I say you resent them. Resentment is dripping through your every comment on newcomers and Brixton Village

Whatevs.

 

[boohoo]

Back in the early 90s (when I left home) I thought Brixton wasn't a place I couldn't afford to live unless I lived in social housing. Many of the people I know from all around the world have often returned to their home town to live in later life. That will be something unlikely to happen for me as Brixton is my home town and it's unlikely I can afford it.

However I really don't resent the new wave of people coming into the area... they are just continuing what was started years ago (yes, I know all at a faster pace!)

 

[Badgers]

Is Shoreditch pretty much empty now?

 

[Frumious B.]

? Suggesting I've made it up?

Yes. Either that or you nicked it from Absolutely Fabulous.

 

[editor]

However I really don't resent the new wave of people coming into the area... they are just continuing what was started years ago (yes, I know all at a faster pace!)

Brixton's been changing since the day I arrived here and most of it has been for the better. But the recent speed of change, coupled with the evictions of Rushcroft Road and Clifton Mansions are starting to really alter the character of the place. When Brixton Square and Clifton Mansions open there's going to be an even bigger shift around the town centre.

 

[Crispy]

Inner London is filling up faster than new housing is being built, is what the problem is.

 

[Badgers]

Inner London is filling up faster than new housing is being built, is what the problem is.

Perhaps the government should give the developers a tax break or some tax payers money to help them keep up?

 

[Crispy]

Perhaps the government should give the developers a tax break or some tax payers money to help them keep up?

At this point, I'd be open to pretty much anything. A massive programme of council house building would be the far more preferable, of course.

Neither option will happen though, because an increase in supply would mean a fall in house prices. Ever-rising house prices have been propping up a fairly large part of the national economy for decades now. Don't rock the boat!

 

[editor]

Build council houses and affordable homes. Ban buy to lets in areas of high housing need. Reduce the need to buy by introducing affordable, controlled rents with security of tenure.

Yeah, I know. Total pipedream stuff.

 

[Orang Utan]

 

[Ms T]

At this point, I'd be open to pretty much anything. A massive programme of council house building would be the far more preferable, of course.

Neither option will happen though, because an increase in supply would mean a fall in house prices. Ever-rising house prices have been propping up a fairly large part of the national economy for decades now. Don't rock the boat!

There's also a massive shortage of land to build the houses on.

 

[peterkro]

Brixton's been changing since the day I arrived here and most of it has been for the better. But the recent speed of change, coupled with the evictions of Rushcroft Road and Clifton Mansions are starting to really alter the character of the place. When Brixton Square and Clifton Mansions open there's going to be an even bigger shift around the town centre.

It's not just the two you mentioned all of Lambeth's short life community is being reclaimed by the council and auctioned off to developers.Overall that's a lot of people many of who added much to the community.Those people are being moved individually around parts of Lambeth (and in my case Southwark) breaking up lots communities that had grown up over the last forty years who had thrived with a self help and mutual aid philosophy.It's sad to see all this going.

 

[Frumious B.]

The Brixton community has already lost most of Rushcroft Road

I'm in Rushcroft Road and I'm a member of the Brixton community. Who decides which residents are members? A Welshman from the internet?

One of my downstairs neighbours has owned her flat for 30 years.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Why resent the people who move in though? We all move to places for the same reasons.

Not necessarily. Some people move to be near family, some people move to be near a tube line, some people move because it's where they can afford, and some people move because an area's trendy and they can afford it. Just a few reasons of course, there's loads of others but I can't be arsed to think of them right now

 

[editor]

I can almost feel the hand-rubbing stare of Lambeth looking over the Moorlands Estate. All that commercial partnership new development potential!

 

[editor]

I'm in Rushcroft Road and I'm a member of the Brixton community. Who decides which residents are members? A Welshman from the internet?

One of my downstairs neighbours has owned her flat for 30 years.

Sure. But what about the all the ones that got kicked out? Weren't they part of the same community too?

 

[Ms T]

I can almost feel the hand-rubbing stare of Lambeth looking over the Moorlands Estate. All that commercial partnership new development potential!

A lot of it is housing association isn't it?

 

[Crispy]

There's also a massive shortage of land to build the houses on.

Houses, yes. Apartments, not so much. It means building dense and (relatively, for London) tall, though, which in terms of planning permission is just as big an obstacle as the economic one.

 

[Frumious B.]

Sure. But what about the all the ones that got kicked out? Weren't they part of the same community too?

Of course. Everyone who lives here is. The one's who've left are now members of some other community. It's up to newcomers how much they'll participate in community goings-on. They're much more likely to if they're not on the receiving end of your 'welcome'.

 

[quimcunx]

None of which newcomers to the area have any decision-making power over.

I really don't get on here how posters can recognise that getting people to hate benefits claimants is diverting the hatred and resentment from the correct target while blaming what's happening in the housing market and policy on people who have no more say over these things than we do.

I expect when I moved to Brixton 20 years ago it was undergoing changes in the character of the place more longstanding residents weren't always keen on. Thankfully no one cunted me off as a symbol of change they didn't like, not to my face.

When West Indians moved into the area I'm sure lots of the longstanding residents weren't keen on the change to the character of the place either.

It's always changing and some bits of change I like and some I don't like. Don't see the need to hate on people just because they're different from me. I'll take against them on a case by case basis, if it's all the same. Same as I do with anyone whose been here 20 years or a lifetime.

I'm looking at you, boohoo.

 

[twistedAM]

Of course. Everyone who lives here is. The one's who've left are now members of some other community. It's up to newcomers how much they'll participate in community goings-on. They're much more likely to if they're not on the receiving end of your 'welcome'.

That's just great for them innit - if it was their choice.

 

[editor]

Of course. Everyone who lives here is. The one's who've left are now members of some other community. It's up to newcomers how much they'll participate in community goings-on. They're much more likely to if they're not on the receiving end of your 'welcome'.

What is this "welcome" I'm supposed to be giving and how on earth would it make the slightest bit of difference?

I judge people on how I find them, and don't insist on going through their housing particulars and financial background before deciding if I like them or not.