Social Housing/ private renters/ squatters/ homeless

[Dexter Deadwood]

More evidence of the madness of Right To Buy.
"Housing campaigners highlighted the mockery of the right-to-buy scheme yesterday following revelations that a Tory council spent £90 million on clawing back former social homes after selling them off."
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-6a70-Westminster-buys-sold-off-council-homes#.VUofC_lViko

 

[ViolentPanda]

More evidence of the madness of Right To Buy.
"Housing campaigners highlighted the mockery of the right-to-buy scheme yesterday following revelations that a Tory council spent £90 million on clawing back former social homes after selling them off."
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-6a70-Westminster-buys-sold-off-council-homes#.VUofC_lViko

Yup. has happened on a smaller scale elsewhere, including Lambeth Council buying back 4 houses on Cressingham Gardens.

 

[Effrasurfer]

Are you saying u agree with the article?

No. Hence the ironic thumbs up and the facepalm.

 

[Gramsci]

This event is on this Saturday:

The film is about the anti eviction movement in Spain. Which is big. The economic crisis led a lot of people under threat of eviction. Mainly owner occupiers. Started in Barcelona and spread to many cities in Spain.

Its been put on by local political group who have given a lot of support recently to various housing issues in the area.

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

This event is on this Saturday:

The film is about the anti eviction movement in Spain. Which is big. The economic crisis led a lot of people under threat of eviction. Mainly owner occupiers. Started in Barcelona and spread to many cities in Spain.

Its been put on by local political group who have given a lot of support recently to various housing issues in the area.

Thanks for that, looks great; hope to attend.

 

[CH1]

Anyone who thought crowd funding was "alternative" or even "moral" can ponder on the advent of Crowd funded Landlords:

"CrowdLords is an Equity Crowdfunding platform. That means that Investors have a direct shareholding in the property via an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) alongside the LandLord.

All Shareholders share in both the income and capital returns of the property by using different classes of shares. The LandLord determines what proportion of Income (after some fixed costs) will be paid quarterly and what proportion of capital growth will be paid at the end of term to Investors.

The rest is used by the LandLord to cover all marketing, management and general maintenance of the property and the remainder is the LandLords profit."

https://www.crowdlords.com/

 

[ViolentPanda]

Anyone who thought crowd funding was "alternative" or even "moral" can ponder on the advent of Crowd funded Landlords:

"CrowdLords is an Equity Crowdfunding platform. That means that Investors have a direct shareholding in the property via an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) alongside the LandLord.

All Shareholders share in both the income and capital returns of the property by using different classes of shares. The LandLord determines what proportion of Income (after some fixed costs) will be paid quarterly and what proportion of capital growth will be paid at the end of term to Investors.

The rest is used by the LandLord to cover all marketing, management and general maintenance of the property and the remainder is the LandLords profit."

https://www.crowdlords.com/

Vile fucking douchebags.

 

[Belushi]

Anyone who thought crowd funding was "alternative" or even "moral" can ponder on the advent of Crowd funded Landlords:

"CrowdLords is an Equity Crowdfunding platform. That means that Investors have a direct shareholding in the property via an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) alongside the LandLord.

All Shareholders share in both the income and capital returns of the property by using different classes of shares. The LandLord determines what proportion of Income (after some fixed costs) will be paid quarterly and what proportion of capital growth will be paid at the end of term to Investors.

The rest is used by the LandLord to cover all marketing, management and general maintenance of the property and the remainder is the LandLords profit."

https://www.crowdlords.com/

That doesn't look like an enormous scam..

 

[CH1]

That doesn't look like an enormous scam..

Not saying it's a scam.
Just IT being deployed to produce high investment returns for people who are already rich - on the top of "hard working tenants" to coin a phrase.

 

[Rushy]

Not saying it's a scam.
Just IT being deployed to produce high investment returns for people who are already rich - on the top of "hard working tenants" to coin a phrase.

I can't really understand how that works -I'd like to see an illustrative investment - but I don't think it's is designed to appeal to the rich. More so to people who have a few grand earning less than 1% in a savings account and and cannot invest by themselves.

The first paragraph made it sound like peer to peer lending, which I think is a good thing all round. But then it seems to get more complicated.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

It sounds like buying shares in a small property company tbh.

 

[ViolentPanda]

That doesn't look like an enormous scam..

Not the first time I've seen something like this being punted, and not by some bucket-shop either.

 

[ViolentPanda]

It sounds like buying shares in a small property company tbh.

Pretty much.

 

[CH1]

I can't really understand how that works -I'd like to see an illustrative investment - but I don't think it's is designed to appeal to the rich. More so to people who have a few grand earning less than 1% in a savings account and and cannot invest by themselves.

The first paragraph made it sound like peer to peer lending, which I think is a good thing all round. But then it seems to get more complicated.

A couple of years ago I was pestered with unsolicited phone calls and mail about investing in self storage. In small print at the bottom of their material it said it was NOT regulated by the FSA. I wonder if any of their investors got their money back - with or without the promised 20% yield.

 

[Belushi]

It's a scam, like investing in Bulgarian property or hotel rooms a few years ago

All Shareholders share in both the income and capital returns of the property by using different classes of shares. The LandLord determines what proportion of Income (after some fixed costs) will be paid quarterly and what proportion of capital growth will be paid at the end of term to Investors.

The rest is used by the LandLord to cover all marketing, management and general maintenance of the property and the remainder is the LandLords profit."

 

[Rushy]

A couple of years ago I was pestered with unsolicited phone calls and mail about investing in self storage. In small print at the bottom of their material it said it was NOT regulated by the FSA. I wonder if any of their investors got their money back - with or without the promised 20% yield.

Saw you at the Pop thing - I was sat on one of the sofas to your back left. Was going to say hi but was late because of the over run and had to dash off. Sorry.

 

[CH1]

Saw you at the Pop thing - I was sat on one of the sofas to your back left. Was going to say hi but was late because of the over run and had to dash off. Sorry.

I think you should have escorted me to the Beehive for a decent pint!
It was striking how young everybody was (he says). Until the chair of the Black Business Forum arrived I was the oldest by at least 20 years!

 

[Rushy]

I think you should have escorted me to the Beehive for a decent pint!
It was striking how young everybody was (he says). Until the chair of the Black Business Forum arrived I was the oldest by at least 20 years!

Devon seemed to come and go at leisure throughout. Did you gather who the maintenance groundsman guy on the panel was who defined what a Brixtonian was (if you don't know me you're not a Brixtonian).

 

[CH1]

Devon seemed to come and go at leisure throughout. Did you gather who the maintenance groundsman guy on the panel was who defined what a Brixtonian was (if you don't know me you're not a Brixtonian).

Devon seemed to be asleep much of the time. Maybe he had jet lag. Hasn't been around for months.

I don't recall ever meeting the maintenance man. But this attitude is characteristic of Surrey generally.

I remember being told as a new arrival from Manchester that you never call on people without an appointment, and never speak unless you have been introduced.

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

The number of tenants evicted from their homes is at a six-year high, according to new figures, as rising rents and cuts to benefits make tenancies increasingly unaffordable.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/20...reach-six-year-high-rising-rents-benefit-cuts

 

[Gramsci]

Thanks for that, looks great; hope to attend.

The film about PAH is now online. The makers of the documentary wanted as many people as possible to be able to see it.



I did see the documentary at Art Nouveau.

It was interesting to see how this support group for those under threat of eviction worked. In Spain its owner occupiers who have fallen on hard times due to the economic crisis. One of the things that the PAH movement has done is take away the shame people feel. Stop them feeling that this is a personal failing of themselves to that its a failure of the system. Its that ideological pressure that its a personal fault that leads one to lose home.Its not its the system.

The second thing that PAH fostered was that economics of housing was not that complicated. One is made to feel that its something only a trained lawyer/ banker can understand. One of the PAH volunteers said the first time he went to negotiate with one of the Spanish banks he felt it intimidating. He realised it was quite simple really. They want the debt written off. That was it.

PAH found that a mass movement where people were there own experts and supported each other meant that the banks decided to negotiate rather than evict.

PAH is part self help, part therapy and part direct action. It does not have leaders. Anyone can set up a group in there town as long as they follow basic principles of PAH.

The thing about Spain is that the economic crisis hit really hard there. It was not the same as Greece. Its was a banking crisis. People were losing homes.

PAH is partly I think about fostering solidarity and community. Values that are not part of cut throat capitalism.

Someone told me that Spain has tradition of politics being on the streets and direct.

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

Landlords enjoy £14 billion in tax breaks as the Tories look to slaughter the poor with £12 billion in welfare cuts.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics...breaks-buy-to-let-expansion-mortgage-interest

 

[ViolentPanda]

Landlords enjoy £14 billion in tax breaks as the Tories look to slaughter the poor with £12 billion in welfare cuts.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics...breaks-buy-to-let-expansion-mortgage-interest

Unsurprising.
Wonder how many more of our elected representatives in Parliament will get into Buy-to-Let over the next 5 years? It's already more than a third of them.

 

[Gramsci]

Landlords enjoy £14 billion in tax breaks as the Tories look to slaughter the poor with £12 billion in welfare cuts.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics...breaks-buy-to-let-expansion-mortgage-interest

Also linked on that page is article by the geographer Danny Dorling saying that home ownership has historically been recent and short lived social phenomena. Most people used to rent and that is returning now.

What I do find irritating about the Guardian is their shock at people making a profit. Shock horror in a Capitalist society housing is used as a commodity. That is how Capitalism works.

The idea behind the neo liberal free market was that people pursuing there own selfish ends without interference from the State would produce good social outcomes. This clearly has not happened.

 

[Gramsci]

Radio 4 had programme this evening on I player now about developers getting out of building affordable housing on large developments. Didnt really tell me anything new.

Worth a listen for confirming how supine Labour Councils are in dealing with developers.

Also demonstrated how Council planning departments do not take developers on. In one case a journalist worked out that one developers "feasibility assessment" ( used to argue that building social housing would make a scheme "unviable") was a load of bollox. By the simple process of looking at nearby property prices. Why a Council planning department was incapable of this is beyond me. Usually "feasibility assessments" are confidential. Even Cllrs on planning committees do not get them. They have to rely on officers. This one was released on FOI.

Thirdly the programme showed the Boris does not really give a shit about affordable housing. He is no air defending a developer. Then programme shows that his arguement is incorrect.

Fourthly shows how developers use any way to get out of building social housing. The Greenwich development ( much was made of this after the dome exhibition finished). The lastest developers are busy arguing the affordable element down. It appears using as one argument that the site was contaminated and need to be cleaned up prior to building. However the programme shows that the government had already footed the bill for this some time ago.

Of course in the need for balance there were some rather unconvincing statements from developers about how hard it is for them.

 

[oryx]

There was an interesting feature on the Robert Elms programme today.

A man who'd written an account of being a squatter in current times was being interviewed. One of the things he said was that the legislation to criminalise squatting in residential properties was due to the Tories being aware that i) due to the property market being how it is there were going to be a lot of properties left empty by investors and ii) imminent benefit cuts would make a lot of people homeless and the two would lead to a rise in squatting.

No doubt been said before but this was the first time I'd heard that theory.

 

[Belushi]

We need to take some inspiration from the Catalans and Spanish

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/dan-hancox-barcelona-en-com-take-back-the-city-284

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

More state violence against the homeless here;
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-16-grosvenor-street-ordered-leave-high-court

 

[ViolentPanda]

There was an interesting feature on the Robert Elms programme today.

A man who'd written an account of being a squatter in current times was being interviewed. One of the things he said was that the legislation to criminalise squatting in residential properties was due to the Tories being aware that i) due to the property market being how it is there were going to be a lot of properties left empty by investors and ii) imminent benefit cuts would make a lot of people homeless and the two would lead to a rise in squatting.

No doubt been said before but this was the first time I'd heard that theory.

TBF, I first copped to this when Chuka Ummuna signed up to the criminalisation legislation a couple of years ago - why else suddenly fill a gap that'd been around for decades?

 

[CH1]

Radio 4 had programme this evening on I player now about developers getting out of building affordable housing on large developments.

Worth a listen for confirming how supine Labour Councils are in dealing with developers.
Also demonstrated how Council planning departments do not take developers on. In one case a journalist worked out that one developers "feasibility assessment" ( used to argue that building social housing would make a scheme "unviable") was a load of bollox. By the simple process of looking at nearby property prices. Why a Council planning department was incapable of this is beyond me. Usually "feasibility assessments" are confidential. Even Cllrs on planning committees do not get them. They have to rely on officers. This one was released on FOI.

2 interesting tit-bits in the programme (at least for me):
Lambeth Cllr Kevin Craig complaining that council planning committees were now relatively impotent trying to set terms for social housing - compared to when he was Chair of Planning (15 years ago I believe).

It was also stated that Greenwich Council were so cheesed off with confidential viability assessments undermining social benefits from developments that they were proposing to make these reports publicly available. Would that Lambeth Council would do the same!