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Diffrent rents

Mike Lane | 28.12.2003 10:32 | Liverpool

If these money grabbing Housing Associations have their way working class people will go backwards to a Victorian age were we will have to tip our caps to the middle classes.

Was working up in Huyton last week doing jobs in the Huyton New Deal for Communities area around Penard Av. The area was awarded £50m NDC funding. Loads of houses getting demolished. New houses for sale and rent are being built. the money grabbing new Housing Association is trying to get its hands on as much as the NDC money as possible.

The council houses in the area and in the surrounding areas have been transferred to a new social landlord called Knowsley Housing (KH), I think? One tenant I was working for told me that they were told that the rent would not go up. She also told me that when new tenants move in they are charged more than tenants who were there before houses went over to KH. She said she paid £45, or there abouts, per week and new tenants who move in are charged £60 per week.

Because of the situation pertaining to the tenancy being changed from secure tenancy (secure tenancy is monitored by the rent officer and the Housing Corporation, both of whom are corrupt and in with the RSL's anyway) to assured tenancy (assured tenancy is not monitored) the RSL's can charge one tenant more than another tenant for the same type of house. If this is happening it is a very serious issue and surly proves that we are moving into an era of social injustice as never seen before. As working class people it is our duty to stand up against this injustice, which is being perpetrated against us by predominantly middle class housing administrators who used to work for the city councils but now work for RSL's or Housing Associations, paying themselves even bigger salaries. What these council officer have done is steal our public houses thus create even better paid jobs for themselves by creating new social landlords which are in reality private landlords. In reality they have given themselves our houses for them to administrate when they could have given the houses to the tenants, many of whom have paid for them three times over. Are you aware of this injustice?

Mike Lane
- e-mail: mickjlane@btinternet.com
- Homepage: http://www.whistleblower.nstemp.com

Comments

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squat drop

28.12.2003 17:23

I think the problem of housing and overpriced rent lies in the absence of squatters. The more houses are squatted and claimed rent-free, landlord-free and development-proof, the easier it will be to reclaim councils as working class areas.

I've seen it happen in London, estates such as the infamous Portman estate around Marble Arch and Hyde Park, a multi-billion pound area of development has over a hundred squatters who are continually being evicted and reclaiming land in the area. I was one of them for a while, several friends and myself claimed a hotel that was abandoned and set ourselves up for the summer in a working commune. The police hassled us but the local people were so supportive that we hardly had to buy food and furniture was shelved to us, we had three refridgerators and nearly seven sofas, not to mention countless matresses.

It’s not hard to do and worth exploiting whilst it is still legal.

I suggest anyone interested in getting involved contact me, we'll set up our own communities and bring squatting back into Liverpool, and it’s easier than paying the rent...

How about that for Indymedia pro-activism!

ben
mail e-mail: mcabromb@livjm.ac.uk


Direct Action

28.12.2003 19:55

Suggest direct action against...
Bailiffs ( those bastards have had it easy since the poll tax )
Those Housing Associations ( featuring all those wankers that took advantage of 70s pressure groups and activitsts - beware of those middle class fuckers that now that are also trying to make careers out of 'anti-capitalist movements' ). A good way to try and hide the money trail.
Bent councils ( that'd be all of them, then - It's no wonder Private Eye has a page dedicated to them each issue!).
While the government and the councils are trying to sell of the last of the stock through the backdoor ( as in the case of ALMOs )and through any other dodgy PFI/PPP means we hyave to resist.
Also attend the council housing forums and give them shit. Set up alternative neighbourhood schemes.
Squatters Estate Agencies.
Set up community forums to monitor and blow the whistle on your local council / property developer social services shenanigans.
Check council records - see Mark Thomas' site.
Speak to your neighbours before there all evicted to make way for the rich. Whoops - too late in most of London!
And finally - guillotine all royalty. That should do it.


Links

 http://www.whistleblower.nstemp.com/ Mersey based anti local-govt campaign.
 http://squat.freeserve.co.uk
 http://www.squat.net

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