AIBU to think a SOCIAL HOUSING trust shouldnt sell out to a private developer.

[HelenaDove]

This is shocking and if they are doing this then surely their charitable status should be revoked. Appalling!


www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/20/charity-housing-crisis-gentrification-walthamstow-glasspool-trust-natwest-private-developer?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[MattDillonsPants]

YANBU. :(

It's absolutely criminal. I can't believe it's allowed to happen! I wrote an article about how house prices in places like Walthamstow are rising fast because of the ridiculous prices elsewhere in London.

These houses will be sold to the middle classes who can't afford to live in naicer parts. Coffee shops will open. Families who in some cases have been on that estate for generations will be shoved out to hostels and worse.

[HelenaDove]

Heres a ridiculous price. The ONE bedroom flats that have been built into the old BBC TV Centre have a starting price of £700k a pop.

[HelenaDove]

Tenants were unaware their homes had been sold . The first they heard of it was when eviction notices were handed out.


www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/20/lifeline-for-london-families-facing-eviction-after-charity-sold-their-flats

[MercedesDR]

I'm in Walthamstow and I think this sucks!

[Owllady]

Did you watch 'the estate we're in' ?

I was watching can't pay well take it away today and the nice grey haired bailiff said it's their biggest growth area now, eviction. They are doing 25 a week, just those three men in a van! And he said he predicted an avalanche :(

It's social cleansing. We are having families dumped in hostels and hotels here from London evictions. The displacement of families and communities is awful

[Owllady]

Sorry Helena you told me to watch the program in the first place :)

[specialsubject]

the Glasspool Trust seems to have been naive at best. They sought assurances (Says their websites) that the tenants would be protected within the law. And that is what has happened - the tenants are being evicted within the law.

what on earth did they think would happen?

they do point out that the money from the sale goes into their charitable grants - all of which are for short term needs.

and it seems they've also done a Cable and sold the housing for much less than its actual value.

Charity Commission, where are you?

[Dawndonnaagain]

A legacy of Thatcher's 1989 housing act is that Waldegrave (he wrote the act) ensured that they could be sold off at will. This is the act that said if you're a council tenant, you're a criminal.

[Catfartstink]

There's a council run care home home, sheltered houses and council houses near me.
It's all sold off for developers, the residents will be moved on, families added to the homeless list. Some of the elderly in the home are in their 90's. They are living in limbo not knowing where they will go. Kids at schools they don't know how long for.

Google sweets way in north London, another council estate sold off.

I don't understand how it's allowed. How can 100% social housing be replaced by the 1 in 8 and its 'OK'.
It's not ok, we need more social housing not less.

[HelenaDove]

The Charity Commission need to pull their finger out over things like this.

YY Owllady More programmes like The Estate we"re In need to be made. The young mum in the programme woke up to hear someone on her stairs and was made to leave that very day.

Families are being displaced. Communities are being ripped apart and childrens education is being disrupted and ruined.

Dawndonna i didnt know that. Its disgusting. However i used to go on the Inside Housing website before it was subscription only and the way tenants are talked about on there by ppl who work in the sector is appalling.

[HelenaDove]

The stress of moving could well hasten the death of the elderly people in that care home.

[NeedACleverNN]

This is awful

And the response of "it happens" is disgusting

Funny it doesn't happen to rich families ey? Just ones who have no where else to gon

[YelloRoses]

I dont know why HA try to say how they are charities they are not, they are for the money, which is why they neglect their old properties and build new ones for more rent.
There would be more social housing available if they were bothered to follow their own tenancies and kick out ASB tenants. The only way you can be evicted from a HA is by not paying rent, says it all.

[JamNan]

The government’s proposed sell-off of thousands of affordable homes could add more than £4bn to the housing benefit bill over the next 30 years, Labour has claimed. The sum emerged from an opposition analysis of the housing bill, being debated this week in the House of Lords.

The bill calls for the sale of low-rent housing, which the housing charity Shelter has estimated will mean the loss of 19,000 council homes and 66,500 housing association homes.
source: The Guardian 19/4/2016

more of the article here

[JamNan]

YelloRoses
You are badly misinformed there.

[Owllady]

No, you can evict anyone, for any reason with a high court injunction. It doesn't matter if you've overpaid in rent, the place is immaculate and your farts smell of roses

[Owllady]

Actually I think it's a high court order. The woman (and two v small children) on today's don't pay, we'll take it away was given 24 hours to get out and get all her stuff out as the apartment had been sold on. Fair play to the council though, they sent two people to help her get her stuff out and sent it somewhere to store

[EveryoneElsie]

How is that legal?

Selling off council houses in the 1980s has cost billions in lost CHB. It used to move from one department to another; now it is paid out to private landlords.

[HelenaDove]

Sorry but Yello has a point Jan.


www.insidehousing.co.uk/regulator-slams-giant-landlord-for-chronic-repairs-failings/7009146.article

[merrymouse]

How is that legal?

Not sure of the ins and outs of this case, but the Conservatives made it quite clear in their manifesto that they were very much in favour of selling off council houses and housing association properties. Didn't make sense last year and it doesn't make sense now, but I think we can expect more and more of this.

[HelenaDove]

Thread about a co. called Liberty Gas and the bully boy tactics they use on tenants. They do gas "safety" checks for 32 housing associations.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2595702-To-wonder-how-this-company-is-still-in-business

[HelenaDove]

www.islingtontribune.com/hollowayprisondevelopers#.VxqHPuu5ZUE.twitter

[smokeybandit]

YANBU. They shouldn't, but they're not the only ones, albeit probably the worst I've heard of. Genesis is not longer a social landlord but they're not selling their stock outright like that. Just de - registering as social landlords so they don't have to reduce the rents by 1% and being very blunt about it too!

[HelenaDove]

Ah Genesis.

www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/willesden_pensioner_forced_to_live_with_no_hot_water_and_heating_for_seven_months_contracts_pneumonia_1_1389701


What other HAs are doing are whacking up the service charges to make up the shortfall.

[smokeybandit]

Noticed that too actually - some rents I know of went down the but the service charges went up double that to make up for it without providing wven a glimmer or a better service. Quite a piss take.