to ask what you think about Corbyn and Lammy's suggestion that houses of the rich should be requisitioned to give to homeless Grenfell victims?

[nutter19]

I am not sure what to think about it. On the one hand I agree that there are a lot of very big houses in the borough that are empty and could be used to house the homeless rather than left empty.

On the other hand, it seems a bit sinister to think they would just take private property off those they deem rich.

What do other people think?

No one is "worrying" about international property investors. But if you think the markets don't affect us all, every day of our lives, you are incredibly naive. The £ falls by 20%. We import more than we export. The price of food in the supermarket increases. You are poorer. The price of oil rises by 10%, the price of the petrol you put in your car and the oil you use to heat your house rises. You are poorer.

The property market craps out? (Let's set aside the fact that it's already 20% cheaper than it was pre Brexit for any foreign investors). Who owns great swathes of commercial property across the UK? 1) The pension funds. If you have a DC pension, you are poorer. (If you have a DB one, then the scheme and ultimately the company/local authority is poorer, which may mean fewer jobs etc). 2) The corporates. So - let's take Tesco as an example. It has to take writedowns on its balance sheet because its assets are worth less than they were before. Its share price falls. People are made redundant. The prices in its shops maybe rise. Those people who are made redundanct don't employ childcare/a cleaner. They spend less money, so they pay less VAT. They don't pay income tax. Etc etc etc.

And that's before we even get into the impact of negative equity on huge swathes of the UK.....

Of course there should be immediate help for the people directly affected. Money should be found to facilitate this. Nobody is arguing against it. But puerile grandstanding is dangerous; you risk throwing the baby out with the bath water and significantly reducing the quality of life for millions of people in this country - and the poorest would be hit the hardest.

Without it being a precedent

But it would be.

the idea of putting displaced Grenfell residents in empty rich people's home's plays too well amongst the far left to consider the practicalities

Indeed Worse still, for some it's not even so much about helping desperate people as stiffing those rich b**tards. It's hideously ironic that those who talk about class war against the poor are quick to target hatred against their own chosen group of "baddies"

The pity of it is that too many of those who relish demos, invite admiration by telling everyone exactly what they've donated and even call for civil unrest are often not seen for dust when it comes to the hard work involved in making the necessary long term decisions; once the headlines and TV cameras have moved on to something else, they quickly lose interest

"It was getting so bad in the early noughties that a number of activists I knew began to be convinced the SWP were some sort of psycho-capitalist asset, designed to take down popular movements through subversion and the association of violence and destruction with said movement's campaigns"

You're not alone in wondering that. Organisers need to have really good oversight of their demonstrations because of people like that.

Natalia

Thankyou for the economics lesson. A tiny proportion of UK property is owned by foreign nationals and kept empty. The idea that stopping this practice will have a significantly negative effect on the exchange rate and cause a property crash is utterly ridiculous.

Increasinglymiddleaged

Yes, his property empire of one house, which is occupied by him, his wife, one of his sons and a lodger.

babycham I have no idea of Corbyn's property portfolio. It was other posters on the thread talking about it being seized. Fine he doesn't have one, I stand corrected and am even more confused by some of the thread's posts. Have a packet of s. I'm generous like that

Well Corbyn earns £137,000 so he could pay for the housing of quite a few. I know criticising St Jeremy is now an offence but he could put his money where his gob is. Like Geldolf, Bono and Lilly Allen (private educated lives in v expensive house and has never done a days real work in her life).

mumsneedwine you have no idea what JC does with his money.

And 137k wouldn't go far in housing multiple families in Kensington and Chelsea.....

I do have no idea what St Jeremy does with his money. But it's a lot (although apparently not in Kensington even though the issue is one of poverty 😳). If he feels so strongly I'm sure he could house a few (he doesn't have to tell anyone for the publicity either).

mumsneedwine

Ah yes, I forgot anyone who isn't living in filth and squalor isn't allowed to care about people less fortunate than them.

I'm sick of how selfish this country has become. You sit there insulting Corbyn and Lily Allen when they are at least trying to do something about it (btw, she dropped out of school with no qualifications and worked in a record shop, so your assertion is not only wrong but idiotic).

What exactly have you done to help, before you insult others? I'm guessing it's a big fat zero.

My husband is a firefighter. Currently at the tower. So excuse me for having an opinion - seriously when is St Jeremy getting canonised ? I also am an advocate for children and spent yesterday with unaccompanied refugees to ensure the had a safe place this weekend. Why, what do you do ? I hate people who talk but do nothing. Yes Corbyn had said a lot of v political things but practically what has he done ? And Lilly Allen made sure the press knew she was there (unlike Adele and Rita Ora who just helped). Oh and they've now shut 2 tube lines as they think it's possibly going to collapse. Will be going to try and speak to hubbie to check he's coming home tonight,

IMVHO makImg unworkable suggestions is worse than doing nothing.

It wastes and diverts time and energy that could be spent fruitfully.

My husband is a firefighter. Currently at the tower

May he come home safely, mumsneedwine, knowing that we're all very grateful for the difficult job he does

The idea that stopping this practice will have a significantly negative effect on the exchange rate and cause a property crash is utterly ridiculous.

If you do it by requisitioning foreign owned assets? In the section of the market that's already significantly falling post Brexit? Which isn't actually very liquid by its very nature? Watch and see....

Thank you. I am always so unbelievably proud of him. But he's done this job a v long time and I've never seen him so upset. But he hates all the blame going on when no one knows how it started or what caused it to spread. All guess work so far which annoys him as he has to now try and help find the cause and if it doesn't fit the current narrative he will find it hard to get any changes needed done. If you want to criticise anyone's actions then have the balls to get off your fat arse and do something practical. Without a tv camera. I'm off now as have shed loads of marking to do. Oh and can rent a mob please not join in - as someone said on other thread if all the protestors were genuine residents why were they covering their faces ? This needs sorting faster but fighting the police is not going to help.

mum sorry to derail but it's been on my mind since London Bridge and I don't know who to ask - how do I thank the police and fire service / let them know that people like me are grateful for their work? I keep thinking of going down to my local station with good coffee/chocs/sandwiches/whatever, but I don't know how that'll be received. I have been out at my local community centre this week to help with sorting donations, but thinking about the emergency services specifically.

(Please don't tell me to vote for x or y; I'm not eligible to vote.)

mumsneedswine wishing you all the best in your efforts to support your husband through this, emotionally and otherwise. What a tough road.

mumsneedwine

Well thank you to your husband and I hope he comes out of it all OK. But the point was it's really unfair to insult anyone trying to help, however they go about it.

I'm not sure what relevance someone's wealth has when they are trying to help in a tragedy like this, nor their education.

mumsneedwine

As an aside, as for what I've done, since Tuesday our local volunteering team has travelled 200 miles from where we're based to help the boots already on the ground.

I had no idea your husband was a firefighter, so I apologise, but I did feel you were being unfair to Corbyn, who has taken on the views of residents and pledged to help them, when the govt. won't. No, he's not a saint, but many residents have complained about the rows of empty houses and he agrees with them. He doesn't want them to be shoved out of their area, away from friends/family etc, which is what's going to happen.

No, he's not a saint, but many residents have complained about the rows of empty houses and he agrees with them.

Empty houses are very bad for London in general, but he needs to go about remediating this within the rule of the law.

As it stands, it looks a lot like fanning flames.

I think as long as owners were offered appropriate compensation then it's a good idea. If we can accept compulsory purchase orders (of actual homes) violating the principle of property ownership to make way for new railways and runways and shopping centres then requiring empty houses to be temporarily leased to people in desperate need seems fine to me.

LAs already rehouse council tenants out of area. As has been mentioned, HS2 means that 100s of council tenants in Camden will lose their homes and there is no requirement for them to be rehoused locally. I know it's not the same but don't expect people to be kept in the same area. Don't get me started on HS2

think as long as owners were offered appropriate compensation then it's a good idea

Here we go again, but how is the council buying up houses that the average owner-occupier even in S.Ken could not afford in their wildest dreams, at an appropriate price a good use of the public purse?

I draw a distinction here between the owner-occupiers in the borough and those living abroad.