‘Since the two-week occupation of four homes on the Carpenters Estate, Newham Mayor Robin Wales declared that he would open up 40 of the 450 council homes that have been boarded up for a shameful eight years … however, two months on, only two homes are newly-occupied while others seem to just have new net curtains up. The two newly-occupied homes are on a private six-month contract. We are demanding that the 40 homes Robin Wales promised are occupied with people not curtains, and that the other 410 homes are also populated.’
Focus E15 campaigner
The occupation of four previously boarded-up flats in east London by the Focus E15 campaign, which ended on 7 October, marked an extraordinary victory in the battle for social housing in Britain. Over two weeks, the ‘Open House’ on the Carpenters Estate in Newham attracted support from thousands of people around the country, garnered unprecedented media coverage, and put the spotlight directly on the social cleansing at the heart of Newham Labour council’s housing policy.
Under pressure, Labour Mayor Robin Wales, who had for a year treated the campaign with such bullying and contempt that his behaviour is under investigation by the Newham Standards Committee, was forced to offer a public apology, wriggle to shift the blame for the borough’s housing crisis onto the Coalition government – and lie shamelessly to exonerate himself and his council for the fact that the Carpenters Estate had been left largely empty and boarded up while the council has 24,000 homeless people on its housing list. The reality is that, two months after his lies, more than half the residential units on the estate are still empty, while working class families continue to be moved into insecure private accommodation or out of the borough altogether. The four ‘Open House’ flats – in perfect condition – that the campaign was accused of selfishly blocking from needy families during the occupation remain inhabited only by security guards. Focus E15 and its supporters in the RCG and other organisations will continue to fight for the repopulation of the estate and against evictions and social cleansing.
Victories against evictions and social cleansing
The council’s homeless housing services are based at Bridge House, less than five minutes’ walk from Carpenters Estate. Daily, hundreds of adults and children pass through Bridge House, with their belongings, evicted and on the street, to be put in temporary B&B accommodation or to be sent out of London. On 25 November, FRFI joined Focus E15 and other housing campaigners to defend one young family facing this process. Candice had been homeless for just over a year, sleeping on the floors of various friends and family members with her 18-month-old child. A year ago Newham council offered her accommodation – 200 miles away in Liverpool, far from any of her support networks or family. Ever since then Candice has been battling for the council to rehouse her in London. After countless phone calls and visits to the housing office, she was finally offered an appointment to see a housing worker on 25 November with the warning that if she refused accommodation outside London this time, she would be considered to have made herself intentionally homeless and her case would be closed. Focus E15 mobilised support and Sam and Jasmin from the campaign attended the appointment with Candice despite the aggressive attempts of security guards to prevent people from entering. The rest of the campaigners demonstrated in support outside the building.
The day ended in victory as Candice was offered a home – for private rent – in Newham. Once again, we were able to show the power of resistance when people stand together. There is no doubt at all that Candice would have been offered a property outside London if that support was not there.
Building solidarity in Newham and beyond
Meanwhile, vulnerable young people are still facing eviction from the Focus E15 hostel, which is run by the East Thames Housing Group (which made £17m in profits last year). At the end of October, Focus E15 campaign occupied the foyer of the housing group, with banners and sleeping bags, to demand why young people are still being treated this way. In early November, one young woman working as a carer on a zero-hours contract faced homelessness after falling into rent arrears at the hostel. The campaign mobilised support outside Bow County Court and helped her get a lawyer; the eviction was staved off and a repayment plan negotiated.
Focus E15 has also been supporting other housing campaigns against evictions and rent rises across London, from the New Era estate in Hackney, to Waltham Forest and Southwark (all, significantly, run by Labour councils). In November, we were invited to speak at the Radical Independence Campaign’s conference in Glasgow (see page 6), where we received a standing ovation from the 3,000-strong crowd. It was exciting to be part of a radical movement born out of the struggle for independence that rejects the rotten, corrupt and anti-working class Labour Party. As many speakers said, our demands are not ‘radical’ but basic necessities: a society in which any human being should expect to live, with health care, education and shelter for all.
Hannah Caller and Jasmin Stone
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 242 December 2014/January 2015
Social housing, not social cleansing! Repopulate the Carpenters Estate!
Join the Focus E15 campaign every Saturday from 12-2pm outside Wilko’s on the Broadway, Stratford E15.
