Boundary House mothers fight social cleansing
Families housed in inadequate temporary accommodation, many of them single mothers, are leading the fightback against Waltham Forest Labour council and private management company Theori Housing (see FRFI 252) with the support of the Focus E15 campaign and the RCG. Having been socially cleansed from East London and now living in Boundary House, which is managed by Theori in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire they are challenging the legality of their temporary accommodation.
Boundary House was never designed to house families. Damp and cockroaches fill these bedsits, with narrow windows only a few feet from the ground, which can’t be locked and pose a safety risk to small children. Yet the Director of Housing for Waltham Forest Council says standards at Boundary House are ‘legally acceptable’.
The residents are demanding safe and decent homes, and an official investigation into the suitability of Boundary House as family accommodation. They want the council to break off its contract with private management company Theori. Join the protest outside Theori on Friday 28 October, 11am-5pm, 840 High Road, Leyton E10 6AE.
Stand up to Lambeth
The RCG in south London has been working with tenants on the six council housing estates in Lambeth fighting back against the Labour council’s demolition plans.
Along with those fighting against Lambeth library closures and the many small traders forced from their shops under Brixton arches by Network Rail and the council, we will be gathering at Windrush Square on 8 October to march through south London and protest against the council’s attacks on our jobs, our homes and our services.
Victory for Millwall FC exposes Labour council’s dodgy dealing
Millwall Football Club has won a victory against a CPO issued by Lewisham Labour council, which was seeking to grab land around The Den.
Big local protests by local residents have helped ensure that decision has been sent back for further consideration given insufficient evidence that the sale is in the public interest. There are also concerns about the mysterious offshore-owned property developer, Renewal, brought in to implement a £2bn ‘New Bermondsey’ regeneration scheme.
Lewisham has persistently refused to consider Millwall’s own plans for the area, which would include affordable housing, offer 50% profits to the council and maintain a community space. Little is known about Renewal’s ultimate ownership, which is filtered through a company registered in the Isle of Man and the British Virgin Islands. However, journalist Barney Ronay reports that, according to records at Companies House, Renewal was originally set up and part-owned by the previous mayor of Lewisham. (The Guardian 25 September 2016).
Homeless charity tries to make tenants homeless
In Lewisham, south east London, campaigners have forced St Mungo’s, the homeless charity, to back down after it issued eviction notices to 14 of its 24 tenants at the Spring Gardens Arlington flats. The RCG and members of Unite the Union worked with residents to challenge the charity.
They created an online petition, campaigned on the streets of Catford and released a press statement which, once published in the local press, seems to have created enough bad publicity to force St Mungo’s to issue new contracts to the residents. They say they will accept them once the original eviction notices are officially withdrawn.
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 253 October/November 2016
