The Counihan- Family Campaign (CSFC) has won the first victory in its battle with Brent Labour Council. On 26 November the council was forced to reinstate the Counihans’ Housing Benefit, in the face of a militant campaign in support of the family in Kilburn and beyond.
Brent Council withdrew Housing Benefit (HB) from the family when they declared they has made themselves ‘intentionally homeless’ in April 2012. Brent had refused to take any responsibility for the family, although Isabel and the 5 children were all born and raised in Brent, and Anthony is a bus driver working at Cricklewood Garage.
The reasons for this victory for the family and the campaign include:
- The courage of the family, especially Isabel and her daughter Sarah (15), who have been prepared to occupy the Brent Council chambers to force Brent to meet their responsibilities.
- The involvement of experienced political campaigners, alongside many new young campaigners and many supporters on the South Kilburn Estate.
- The CSFC is a broad campaign open to all who oppose the cuts. It has not restricted itself to campaigning within the Labour Party and the unions.
- The campaign has won massive local support by highlighting the Counihans’ struggle, and then by supporting others, such as the Frimpong family, who also faced eviction, and Joe McPhillips who has been denied treatment for his mental health problems.
The next steps for the campaign are to press our advantage and force Brent to provide social housing for the family in Brent. Isabel Counihan-Sanchez told FRFI that she only regards housing benefit as a first step and that she wants Brent to be held to account for the suffering caused to her family and in particular the trauma of being told by Brent Housing Department to go and live in an empty field in Ireland.
Isabel and the campaign are determined to fight on to win social housing for the family, to force Brent to acknowledge its mistakes and mistreatment of the family and to work with others to defeat the £141m cuts that Brent are seeking to impose over the next 3 years.
Please join us on our future events:
Saturday 1 December
Demonstration Housing for the Counihans! No cuts in Brent!
Assemble Kilburn Tube 1pm. March along Kilburn High Road for rally at South Kilburn Estate.
Thursday 6 December 6.30 pm
Public meeting – 55 Chichester Road London NW6 5QW. All welcome.
The leaflet for our events on the 1st and 6th is at http://www.scribd.com/doc/
Counihan 6th Dec Leaflet RevisedJimmy Mac – Counihan-Sanchez Family Campaign
