Supporters of the Counihan family from the South Kilburn Estate were out in force on 29 August to let Glenda Jackson MP know how angry they were about her telling Isabel Counihan that she and her husband and 5 children, who have been made homeless by Brent Council, should move to Wales.
Campaigners attended a public meeting at the Kingsgate Community Centre to raise the urgency of the Counihans’ situation with Jackson and with Muhammed Butt, Labour leader of Brent Council. The Counihans’ youngest child Vinny is four and his autism is being made worse by long journeys every day to school in Brent from temporary accommodation out of the borough. Brent Council says it needs to prioritise vulnerable cases and have so far done nothing to help the Counihans but could there be a clearer case of a family in need than this?
Anthony Counihan and Isabel Counihan-Sanchez moved with their children from Kilburn to Ireland in 2007, to look after Anthony’s dad who was sick. They signed away their council tenancy, having not been informed by the Council that they could sublet for a year. In Ireland Anthony couldn’t find work, their neighbours had domestic troubles, and Anthony’s dad died. They moved back to Brent in 2008 to Isabel’s mum’s two bedroom flat in Carlton Vale and the Council eventually found them private housing in Kilburn at an extortionate rent, only payable with the assistance of Housing Benefit.
Anthony, a bus driver, inherited a small piece of land in Ireland from his dad, which he declared to the relevant agencies. This resulted in progressive cuts to the family’s benefits over a period of 18 months, far exceeding the £18 per week income the land brought in. The Council then landed them with a Housing Benefit back-payment bill for £46,000!
With no Housing Benefit and unable to afford the rent on Anthony’s £400 a week wage, they were evicted from their flat. The Council found them temporary housing in Ealing; despite all the children attending school in Brent, despite Isabel’s mum being seriously ill with cancer in Kilburn and despite the fact the Council knew they couldn’t afford this flat either! They are threatened with eviction there too. The Council claims that the family made themselves intentionally homeless and is also trying to wait on the outcome of the family’s Housing Benefit tribunal before providing them with proper housing, despite months of growing protests in the community.
The Counihan-Sanchez Family Campaign was formed by the family, Kilburn residents and local activists. It is supported by Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!, Brent TUSC, the Socialist Party, Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group, Socialist Fight and other anti-cuts and progressive organisations. The campaign has weekly street events in Kilburn Square, publicising the Counihans’ case and linking their fight to that of the whole working class for decent housing and against the imposition of public sector cuts. It has already held a public meeting and demonstrated outside a meeting of Brent Council and plans to step up such activity until its demands are won and the family are provided with proper housing in Brent.
The meeting on 29 August was open to the public, who were invited to discuss the regeneration of Kilburn High Road. For us, the High Road is the people who live around it and their treatment by the local authorities is a fully legitimate point of discussion; campaigners turned up in force to have our say. Isabel Counihan was invited by Councillor Butt to have a discussion with him in the hall before the meeting started. However, as soon as Glenda Jackson saw Isabel she shouted at her to get out of the hall. Isabel had prepared a family case file and politely presented it to the MP, who rudely refused to take it, saying she knew all about the case; she did not deny telling the family to go to Wales.
Isabel was too upset by this to attend the main meeting and sat outside, as the meeting started and Glenda singled out people she thought looked like supporters of the Counihans and challenged their right to attend. She refused to take any questions from Counihan supporters such as Pat Lawless, who has lived in Kilburn for 60 years, saying that she wanted to hear from local businessmen instead. At this point, most of the Counihans’ supporters walked out in protest.
After discussions outside, the campaigners decided to return to the meeting as we didn’t want to let Glenda Jackson get away with this behaviour. Under pressure not to ignore the case entirely, Jackson came out with a lot of outrageous lies about the family which showed that she did not know the facts. In front of the meeting, she said that the Counihans were a large family who had come over from Ireland, where they’d given up their home but continued to own property that they hadn’t declared and that they had illegally claimed lots of benefits they were not entitled to. She implied that in Ireland there are no rules regarding housing benefit and that Irish people, like the Counihans, do not understand the need to follow the law when they arrive in England. In fact, the Counihan children all grew up in Brent.
At the end of the meeting, 15-year-old Sarah Counihan again asked Glenda Jackson to take the folder prepared by the family. She refused again and told Sarah that she would take the folder ‘once your mother stops spreading lies about me’. Sarah was reduced to tears by this encounter. The local MP had verbally abused a young girl in a public forum. No wonder Glenda Jackson is hated by so many people in the Kilburn area.
Labour council leader Muhammed Butt was a little more polite. He admitted that he has had a lot of complaints regarding the case. He met with Isabel and supporters afterwards in the Counihan Battlebus – an old Ford Galaxy car. Councillor Butt sent emails to officers at Brent Council and was prepared to enter a proper dialogue with the family. We will need to see more action from Brent because the campaign has grown fast in the last couple of weeks since it decided to embark on a campaign of action. Protest will escalate if nothing is done.
Housing for the Counihans – Housing for all!
Jimmy Mac – FRFI supporter
Future events:
Wednesday 19 September 7pm – Rally at Brent Council meeting – Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley HA9
Saturday 29 September – march through Brent – full details to come
Sign the online petition here http://www.petitiononline.co.uk/petition/house-the-counihan-sanchez-family-in-brent/4660
For further details telephone 07958 157392, email [email protected] or go to http://www.facebook.com/vincent.counihan.1
Video of Counihan Family Campaign challenging Glenda Jackson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qccTL9Mtq2o&feature=player_embedded#!
