On Tuesday 14 April 2015, Newham resident Jane Wood, who had previously been evicted by the local council, was awaiting confirmation of a five-year council tenancy in the borough. This was a result of protest by the Focus E15 Campaign, in which the RCG has been centrally involved for the past 18 months.
Jane had lived in Newham council accommodation in Newham, east London, for almost 21 years, raising her children there and having solid connections to the local community. On 24 March she and her 14-year-old daughter were evicted by bailiffs for rent arrears. This resulted from complex personal and medical circumstances which in October 2014 meant her Employment Support Allowance was stopped. Ashamed by her circumstances, Jane told no one until the last moment. When her family rallied around and offered to pay the outstanding debt, the Labour council refused to take the money, call off the bailiffs or allow Jane to keep her home.
Newham council is led by Labour Mayor Robin Wales, an unashamed advocate of gentrification, supporter of sanctioning and kicking out the poor and most vulnerable. Under his rule, 400 homes on the Carpenters’ Estate remain empty, while homeless people whom the council is compelled to house are forced to move out of London.
The Focus E15 campaign had already supported her older daughter Candice in a successful struggle against eviction, so Jane decided to take a stand. On 11 April, Jane reoccupied her former flat, holding a housewarming party, supported by neighbours, individuals, organisations and activists, some of whom stayed over the weekend in solidarity.
On Monday 13 April, the council and police struck back with a characteristic combination of trickery and brute force. Jane was offered an appointment at Newham’s homeless unit Bridge House but as she attended it, police and Newham council officials raided her flat and arrested Jasmin Stone, a prominent figure in the Focus E15 campaign and supporter of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! on a bogus squatting charge. A council spokesperson quoted by Robert Booth in The Guardian admitted that the council ‘ had co-ordinated with police to time the action to take back the flat to coincide with the meeting it had arranged with Wood.’
In protest at Jasmin’s arrest, a lively crowd gathered outside Waltham Forest Custody Centre, carrying a banner which read Free Jasmin Stone, Let Jane come home. The chanting was so loud that Jasmin could hear it inside as she spoke to her solicitor. Although the police threatened to hold Jasmin overnight she was released without charge just before 10pm, bailed to return to the police station in mid-May.
Meanwhile Jane had been was offered temporary accommodation in Hackney which she turned down immediately, as it contained soiled, filthy mattresses and was clearly unfit to live in. However, with all the media coverage of the occupation and Jasmin’s arrest, Newham Council decided it had to back off. The next day, a different set of more senior officials met with Jane and offered her the council tenancy. She is now awaiting confirmation; the Focus E15 campaign will keep the pressure on the council to ensure it does not renege on this promise.
No more evictions!
Repopulate the Carpenters Estate!
Council housing! Not social cleansing!
