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Our housing faces sell-offs and cuts
• I READ Jo Shaw’s letter (Heading for a crisis, November 15) – of course, Camden’s tenants and residents associations in 2004 absolutely rejected the whole concept of arms length management organisations running our housing and why?
It was another route to eventual private landlord control over our housing with many of those on the governing committee being drawn from private landlordism and developers. Sure that led, regretfully, to a loss of government funding and that is to be deplored, but the Labour government under Gordon Brown is determined to get three million new homes built.
I don’t need lessons from Ms Shaw about the land behind the British Library – I have led a deputation already to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to get that land made available to Camden for council housing and leisure services and have met, together with the Somers Town Forum, with the leader of the council and executive member for environment and got their agreement that a letter be sent to the housing minister and the culture secretary for a meeting so that we can endeavour to persuade them that Camden should be the organisation to take over the land for housing and other purposes more needed by local residents.
Concerning Councillor Chris Naylor’s letter (An extra £15m to improve housing standards, November 15), I am not dreaming, Chris, re the desire of this present council to privatise caretaking! I saw the paper issued to Housing and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee on September 11 and to most district management committees and to tenant resident associations a month or so ago.
In it the present administration made it clear that it was keen on the possibility of caretaking on council estates being replaced by agency cleaners from private property and caretaking firms.
The report was clear enough – HMIP Caretaking Review – a discussion paper dated August 30.
Chris, it is truly sell-off time however much you and your colleagues deny it and there must be truth in the possible cutting down of the number of patch managers judging from discussions I have heard. Many tenant leaders have phoned me to confirm that this paper does exist.
You are about to embark on a sell-off of council housing in Camden – you have sold off freeholds to 50 leaseholders already. Your Options Appraisals policy is based, as you well know, on sales, privatisation, cuts and centralisation of services via private property companies or to registered social landlords (housing associations) many of whom are the same with a different name.
You know full well that the council has as its aim to replace front line estate managers and caretakers with call centres and cleaners from outside firms – and gradually every personal contact there might be now between tenant and those looking after the estates will disappear into a cloud of commercialism.
We need more
support from national government, no doubt about that. But in the meantime we don’t
want the present administration on Camden Council to create remote governance of housing issues and improvements and maintenance; or to go on the road to centralisation and control of housing by outside property developers and private landlords; 15,000 may be on the waiting list but I assure you there are many more not on that list and who need our help as homeless people and families.
Listen to grass roots ward councillors, Chris, just for once.
CLLR ROGER ROBINSON
Labour. St Pancras and Somers Town Ward
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