Selling off properties meant for homeless?

Published: 20 May, 2010

• YOUR oft-repeated reminders that the council properties the outgoing administration was selling off were “meant for Camden’s homeless” (Homes are saved, May 13) is just so much emotional claptrap.
It was clear to anyone that the revenue generated from a relatively small number of high-value street properties could help prevent many more council homes from falling into disrepair.

If you were genuinely concerned about the number of homeless people on Camden waiting lists you might question a policy that allows people to continue in occupation when they could well afford to buy or rent in the private sector – and that includes the MP pictured smugly on your front page. That Camden residents should subsidise Frank Dobson’s council flat while also (through their taxes) paying him a handsome salary plus expenses has been a scandal we’ve suffered for too long.
Wouldn’t you call that a property “meant for Camden’s homeless”?
ROGER HUGES
Courthope Road, NW3