CASP DEPUTATION TO CAMDEN’S HASC SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
TUESDAY 26TH MAY 2009
CAMDENTOWN HALL
7PM
The Camden Association of Street Properties Committee is here tonight to express its deep concerns about the contents of the Council’s proposals to sell off council homes to subsidise the funding of the decent homes work.
As already expressed by the Association on so many different occasions street properties have provided homes to generations of families. The present administration’s plans to sell therefore, even a limited number of properties, at a time when demand for council housing far exceeds supply, cannot in any way be justified. This issue directly affects our communities and so many of us in Camden are still left asking:
How can any of this be justified? Where is the council’s mandate?
Well I can tell you from the tenant perspective that there is no mandate for these sell offs. Historically, Camden tenants have firmly rejected stock transfer, PFI and the ALMO route and they are now fiercely opposing the idea of market renting council owned properties to the rich instead of to people on Camden’s housing waiting list.
Elected tenant reps through CASP and the DMCs have rejected these policies. The purported consultation which Councillors have referred to had in fact failed to ask tenants a direct question about whether or not they support the sell-off of these much needed properties. Not all of the 24,000 tenants were sent the consultation questions. What was the return rate including the proportion of respondents allegedly supporting this policy? In fact, only 6% of the 24,000 tenants responded and this could be interpreted in a number of ways.
Camden’s purported mandate reaches a dismal 2.2%. This most definitely does not constitute a mandate and in no way can it be made to seem so!
Many of our properties, especially ground floor properties, have also provided good homes for the disabled which have been specifically adapted to meet their needs; these have been situated in areas where they have helped to provide a good social mix and helped to create genuine sustainable communities. The same could also be said about many of our properties, scattered throughout Camden, which have provided homes to many, many local people over the years.
The Association was informed that adapted disabled flats were not going to be shortlisted for any sell offs, but we have seen only this week that one such flat was sold off, despite assurances that this would not be the case. Was this a mistake? Were we advised incorrectly?
At this time there are reportedly 17,497 people on Camden’s housing waiting list and the need for secure, affordable housing is quickly growing.
People in Camden desperately need council housing, not only because it can provide people with a much needed home, but because it provides a form of social housing which is more secure, has the lowest rents, has automatic rights to repair, and is managed by a democratically accountable landlord - unlike private sector landlords including housing associations.
The private housing market is in crisis and does not provide a viable option for the majority of people in Camden who desperately need a home.
Council housing is more important now than ever. The Government has acknowledged this with some changes to support a small amount of new council house building. This is the time to demand more and better council housing – it is not the time to sell off the much needed homes that we have in Camden which only lets the government off the hook and of its responsibility to deliver to thousands of tenants on its Decent Homes promise.
The Association formally requested, like many tenants groups, that it be involved in discussions with the Housing Minister, by way of a joint delegation, but this did not materialize.
We ask here again tonight, like so many of the deputations here tonight, that an urgent meeting take place with the Housing Minister - but that it genuinely involve our members and other Camden tenants.
Let us move forward with a united voice, tenants and councillors from all parties to actively campaign to secure the funding for its housing stock and to keep all our homes – Councillors, you have nothing to lose!
