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Showing posts with label tenants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tenants. Show all posts

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Swansea Tenants reject housing transfer



Ask any MP or AM or councillor what is the predominate issue for their casework and the answer would be Housing but there is very little evidence that this issue is been taken seriously by our politicans. No tub thumping on this issue.

Recently there have been 55 areas to ballot on stock transfer and those planning ALMO (DCLG list). Authorities proposing stock transfer of their homes (privatisation of council homes)

It is the neo liberal policy framework that has encouraged the systematic disinvestment from council housing. Council housing has been deliberately stigmatised, to brand all of those who won’t or can’t climb the home ownership ladder as failures.

The attack on council housing is part of the drive to privatise public services world-wide and the moves to undermine the role of democratically elected local councils and replace them with private sector dominated quangos and ‘partnerships’

As Michael Meacher, Dave Prentis and others show council homes and estates can be improved if government ring fences all the money that belongs to council housing.

Tenants reject housing transfer
Council house tenants in Swansea have rejected plans to transfer their homes out of local authority control.

The city council proposed a "community mutual" housing association took over the running of its 13,962 homes.Of the 7,847 votes cast, 5,661 (72.1%) rejected the move with only 2,186 (29.1%) voting in favour. Swansea is the sixth Welsh local authority to put the vote to tenants.

Bridgend was the first council to transfer its stock, in 2003, and this year Rhondda Cynon Taff, Monmouthshire and Torfaen tenants have all voted in favour of transfer. People in Wrexham rejected the move.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Defend Council Housing: Investment not ownership needed


Tuesday, 20 Feb 2007 09:00
Defend Council Housing (DCH) has called on the government to invest in improvement to social housing rather than threaten the secure tenancies of residents.

A government-commissioned review into the future of council housing by John Hills will be published this morning and could recommend that tenants lose their right to life tenacies.

DCH chair Alan Walter said: “The case for investing in decent, affordable, secure and accountable council housing is stronger than ever. The private housing market is failing millions today as it always has."

And he warned that "starving council estates of investment; forcing tenants to give up our secure, life long tenancies; , and siphoning money out of tenants rents to subsidise shared ownership schemes is ideological dogma that solves nothing but will antagonise millions of council tenants and those on council housing waiting lists".

DCH warned introducing a time limit in tenancies or means testing for residents "would turn our estates into massive hostels with a transient, not sustainable, community".