Category Archives: #housingcrisis

Newham housing campaigners join forces in lively demo

#housingcrisis, Focus E15 Campaign, housing struggles, Newham council, News, public action

Monday 22 May, Newham’s annual full council meeting in the Old Town Hall Stratford.

Focus E15 campaign joined members of London Renters Union (LRU) and PEACH outside the town hall. With placards, banners and flags flying there were speeches and chants on the megaphone. It was lively and militant. Every councillor who went in got a leaflet about the LRU campaign SafeHomesNow. Newham council must take action against landlords who rent unsafe homes, who don’t respond to tenants’ issues and who share details with the Home Office of a tenant who is a migrant.

We are now near the end of May 2023 – the month when the Labour Mayor and council promised that every family with children would have moved out of 10 Victoria Street. But no, over 50 families are still stuck in the substandard overcrowded inappropriate accommodation, sharing beds, no space to play, and with no space to do homework.

Banners by Andrew Cooper

So we decided to go in to the meeting to make sure all the councillors and members of the public present are up to date with this matter. They would have preferred to have continued the chats in the corridor but we thought it time to go in with people directly effected by housing insecurity and living in overcrowded housing misery.

As instructed, members of the town hall security staff were heavy-handed and pushed pulled and dragged the protesters out. After the meeting resumed, Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz was forced to comment, reaffirming her commitment to move families with children out from Victoria Street, with all the excuses the council repeatedly gives as to why it is so difficult, and then spoke of the millions of pounds the council is going to spend for ‘option appraisals’ and the ‘reconceptualising of the building’ at 10 Victoria Street.

We chanted Deeds not Words as we left the council chamber, our heads held high, determined to fight on for housing justice for all.

If you want to take action on housing, join Focus E15 campaign on the weekly Saturday stall 12-2pm outside Wilko’s on Stratford Broadway, follow us on facebook for the latest information about meetings and events.

Look up London Renters Union and support their demands to the council:
https://londonrentersunion.org/

*BREAKING NEWS* Carpenters estate: Newham buy a Yes vote to demolition

#housingcrisis, Carpenters Estate, class, evictions, families, Focus E15 Campaign, gender, Newham council, Olympics, public action

RESIDENTS ACCUSE NEWHAM LABOUR COUNCIL OF SPENDING PUBLIC MONEY TO FORCE THROUGH A VOTE FOR DEMOLITION

On Tuesday 14 December 2021, a resident ballot on the Carpenters Estate in Newham, East London, returned a Yes vote in favour of the council’s regeneration plans, meaning almost 60% of the estate will be demolished for ‘regeneration’.  This is a deep blow for residents who want to refurbish and save the existing estate as it is.

Residents have called out the whole of the ballot process as being deeply biased in favour of the council’s plans. Newham council and the council’s housing company, Populo Living have spent at least £350,000 on campaigning for a Yes vote, whilst campaigners had no access to public funds.

Throughout the consultation and ballot process, Carpenters’ residents and supporters of Focus E15 campaign have complained of underhand tactics used by Newham Council and Populo Living. Blatant propaganda posed the council’s plans as the only viable option.                                       

For example, Populo Living’s newsletter of October 2021, states:

  • The future of The Carpenters is up to you – if you want to build a stronger estate, you need to vote YES in the ballot at the end of October.

‘Vote Yes’ graphics have been seen on billboards, newsletters, community spaces and in the Landlord Offer document which the vote was based on. Residents have told of continual door-knocking on the estate by both Populo Living and Source Partnership employees who are the Independent Resident and Tenants Advisors.

A huge amount of public money has been spent in the process of canvassing for a yes vote. A Freedom of Information request found out that at least:

  1. £146,275 has been spent by Newham Council on running consultancy services
  2. £224,000 has been sent by Populo Living on running consultancy services
  3. £4,400 was spent on a Community fun day

Newham Council has followed the GLA’s Good Guide to Estate Regeneration in order to secure funding for future development.

However from July 2018 to March 2020, all of the ballots held on estates in London have resulted in ‘Yes’ votes for regeneration – in every case this resulted in demolition.  

Councillors in Haringey have been so outraged by this process that they have called for an independent inquiry into the regeneration ballot carried out on the Love Lane Estate, following allegations of pressure put on residents.

Under GLA guidance, neither Newham Council nor Populo Living is required to put forward a balanced argument and they are allowed to lobby with huge resources for their preferred position. Residents who wish to lobby against the council have no resources made available to them.

Such one-sided campaigning and clear inequality are unlawful in referendums and elections.

The Greater London Authority and Local Authorities’ ballots are a cover, using the voting and the notion of democracy for ultimately destroying council homes. This corrupt and unequal process must end.

Focus E15 campaign and residents will be meeting on the Carpenters Estate, Newham, London E15, from 12-2pm on Saturday 18 December (next to the shop in the middle of the estate) to discuss the next steps in our campaigning, to shine a spotlight on housing issues in East London and say to the council and Populo Living:

Hands off the Carpenters Estate! Join us and residents to make more plans on Saturday 18 on the estate. Together we are stronger.

Top image courtesy of Andrew Cooper

Why are 3 empty tower blocks next door to an overcrowded hostel in Newham?

#housingcrisis, Carpenters Estate, Coronavirus, Covid-19, event, Focus E15 Campaign, hostel, Newham council, public action,

Focus E15 campaign organised a physically distanced action on Saturday 27 June which linked the 1km from an overcrowded hostel in Newham (known as Brimstone House) to the 400 empty flats on a council estate (Carpenters Estate) and highlighted the fact that the 3 tower blocks on the estate have been deliberately abandoned by Newham Labour Council for over 13 years whilst people struggle to live in the cramped hostel.

The human solidarity ‘chain of power’ marked out the 1km distance by placing people on temporary markings along the way and by chanting political slogans up and down the line, urging everyone not to forget about the empty homes on Carpenters Estate which was originally built for the people of Newham as life long secure housing.

Egwolo, a former resident of Brimstone House who has recently been moved onto Carpenters Estate after protesting about the lack of space in Brimstone House hostel explained:

It is important to use our democratic right to safely protest against the clear injustice of having 28,000 people on a council housing waiting list, whilst leaving 400 plus Council homes empty. Families have been forced to isolate for months in one room. Refurbish these empty flats and open up the homes so people can have long term housing security and enough space to live safely.

Ayesha, a Focus E15 campaigner went on to say:

’Newham council has the worst record on homelessness in the country and one of the highest mortality rates for COVID 19 – how dare Newham Labour council leave homes empty during a pandemic. The tower blocks should be opened up as 100% council housing as that is what the people need’’.

Social media platforms shared our video of the action which you can watch below:

Watch the video of the ‘chain of power’ protest.

Let’s get organised!

Many who took part in the ‘chain of power’ event were chanting ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER’. Newham’s deprivation and diversity makes it particularly vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19. More than half of children live in poverty, while the rate of households in temporary accommodation is one of the highest in England. Newham also has the most diverse population profile of any local authority in the country: 78% of residents are from minority ethnic communities and many live in inter-generational households. There are longstanding health inequalities across the borough.

Therefore there is no time to lose and our remaining council housing must be saved and put to good use. Refurbish the empty flats on Carpenters Estate and open up the homes, so people can have long term housing security and enough space to live safely.

Join Focus E15 campaign every Saturday outside Wilko’s on the Broadway in Stratford from 12-2pm, bring your mask, stay safe and stand up for housing justice for all. Together we are stronger. More pictures of the demonstration can be found in the slide show below.

Continue reading Why are 3 empty tower blocks next door to an overcrowded hostel in Newham? →

Why I displayed a resistance banner in my temporary accommodation (Brimstone House)

#housingcrisis, Carpenters Estate, Coronavirus, Covid-19, families, Focus E15 Campaign, housing crisis, Newham council, overcrowding, women


”On the 1st of May I decided to make a resistance banner. This is my way to make stand about how I feel  living in temporary accommodation/bedsit provided by Newham council. I feel it is the only way to get public attention and for people to understand about living in such conditions in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic.” 

”People from deprived and over-populated areas such as Newham are more likely to catch the virus. My thoughts behind making the banner and hanging it up on the balcony of Brimstone House was to simply say I have had enough. I am angry and frustrated that for myself and many other families living in temporary accommodation, we have been disregarded by the Council.

With so many empty homes around Newham such as those on the Carpenters Estate, it is totally inhumane and unacceptable to have families living in one room with children.

We are scared for our lives and our children lives. There is not enough being done by Newham Council to protect us as residents with so many empty flats lying empty.

The least they can do is open them up.”

By Marsha from the Focus E15 campaign

RADIO INTERVIEW ON HOUSING DURING CORONAVIRUS

Listen to Focus E15 campaigner Egwolo being interviewed by Pete Day from ”NuSound Radio 92FM” here: http://radiopete.org/home/nusound-radio-92fm-140520-focus-e15/

TAKE ACTION ON MAYDAY TO DEMAND EMPTY HOMES ARE OPENED!

#housingcrisis, Covid-19, families, Focus E15 Campaign, housing crisis, overcrowding

Following our online meeting with Moms 4 Housing, Focus E15 have decided to call for action on Friday 1st May, in the form of creating and displaying banners to demand that empty homes are opened because housing should be a human right.

Get creative and make your banner – walk down the street with it, hang it out a window, whatever you prefer. But make sure to take a picture and hashtag: #OpenEmptyHomes and #HousingIsAHumanRight

Our friends and comrades in the USA and around the world will also be doing action to highlight the same message. Follow Moms4Housing here: https://moms4housing.org/

Remember to check out the Moms4Housing meeting podcast: https://focuse15.org/2020/04/26/moms4housing-webinar-released/

Give solidarity, take action this Mayday!

RECLAIM HOMES FROM THE USA TO THE UK – ONLINE PUBLIC MEETING – REGISTER NOW

#housingcrisis, class, Coronavirus, Covid-19, E15 Occupation, eviction resistance, evictions, families, Focus E15 Campaign, focus E15 mums, homelessness, hostel, housing crisis, housing struggles, intentional homelessness, overcrowding, private landlords, public action, race, racism, refugee, single mothers, social cleansing, women, , ,

On Sunday 19th April at 6pm London  / 10am California join us for this meeting co-hosted by Focus E15 Campaign in London, England and Moms 4 Housing in Oakland, California, USA https://moms4housing.org/ 

There are four times as many empty homes in Oakland as there are people without homes, and in the UK there are double the amount of empty homes as homeless people.

 

The Covid-19 crisis has escalated the need for action to allow everyone to be housed and live in dignity and safety.

This session will hear from grassroots organisations either side of the Atlantic who are taking action against this same problem. We are using this time of crisis to share experience, education and ideas for action.

These people need homes, these homes need people!

REGISTER HERE:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_whmQYqKTT72mg06iZtxrcw 

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

 

Stranded in Southend: expectant mother told by Newham Council that she hasn’t been moved far enough away yet

#housingcrisis, class, E15 Occupation, families, Focus E15 Campaign, housing crisis, housing struggles, intentional homelessness, mothers, Newham council, personal story, public action, racism, single mothers, social cleansing, women

‘If anything happens to me, it’s on Newham (council). I’ve told you my situation!’

A mother of two young children with a third on the way, shook the walls of Stratford Town Hall last Monday evening as she addressed the full Cabinet meeting of Newham Council and outlined her increasingly dangerous and unmanageable housing situation. She is due to give birth in little over a month.

Newham council left this expectant mother and her children stranded and isolated when they forced the family to move from temporary accommodation in Newham in Brimstone House to Southend on Sea by threatening her with ‘intentional homelessness’ if she did not accept an offer of accommodation out of London. She states:

‘’I cannot describe this as a choice, as a mother cannot choose to make their children ‘intentionally homeless’. So I was forced to accept this offer and have been in Southend-on-Sea since July 2018.”

She further explains that:

“The flat I am in is on the second floor and the building has no lift. I have to climb 30 stairs with my two young children, as well as my shopping and with my double buggy, in an advanced stage of pregnancy. I regularly injure myself because of this, and I fear that something worse could happen. I feel scared to leave my children in my flat (when I leave to go get my shopping & buggy from downstairs) as they are very young.  This will become even more difficult after the birth of my 3rd child.

I have absolutely no support networks in Southend-on-Sea, and when I go into labour I worry that I have nobody who can stay at home with my young children. All my support networks are in Newham where I lived for 6 years.’’

After trying to contact Newham Council and getting little response, she reached out to Focus E15 Campaign as an ex-resident of Brimstone House and joined forces with current Brimstone House residents who have just submitted a legal complaint to Newham Council about the awful living conditions in the hostel.

However, a worrying development is that following her speech at the cabinet meeting, she was contacted by a housing officer in Newham the next day, and told that ‘she would have to be moved even further than Southend to find affordable housing’. This is threatening and abhorrent.

We call on the Mayor and the Council to immediately move this mother and her children back to Newham. She is asking for her right to be housed in her community for the long term benefit of her children.  A pregnant mother should not be left to give birth alone or be cast out.  She needs to be back in her community so that she can get the support she needs at this vulnerable time in her life just before she goes into labour. The issues of class, race and gender are present in this case and Newham have left her in a very precarious situation far away from all those she knows and trusts.

Focus E15 Campaign says:

Newham council bring this mother and her children back home to Newham!

Stop making women and children isolated, depressed and afraid.

Keep our communities together!

Social housing, not social cleansing!

Join us on the street stall this Saturday from 12-2pm outside Wilko’s on the Broadway in Stratford, London E15.

Newham Council offers single mother slum housing or the street

#housingcrisis, families, Focus E15 Campaign, homelessness, housing crisis, housing struggles, mothers, private landlords, social cleansing, women, , ,

Marsha, a brave single mother who has been living in temporary accommodation in Brimstone House for over a year with her 6 year old daughter, was yesterday contacted by Housing Options and told that she would be offered housing in Woolwich.  She was informed in a threatening manner that this would be the last time she would be offered housing, and that she had to view and accept the property today.

Marsha managed to get some pictures when viewing the property.  These speak for themselves.

IMG-20190220-WA0001

IMG-20190220-WA0008

The Agent who was showing the property agreed he would never house his family in this flat.

IMG-20190220-WA0018

IMG-20190220-WA0010

This is private accommodation offered by Newham Council.  What a disgrace from a Council that prides itself on tackling slum private landlords.

 

IMG-20190220-WA0019

 

Marsha has not only suffered Council threats in relation to her housing, but has been verbally threatened by social services in relation to her child being rehoused without her.

Journalist Kate Belgrave has documented Marsha’s full story in more detail. Please read about this here:

Do Councils actually try to drive homeless mothers to breakdown so they can remove their kids?

Do councils actually try to drive homeless mothers to breakdown so they can remove their kids?

Focus E15 stands as one with Marsha and her daughter.  We demand that Newham Council retracts this housing offer and rehouses Marsha in suitable, clean, long term, council accommodation in Newham .

We demand an end to vulnerable families being threatened and bullied into accepting accommodation that no Councillor would spend the night in.

We demand people are housed with dignity in one of the richest Countries in the world!

Dublin and Glasgow  – first hand reports from the Housing Struggles!

#housingcrisis, Dublin housing crisis, Focus E15 Campaign, Glasgow Housing Crisis, housing crisis, political policing, social cleansing

Reports from recent solidarity trips to Take Back The City Dublin and Living Rent Campaign Glasgow

Active solidarity with anti-racist housing campaigns is key in the struggle to build a unified movement to challenge a system which is failing from one City to the next.  Debating different methods and politics with other housing campaigns is an important part of our work.  To that end we were recently hosted by Take Back The City Dublin and also by Living Rent Campaign in Glasgow, as we joined them for their AGM.

 

Take Back The City – Dublin, Ireland

(Previously called Summerhill Occupation) Take Back The City contacted Fe15 campaign during their first occupation.  We were very excited to show solidarity with them, and you can see their initial statement published on our blog.  Following a second occupation, we decided to visit these brave campaigners in August to hold a discussion, visit the occupation and make the links between London and Dublin, as many campaigners from these Cities have done in the past.

We spoke at a public street meeting in Dublin, Ireland:  Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2115174032081958/?active_tab=discussion

Dublin’s rents are as high as in London.  This is a City of many empty homes and many homeless families.  The growing action in Ireland is an illustration of organised resistance to this;  people are  fighting back!

Take Back The City has evolved from the work between many different political groups, campaigns and individuals.  They are demonstrating the strength of fast paced direct action, but they have also shown us how brutally the state can try and squash political action which is making a difference;  campaigners were hospitalised during violent evictions last month.

garda

Garda (Irish Police) violently evict Campaigners

This state intimidation has not thrown off this campaign, and they are mobilising large numbers across Ireland to fight for housing.  We will continue links with these comrades. Follow their action and like their page here: https://www.facebook.com/TakeBackTheCityDublin/

 

Living Rent Campaign – Glasgow

Focusing on organising renters in Glasgow and the rest of Scotland, this new tenants union  held their first AGM last weekend and launched a new campaign ‘Not a Penny More’ .

 

Living Rent along with other groups and individuals organised against the eviction of 300 asylum seekers in Glasgow in July, and they have been growing ever since.  Fe15 were invited to be on the panel of their opening session ‘Housing Struggles, Women in the lead’.  Speaking alongside two women from Living Rent, we presented our 10 lessons from 5 years of campaigning to a packed audience in South West Glasgow in the radical  neighborhood of Govan, which gave birth to the revolutionary 1915 rent strike and Mrs. Barbour’s Army of women;  leading all the way!

Mary Barbour & Rent Strike 1915

G7.jpg

(Mary Barbour’s Army memorial statue, Govan)

Rates of homelessness  are substantially higher in Glasgow than in other areas of Scotland.

GLek                                                                  Number of children living in temporary accommodation (Shelter Scotland 2017/2018)

Excerpt from Living Rent AGM opening statement:

‘…. our union is not, and should not, be interested in co-opting the power of the institutions that have created the housing crisis. Instead, our interest lies in building our own institutional power – one that is equipped to defend itself, run by tenants, for tenants.’

We endorse these principles and are excited to see a growing housing movement in Glasgow built on this solid foundation.

 

Read the full Living Rent AGM opening and closing statements here:

https://www.livingrent.org/opening_and_closing_speeches_from_our_glasgow_agm

 

London to Glasgow,

Dublin to London, 

One Struggle, One Fight!

 

 

 

A day in the life of Focus E15 housing campaign 

#housingcrisis, families, Focus E15 Campaign, Grenfell fire, housing crisis, Newham council, Robin Wales, social cleansing, street stall, update, women
Focus E15 campaign split forces on the morning of Saturday 14 July. Our street stall was set up on Stratford Broadway by some, whilst others went to meet Newham’s new Mayor, Roksana Fiaz, at her surgery in East Ham library. Our determined group comprised of campaigners and residents from the hostel Brimstone House in Stratford, residents from the tower block Ferrier Point in Canning Town as well as local families facing eviction, all coming together to raise concerns.

We bartered a collective meeting with Roksana Fiaz and she listened to everyone’s concerns in turn which meant the meeting lasted over 1 hour. This was quite a difference from the Robin Wales experience we had been use to, where young mothers were treated with utter contempt and disdain.

Roksana Fiaz and the councillor Susan Masters who was also present were both updated about the dehumanising and prison-like security at Brimstone House, the ongoing battle against intentional homelessness, the fight against poor housing conditions and the horror of bailiffs, the inadequate housing provision for people with disabilities and children, and the way in which people are treated in the council housing offices. The message was clear, that people want permanent and appropriate housing in their communities. Roksana Fiaz instructed her staff about the issues that need following up urgently and said that her officers and the councillors need to meet with residents to hear these problems first hand. Focus E15 campaigners also raised the issue of the empty homes on Carpenters estate and she said that in the Autumn she will meet with Carpenters residents and others with updates and plans.

Focus E15 campaign will be following up all these pledges and promises.
1531818450532_IMG-20180715-WA0002 (1).jpg
Meanwhile, at our stall we were joined by a very worried resident of Ebury Bridge Estate in Pimlico as Westminster Council has just voted to demolish their estate. We discussed our experience of campaigning and suggested the next steps and tactics – watch this space for an upcoming meeting in Pimlico which everyone is welcome to support!

As we ate some lunch after the street stall and the meeting, we were found by a group of housing activists from Denmark who had come to make links with Focus E15 campaign. They are part of an important new housing campaign in Copenhagen, fighting against the ‘Ghetto List’ – part of a shocking new Danish policy whereby areas are becoming known as ghettos, rights are being denied to those living in those areas – the people who live there are predominately non-western European and working class. Under the new law, children will be forced to attend day-care centres to learn ‘Danish values’, residents can receive lower welfare benefits than elsewhere, and punishments for crimes committed in the area could potentially be given double the amount of a normal sentence. Our new Danish friends said that they would be writing a blog for our website addressing their struggle, but in the meantime, see an article about this issue here: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/isolation-not-integration-minorities-targeted-danish-ghetto-policy-denmark-1826345568
IMG-20180715-WA0001 (1).jpg
We finished our Saturday marching for Grenfell – the most shocking symbol of all the struggles in the housing crisis. We will stand with the Grenfell community until there is justice.
IMG-20180715-WA0000.jpg
Please join our housing campaign on the streets next Saturday – and remember there is a place for everyone!