SHOUT – Social Housing Under Threat – 18th June 2014
June 19th, 2014
I was invited unexpectedly to the launch of a new social housing campaign group at Portcullis House last night and while I did not take notes or record the audio, here are a few photos and some brief notes from memory.
Portcullis House and Palace of Westminster
Arrived at 1745 through security, up stairs (plebs not allowed in the ground floor cafe area) walked around the perimiter of the 1st floor and took some photos of the great and the good downstairs in their vast foyer.
Portcullis House ground floor
Sat down outside the Wilson Room for a minute and the MP Rory Stewart walked past me with two other people.
Into The Wilson Room at about 1820 to find a room sideways on to the entrance (like committee rooms in the HofC across the road) where you entered either at the back of the room, or at the front.
It looks like one of the Select Committee rooms you see on TV with a horseshoe shaped desk for the speakers. I took a seat at the back and tried to identify people. Unbeknown to me Municipal Dreams was close by but that’s another story, we still haven’t met.
Alison Inman (National Federation of ALMOs) was the chair and introduced the meeting at about 1830.
Alison Inman – Chair National Federation of ALMOs
John Healey MP (Lab Shadow Housing) was the first to speak and spoke in support of social housing.
John Healey MP Lab
Emma Reynolds MP (Lab Wolverhampton Shadow Housing) was the next to speak.
Emma Reynolds MP Lab Wolverhampton
Cllr Gary Porter spoke eloquently about the problems of providing social housing people will accept.
“We built a pair of semis on the side of a couple of pairs of Council semis and the ‘Council’ tenants objected because they didn’t want ‘social’ tenants living next door.”
Cllr Gary Porter – South Holland Lincs
Later on in the discussion that followed the speakers Gary Porter said
“It’s not the Government you’ve got to convince about building new social housing, it’s the public. They don’t want social tenants living next door to them.”
Tom Murtha gave a wonderful talk about discovering he’d had an elder brother born in 1947 who had presented in the breech position but for lack of a midwife and doctor he had died, whereas Tom, born 1952, had the benefit of a new council house, and the NHS, and the attendance of a midwife and doctor and survived despite also presenting in the breech position and being 12 pounds to a 4′ 11″ mother (gasps from the audience).
Tom Murtha – HACT Chair
Camelia Borg was next to speak, personal testimony of somebody from care homes and fostering who had gone on to attain a 1st at University.
Lord Adebowale spoke about his poor origins, a slum house since in the 1950s it was no blacks, no dogs, no Irish, and how important social housing is now.
The Lord Adebowale CBE
John Leech MP Manchester spoke next.
John Leech MP – LibDem – Manchester, Withington
Natalie Bennett (Leader Green Party) spoke eloquently about the disaster that is Right to Buy. No transcript so I’m paraphrasing.
“In Camden, in North London where I live, I have seen examples of the problems caused by Right to buy, in one case where the owner of a one bedroom flat was offered £340,000 cash to sell, and he did so, moved out and bought a large house further out of London.”
“In other cases families have mortgaged themselves to the hilt to buy their flat then the council have replaced the windows or roof and they have been landed with a bill for £20,000 or more which they can’t afford and end up homeless.”
Colin Wiles reprised his Inside Housing piece on the Great Stink and ended by suggesting we need to make a big stink about the lack of new social housing.
Andy Slaughter and Karen Buck were two of several MPs who dropped in support the launch, which was well attended and broke up just after 8pm.
SHOUT manifesto here -> manifesto