New research from the Ministry of Justice shows that more than 8,300 people face losing their home every week in England. Londoners face the highest risk of losing their home because of…Read more…
Why “Right to Buy” will be another nail in the coffin of the Housing Association movement
The 1966 BBC television play “Cathy Come Home” about homelessness and its back drop is credited with with kick starting many modern day Housing associations.
Sadly, some (not by all means all) have forgotten their social mission and instead become mon…Read more…
Winner takes it all
The London property market while considered a boom for one group of people is a crisis for many others. The day after the Tories secured a majority in the general election sales of luxury…Read more…
“Height of insanity”
The Tories’ latest right-to-buy housing scheme will spell disaster for London’s already beleaguered housing market. A key part of the Conservative manifesto, extending right-to-buy to housing…Read more…
Housing sell off: ‘sheer stupidity’
David Cameron has confirmed that his right to buy extension to all housing association homes will now be part of the Queen’s Speech tomorrow (Wednesday May 27). The scheme, in effect, is…Read more…
Tories’ high rise of housing woe
Only a week after the Tories have begun their latest five-year reign of power, new, record-breaking figures released last Thursday (May 14) from the first few months of 2015 have shown the massive…Read more…
Looking into an abyss
As the Tories swung into power last week – despite securing little more than a third of the share of the national vote – they are now unfettered by a coalition government, and have already begun…Read more…
In search of the impossible
Grand Central, a luxury development to be constructed on a derelict site in Cambridge, will only have eight affordable homes. This is in an area where over 2,000 people languish on council house…Read more…
West Ham Labour On the Knocker in Sratford & Ilford North
Picture update of campaigning activity by West Ham Labour members in Stratford & Ilford North. We have been door knocking, telecanvassing and delivering leaflets all week. The new blocks of flats in Stratford are notoriously difficult to get i…Read more…
Stop London’s ‘social cleansing’
Unite Community is launching a London-wide campaign bringing together residents whose estates are threatened by regeneration schemes which divide communities and force families from the areas they…Read more…
House building and living rent to fix housing crisis
#stuc15 The STUC is to call for a major house building programme, focussing especially affordable and council housing, not only to meet need but also to boost employment and the economy. It also called for work with Shelter, other charities, community groups, and the People’s Assembly, to build a broad based campaign to support a living rent.
UNISON Scotland’s Susan Kennedy, backing the USDAW,Read more…
Young workers speaking up for housing
The UK is caught in a deepening housing crisis, which is particularly hitting younger people. House building is stuck at a historically low level meanwhile the waiting list for social housing has…Read more…
Homeless Sweets Way homeless
Walk through Sweets Way housing estate in Barnet, North London, and it’s a ghost town – broken glass on the streets, windows boarded up as if in preparation for a storm, kitchen and bath items laying…Read more…
Cameron’s ‘right’ to cause homelessness
The right to buy is back – but this time the Tories have set their sights on housing associations. Stung by allegations that the Conservative’s message to the electorate is too negative, David…Read more…
Mansions debunked
The question of houses worth more than £2 million is currently in the news. To read some of the more florid press coverage you might think that we are all in danger of finding that our homes have accidently become mansions – this is simply nonsense of course. To get a quick shot of…Read more…
“Benefits Cheats”? But they’re within the rules.
JIM MURPHY, MP, Labour’s leader in Scotland, first made his name twenty years ago as leader of the National Union of Students, reversing the union’s opposition to the abolition of grants and…Read more…
UNISON Glasgow homeless service workers to take all out strike action
Monday 30 March 2015Seventy workers in Glasgow Council’s Homeless Service will walk out on Tuesday 31 March in a dispute over their pay grade.
The workers are all members of the trade union UNISON and will take all out, indefinite strike action in a dispute over the application of the council’s job evaluation scheme to the role of Homelessness Caseworkers. Three out of every fourRead more…
New housing book now available
What Future for Council Housing? Council Housing and the housing crisis A book by Martin Wicks There is much debate about the acute housing crisis in Britain though it is mostly the voices of housing professionals and academics that are heard, not to m…Read more…
UNISON Housing Association Branch Labour Link AGM with Emma Reynolds MP
Last Tuesday evening we had our Annual General Meeting of Greater London UNISON Housing Association Branch Labour Link at the House of Commons. UNISON Labour Link members (also known as APF) choose to support and affiliate to the Labour Party
Our keyn…Read more…
What future for Council Housing?
Council housing and the housing crisis A book by Martin Wicks Everybody knows there is a housing crisis. However, it is usually written about by academics or professionals who work in the housing sector. Tenant voices are rarely heard. What Future for …Read more…