Families earning over just £40,200 a year are to be banned from social housing in the Tory controlled borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. In a move which will decimate public services in the borough, many nurses, teachers and other vital workers will no longer be able to afford to live in the area where they work. With private rents soaring in neighbouring boroughs many families will find themselves forced out of the capital completely.
Hammermith and Fulham claim they are ‘tearing up the rulebook’ on social housing and will also break “the link between a homelessness application and a social housing tenancy.” This will mean homeless people will no longer have access to secure housing and due to soaring private rents are likely to be socially cleansed from the area.
In another shocking move social housing tenancies are to be limited to just five years, or two years for those under 25, whilst priority is to be given to working residents. The earnings cap of £40k will initially be only aimed at new applications for housing, but it is difficult to see the point of fixed term tenancies if this is not to be extended to every social housing resident in the borough. Any family who sees their income rise above £40k a year is now likely to lose their home once they reach their tenancy review. Any form of security for tenants will disappear due to the reviews at which residents will be kicked out of their homes for either earning too much or not enough.
Whilst a £40k a year salary is nothing to be sniffed at, it will not be enough to secure a mortgage on a property in the area even for couples without children. With rents approaching £400 a week for three bedroom properties in the borough, medium earning council tenants with children will find themselves forced to move out of the area or give up work.
Despite homelessness already soaring in London, the new Housing Minister Mark Prisk has cheered the decimation of social housing in one of London’s wealthier boroughs. New rules introduced mean that Tory Councils can now gerrymander low income residents or homeless people out of their areas into less affluent boroughs. This move has been justified by lurid tales of millionaires, or even worse trade union leaders like Bob Crow, living in ‘subsidised’ housing.
Social Housing is not subsidised and often makes a profit for local authorities. This is a shining example of what can happen when grasping landlords and property develops are removed from the equation and genuinely affordable housing is provided at local level. Hammersmith and Fulham Council seem to care more about profits of buy to let landlords like Chris Grayling than hard working families.
The Tories lied that the Housing Benefit caps were to stop benefit claimants living in two grand a week Kensington mansions. In reality the cap was set so low that London rents are now unaffordable for those on a low incomes. These new rules, far from being aimed at the tiny handful of rich social housing tenants, will now make social housing unavailable for even families earning less than the average London wage.
This Government won’t be happy until every social housing tenant is forced into the arms of a slum landlord far away from where the chinless toffs slurp their lattes. Other plans announced last year mean social housing rents are to rise to the same levels as those in private sector. With secure tenancies abolished and rents no longer cheaper than the private sector then many will ask what is the point of social housing? Which is exactly what these scum want.
Pic from: http://www.hackneyindependent.org/2003/05/more-social-cleansing-for-hoxton/
the void 
There is but one person to blame for all this and that is Nick Clegg. Having said that, given what is coming out of the Labour Party Conference, there doesn’t seem to be any hope of help from them.
Listening to politicians today can be so disheartening, it seems as if there is no one ‘left’ to vote for
Then – no one should vote…
that would also play into the hands of the plutocrats.
You might not like what I’m gonna say – but I’m gonna say it.
Whenever I’ve had the opportunity to watch shows like “homes under the hammer” I’ve noticced that a certain proportion of the people buying homes for the purpose of letting are “asian” and by “asian” I mean from the sub-continent. A lot of them have broad accents, which suggests to me that they’re first-generation immigrants – if indeed they’re actually immigrants (i.e non-naturalised) at all.
I’m not sure of how the law works in this department, but if it transpires that you don’t need to be a British citizen to own a property to let in this country (And with a lot of corporations owning penthouses & high-value properties for tax & business registration purposes, it seems likely that you don’t) then it needs addressing, as a priority, rather than punishing those who genuinely need social housing, by pricing them out of the market.
We’re already aware of avaricious, scrupleless slum landlords (again, generally of “asian” origin, some 1st generation immigrants themselves ) renting garden sheds & outhouses (The majority of which were built without planning permission anyway) without even the basic requirements to constitute a dwelling fit for human habitation, to illegal immigrants in Southall & Hounslow – predominately indian/”asian” areas.
This isn’t being racist – it’s being observant. I’m well aware of the likes of the ruthless van hoogstraten and others, but the law needs changing so that 1st generation immigrants must not be allowed to own more than one home, and that home only for the purposes of residing there with their family.
Along with the corporation-types I mentioned earlier, instances like these must be stopped.
As a 39 year-old having to reside with my father, due to not being able to afford even a deposit anymore, I sense the resentment growing in the archetypal lower/working class brit growing towards foreign landlords/ownership of property, just as much as towards the likes of the subsidised wealthy of this country.
you’re not being racist but you want different laws on property ownership for foreigners even if they are UK citizens?
come on, what does it fucking matter where the person ripping you off was born (and most landlords, by a long long way were born in the UK)?
That’s not what I said now, is it? I enjoy your blog, but you do sometimes spoil it by jumping the gun at the first mention of any sort of “social taboo” or “political correctness”
I said: I’m not sure of how the law works in this department, but if it transpires that you don’t need to be a British citizen to own a property to let in this country (And with a lot of corporations owning penthouses & high-value properties for tax & business registration purposes, it seems likely that you don’t) then it needs addressing, as a priority, rather than punishing those who genuinely need social housing, by pricing them out of the market.”
How can someone be a “foreigner” but at the same time be a British citizen?
Are you denying what’s going on in Southall & Hounslow? Nowhere did I say that indigenous landlords wern’t guilty of more or less the same thing (van hoogstraten being mentioned as the most high-profile) so I don’t know why you seem to be so outraged.
My sister emigrated to Australia. She wasn’t allowed to own a house, until she was granted permanent residency. She wouldn’t be able to buy a second home (not that she can afford to) to rent out until she becomes an Australian citizen. Why shouldn’t that apply here?
anyone can buy property in the UK, but owning property doesn’t give you any rights to residence. most of the people you are talking about are UK citizens.
your objection really seems to be to Asian people being landlords. I’m not aware of many asylum seekers or people on temporary visas buying up property to rent out, or of slum landlords operating property businesses in the UK out of Mumbai, so the problem you are calling to be addressed doesn’t particularly exist.
no Im not denying whats going on in Southall, in a largely Asian area then most exploitative landlords are unsurprisingly Asian, and as you admit in largely white areas most exploitative landlords are white, so I’m not really sure what your point is or why it’s worth raising unless you have some other agenda
A better solution would be to boot these scumlords out of the country for good, no matter what colour they are or where they come from. And invest in decent social housing. Another load of vermin to boot out would be Buy-To-Let scumlords.
You don’t need to be a British citizen to own property in this country – citizenship has got nothing to do with it.
yeah, thats what I just said
Understood! Interestingly, the most infamous slumlord was actually of Polish decent, born in Lvov Poland, son of a Jewish dentist, by name of Peter Rachman!
Sorry, that last question was meant to read: “If it doesn’t apply here – why not ?”
Fuckin’ Australia……a rampantly racist country……Yanks with weird accents….a hellhole…..why would anyone want their lousy housing laws and racist immigration policies? I mean, we are busy being turned into a version of a sixties southern Ooo Ess Aaa state here in The ConDemNation.
And Labour? Tory Lite.
Talking heads talking shit.
Ripping off the poor and criminalising the disabled. The new wave of brutality sweeping the brainwashed masses. Privatised reality….it is what you pay for it.
A load of bollox. A bullshit wrap we’re supposed guzzle up.
The Land of Oz laid bare:
http://www.antar.org.au/node/92
Its not the landlords to blame now is it? No, its the Government for allowing them to distort the housing market for profit. The Asians have a very strong business sense, they know how to earn money, and many of them are very shrewd businessmen who come to this country and take huge risks with the family’s fortune to speculate on the rental market, often buying up whole swathes of properties. They are not stupid – they wont buy here if there is no money to be made.
Who’s fault is it that there is so much money to be made in the private rental market, and that demand exceeds supply by such a huge margin?
Who opened the floodgates and said to Europe – Come to the UK – all are welcome!, with no regard for any caps or limits to the number of people arriving?
People are a clever species and will always try to exploit ways to make money in such a dog eat dog world. Its who allows them to do it that is to blame.
The ones we should be blaming are not the Landlords, not the Asians, not the Poles, or anyone else – Its the Government – thats who’s to blame.
Maggie sold off the council houses and didnt replace them.
Tony Blair then came along and opened the UK’s door to all and sundry who wanted to come here.
Gordon Brown hadnt got a clue – end of.
Then comes Cameron, and we know the rest.
Between Maggie and Cameron’s years – who actually actioned the building of millions of new homes to house the growing population – that they allowed to come here? Who created the jobs for all these new arrivals?
Now that we are up shit creek without a paddle, the Tories just want to push all those who dont earn a million a year out of London and out of their sight – that does for all the Whites, Blacks, Asians, Europeans – everyone.
Where will all these people go? They will be shipped out to the poorer towns and cities, such as Luton, Wolverhampton, Bradford, Stoke on Trent, Telford, Slough, Swansea, Glasgow – and what will they do when they get to these towns? Do the Tories care? Like hell do they.
Whether we are English, Indian, Pakistani, African, or Chinese – it matters not – we are all now in the same boat, and its sinking – fast. The Tories are hellbent that London should be a showpiece for the rest of the world, full of money, millionaires and yuppies.
I dont know why they just dont go the whole hog and build the gas chambers – everything else they are doing is emulating the Nazis.
It’s capitalism thats to blame and those of us in it together are the only ones who can end it, wherever we came from.
Yes, but ultimately its the Government that allows big PLC to trample over the poor and needy, and allows them to exploit us with workfare and other forced labour. The Government have the power to reign in big PLC, but as its PLC that funds the Tory party, I cant see that happening any time soon – all I can see is more workfare, more poverty, more social cleansing, and more misery for the poor.
We need mass civil disorder, why isnt it being organised now – the country united in rebellion against the poll tax 22 years ago – whats so different this time – why no demos and riots? I just think that this will all kick off big style next April when UC comes in, when the bailiffs all start moving in to evict the thousands who cant pay their rent due to sanctions and cuts, and when the working class get their UC sanctioned for not applying for more work, and failure to comply with all the unacheivable requirements of UC, then the shit will hit the fan – big style
well, didnt they say the same about a london borough, they wanted to move people to sheffield. Now it seems like they dont want the “plebs” in london at all and all moved Upt North,. Not that there are any jobs up hereso you will have more people unemployed..
Nazism is the ultimate expression of Capitalism : and that is exactly what is going on here ; if there are people dying because of government policy and that government and its cronies are profiting from these policies then you are witnessing Nazism.
The ConDemNation is condemning us to a very bleak future.
Greek police send crime victims to neo-Nazi ‘protectors’
“Far-right Golden Dawn party filling vacuum for those neglected by state after MPs elected to fight ‘immigrant scum’
Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party is increasingly assuming the role of law enforcement officers on the streets of the bankrupt country, with mounting evidence that Athenians are being openly directed by police to seek help from the neo-Nazi group, analysts, activists and lawyers say.
Through an expansive social outreach programme, which also includes providing services to the elderly in crime-ridden areas, the group regularly distributes food and clothes parcels to the needy.
But the hand-outs come at a price: allegiance to Golden Dawn.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/28/greek-police-victims-neo-nazi?CMP=twt_gu
Our future?
We need.
The Con/dems are very shrewd. By picking on the vunerable (disabled) first they hope that enough people will be swept along with the call that ‘it’s not them it’s the scrongers they are after’. Remember ultimately if we going to plug a huge black hole its not an additional 10 billion off benefits thats going to do it but making everyone poorer by raising taxes like VAT even more!
Seems the capitalists end game is two separate zones – the south for the rich and the north for the poor. Maybe they need both completely separated, so that when they are ready to reduce the population through disease by using the biological weapons they’ve been stockpiling, there won’t be any blowback that might make them fatally ill.
Or maybe they know that the policies that they have planned for the British people are so brutal, they are anticipating massive civil unrest and they want to make sure the discontented, hungry and angry masses are all in one place, so that their violence doesn’t threaten the rich and they can be collectively punished with indiscriminate extreme violence, torture, curfews, death squads, chemical weapons, water cannons and ultra sonic weapons without any danger to the rich.
Does the Berlin Wall ring any bells? North of the Watford gap will become North of the Watford Wall. Only the Rich and wealthy will live South the Watford Wall, The Poor can rot or steal and pillage from each other North of the Wall.
Problem – Gideon’s constituency is Tatton near Manchester, which is also where millionaire footballers etc live. There are some affluent areas up North, what will IDS do about them?
IDS will probably consult his favourite book “Most effective Nazi strategies and tactics” for ideas. He will think of something.
On Saturday I met a group of young people with a housing problem. As students, they do not qualify to go on the council housing list, because of the residency requirement. As students, they are not allowed to apply for Social Housing. As they are in receipt of some student finance, they are not allowed onto the lists of the private housing associations.
So, they got together and paid a deposit for a house share. And then, found out their landlord is a landlord from hell. It would be easier in some ways if he had started to formally evict them, but he hasn’t. He prefers to lock them into a year’s contract and treat them very badly.
In his other student houses, the landlord allows and has always allowed, parties and guests. In this house, he has banned parties and guests, and even visits by family/friends/partners. He also turns up at 7am and walks into people’s bedrooms. He comes round several times a week even in the middle of the night, with no warning. And he is extremely verbally abusive to the tenants. They clean the property, so it is nothing about their behaviour as tenants. What has he got against these young men and women?
They are gay.
He acted normally until he found out, and then got furious. Nobody is even dating anyone else in the group. They are platonic friends.
A landlord who lives on the premises is allowed to object, but one who doesn’t, isn’t.
Meanwhile: The places in the papers say no people on benefits (including disability benefits) are allowed. The ones in estate agents, in the rare ones that don’t ban anyone on benefits, start from amounts too high to pay if you are on benefits. They also have credit checks people would fail. And need deposits. Where exactly are you meant to live? The university has a list of rooms. Many need you to be in a group in a house share. A lot are from dodgy landlords. They all need you to be a standard fulltime student aged 18-21. Some need you to vacate the property 3 or more times a year so someone else can have your room! No good for privacy, or if it is your only home. There is meant to be additional help for housing problems – but it is not available to students. Student halls, as well as expensive/crap, are only for fulltime first-year university undergraduates. You are not meant to have more than the minimum of ‘stuff’. If a private house isn’t filled entirely by fulltime students, it gets council tax charged. (Though disabled/mature students could be on benefits and only able to study part-time).
Incidentally our city’s worst landlord of all, not just a bad landlord but also a crook, is ‘white british’. He’s even in the government.
Legally there seems to be more in favour of landlords and less in favour of tenants. They stop you getting legal aid to fight for your housing rights.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/03/work-woman-care
Its unbelievable isnt it? A spokesman for Atos said “We apologise for any discrepancy in our report and any distress this may have caused” – like hell are they sorry, or else they wouldnt do this evil job in the first place – denying help to the genuine needy.
The DWP response “The work capability assessment is under constant review to ensure it is both fair and effective, and it is in everyone’s interest to get the system right. We are committed to help thousands of people move from benefits and back into work while giving unconditional support to those who are most in need.” What a load of tosh – they probably give ATOS another backhander for an “excellent job” getting this woman off the sick and back to work.
I would have loved to have been at that Jobcentre when Ruth turned up to “discuss her mandatory work activty to prepare her for a return to work”
if it wasnt so deadly serious it would be hilarious, but the fact is they are destroying people’s lives, and IDS is condoning it, probably having a wank over the suffering being caused.
As I said over at the Guardian, I predict the worst riots and disorder this country has ever seen by the middle of next year, when millions get sanctioned off the universal credit and become destitute and left with no other options. The WCA is already creating a huge amount of pent up anger and hatred toward this bent, corrupt and vile Government, and the Welfare REform Act hasnt even started to bite yet – wait till next April when the UC comes in – the fury and rage that has been building up will boil over big time.
And do you think it will be any different with a Labour government? Read Liam Byrne and Ed Balls from the last week, my friend! The country is broke and it’s going to get a lot tougher….
The country is not too broke to give millionaires a tax cut though is it Roger? There’s quite clearly plenty of money sloshing around, it’s just all being given to the filthy rich.
I will believe “there is no money left” when the government stops shovelling it to the rich.
There is a reason why, in your words, money is being shovelled to the rich. It’s their businesses and enterprise which creates money through taxation to help the poor and disadvantaged – an inconvenient truth
bullshit. we make the stuff, the rich just cream off the profits.
Arthur Scargill thinking, I am afraid. No-one in politics, apart from the dinosaurs, believes that any more
doesn’t mean it’s not true.
The UK is a very rich country, the money just doesn’t go to the people of that country, that’s all. And stop peddling “the country is broke” lie, Mr Jenkins!
Hey, Roger “Troll” Jenkins, did you go to the Pigby Jones School of Sophistry: “without the banks there would be no schools and hospitals” lol
Big business pays for sweet fuck all. Obama (President of the USA) hut the nail on the head when he said that business in dependent on the infrastructure built by the public purse to turn a profit which they then off-shore to a tax haven leaving sweet fuck all for “schools and hospitals”. You must think we are stupid, Roger, do you?
I don’t think ‘Wasp’ should accuse me of being a troll – I believe trolls are those who don’t give a proper name but prefer instead to abuse others – sound familiar, Wasp?
Regarding Obama’s comments, you miquote him – he actually talked about the role of business in funding infrastructure, which then generates employment in both public and private sectors. I think there is a lot of wishful thinking in your interpretation.
We cannot escape the fact that wealth has to be generated, to fund the poor and disadvantaged, and no one has yet found a way other than enterprise and commerce. If you know a better way, we should all invest in it now
What a load of tosh, the country can afford the millions it spends on the Afghanistan war, the shakeup of the NHS, pointless Work Programme, MP’s salaries and expenses, Foreign aid, Replacing the GCSE, tax breaks for millionaires……….
I know all about what Liam Byrne said, but Liam Byrne aint Labour is he, he is New Labour old Tory. If Millipede wants a hope in hells chance of winning the next election he has to appease the poor, since if he looses their vote, he has no chance. Liam Byrne is on borrowed time, come closer to the election, when votes count, he’ll be put out to graze.
There is plenty of money – the big corporations and banks and the rich have it all, and they need to be made to share it.
Tamworth Council are to implement the same policies.
I think it’s a good thing – the rich think they can live without the poor or lower-paid professions, a la Ayn Rand, let them try it.
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