housing+-+Tenants+rent+protest+(26.2.09)

=**Rents Update**=
 * Govt caves in over Council rents controversy [see below....]!**


 * 13.3.09 Haringey Defend Council Housing Update: On Friday lunchtime, the government __halved__ the rent increase for council tenants! ** The increases have been reduced from 6.1% to 3.1%, because tenants argued, grumbled and campaigned against these inflation-busting increases at a time when jobs are insecure, and money is tight. Some Councils (but not Haringey) objected to the increases too. On average, this will make a difference of Â£2.39 per week in Haringey.

We have issued leaflets, lobbied councillors, visited the sheltered housing schemes set for the biggest increases, and argued with officers. We have had excellent press coverage, but when we stood outside the Civic Centre with placards reading "Freeze Rents", really, we were the ones who were freezing. Well, thanks to everybody who helped - this announcement shows how right we were to campaign.

When we question the housing policy agenda, council tenants seem always to be led to believe that government policy is set in stone. Governments and councils tend to push tenants into fatalism and passivity, but now we have proved that what we say and do matters - because we are the paying customers. More than ever in the credit crunch, we need more and better council housing! I do not think we should say "thank you" to the government for this decision - they should never have been pushing 6.1% rises in the first place, and they should bring back the 'caps' on service charges to protect us from excess increases. = = = = = = = = = = =**Tenants protest at "disgraceful" rent rise**= 26th February 2009 Haringey Independent
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TROUBLED council tenants pleaded for councillors to do reconsider an “inflation busting” 6.1 per cent rent and 50 plus per cent service charge increase from April.

While redundancies and pay freezes hit workers and pensioners find the return on their savings has dwindled, a Government decree has forced councils to raise rents so it can siphon off £294 million from council tax accounts next year to pay for other priorities, such as education or defence.

Disgruntled renters lobbied councillors arriving for Haringey Council’s full council meeting on Monday in a protest outside the Civic Centre, High Road, Wood Green.

Representing Homes for Haringey’s 16,000 tenants Paul Burnham, 54, of Partridge Way, Wood Green, said: “It’s absolutely disgraceful they’re increasing our rents by more than double inflation and it’s wrong the Government is telling them to do this.

“People shouldn’t have to stand the risk of being evicted.”

Mr Burnham calculates that with service charge increases factored in tenants, including the elderly, disabled and vulnerable are facing a real rise of 18 per cent in costs, a figure he calls “disgusting”.

The tenants say fuel bills for one person are equivalent to those of a three bedroom home, and they are not covered by housing benefit so they affect everyone.

Disabled pensioner, Safiuddin Quzi, 70, said he was already paying £120 a week for a one-bedroom flat in Bracknell Close, Wood Green and was worried about the increase.

“I am only just managing now with the state pension and one from London Electricity where I worked for 35 years. But I can’t see my relations or get about much, it’s just hand to mouth.

“Recently this gas and electricity bill is getting so much. I’m paying £220 a quarter and as a single person I don’t use that I’m sure.”

Speaking in the meeting, Mr Burnham said elderly tenants who take power from estate boilers were hit by rises of £16 a week on average and accused council officers of using service charges to get extra money which would not be taken by Government.

He urged councillors to go back to the Government and get a better deal for Haringey tenants.

Cllr Gideon Bull was among councillors who expressed concern saying it was the only area where he disagreed with the Labour Government.

Housing cabinet member, Cllr John Bevan said: “When we as a council heard it was going to be 6.1 per cent we were as concerned as you were. We did make representations to the Government. They decided they would not back down on this matter.”

He said the rapid rise in fuel bills was a result of there having been no rise since April 2007 when fuel was much cheaper and it “was not legally possible” for the council to charge more than the service charges cost.

But Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Robert Gorrie said the administration could help tenants by freezing council tax this year.


 * __Statement from Defend Council Housing__**

When challenged on Haringey's latest rent rises at the full council meeting on 23 February, Cllr John Bevan, Executive Member for Housing, claimed that 'Haringey gains from the council housing subsidy system'.

However, this is not so. Independent research, commissioned by the government itself, has shown that housing management and maintenance allowances in this borough are £47.03million in the current year, whereas the amount actually needed is £69.82million. Perhaps this is why Haringey does not decorate the externals of the properties every five years, as its own tenancy agreements require. No wonder that it is so hard to get basic repairs done.

//Inside Housing// reported on 23/01/09 that nationally, the government will take 'surpluses' of £194m, £294m and £394m from council rent accounts in the three years 2008/11, and that the Treasury 'already has these funds earmarked' for education and defence.

The Council and the Almo, Homes for Haringey, are raising rents and tenant service charges as a lazy alternative to speaking out against this ongoing plunder from our rent accounts.

Instead of voting for excess rent increases, local Councillors should be joining with Haringey tenants, and with tenants, Councillors and MPs from other parts of Britain, to shout about it, to campaign and to lobby, until these misguided policies are changed.

Paul Burnham Haringey Defend Council Housing