THAMESMEAD TENANTS ALSO FIGHT EXORBITANT CHARGES

IS THIS ANOTHER HOUSING

ASSOCIATION IN THE BUSINESS 

OF “TRANSFORMING PEOPLE`S

LIVES”?

Rocketing housing association rents and hidden extra charges have  also sparked serious protests by tenants  in the London area where another housing association is facing opposition.

And the opposition is far more determined  than the opposition  in Carlisle against Riverside Housing Association`s rocketing  rents and   extra charges.

A group calling themselves Thamesmead Residents have set up their own web site to fight what they call exorbitant charges by Gallions Housing Association which is based at Sidcup (Kent ) and has 7000 houses in the boroughs of Bexley, Greenwich, Havering, Lewisham, Newham and  Tower Hamlets.

The Thamesmead Residents web site says this:

“We are a group of ordinary people living and working in Thamesmead fighting for what we believe to be right, seeking answers to our questions and protesting against the exorbitant  estate charges made by Gallions Housing  to us for services that are not maintained or poorly maintained.
We need helpers, supporters, organisers and committee members. Join us NOW - TELL YOUR NEIGHBOURS!”

The Thamesmead Residents protest (someof the protesters are pictured here)has attracted a lot of national and local publicity.  BBC Radio Five Live plans a special programme about the protest. The programme may also cover the Carlisle protests about Riverside rents and extra charges mentioned in previous posts of this blog.

Here is the link to the Thamesmead Residents web site:www.thamesmeadresidents.co.uk

Three hundred miles away,  the Carlisle protesters are continuing their fight. They have sent a letter to the Editor of the Cumberland News, Carlisle, following an article in that newspaper about hard times at Christmas for some people  in Botcherby Carlisle. Riverside boasts in that newspaper that it is “transforming lives”.

The letter says:

No surprise in your Christmas charitable headline:”Hardship on estate deepens amid low pay and rising debt”( Cumberland News December 20).

Your story highlights the plight of families on Botcherby estate in Carlisle who are becoming increasingly hard-pressed... one in five of them have incomes of less than £200 a week. They struggle to pay even food and energy bills, never mind Christmas.

So no surprise then about the charitable headline. But a great deal of surprise that one big increasing bill  facing the struggling families never got a mention in the  story underneath the headline.

That one big increasing bill is for rent. Rent bills have rocketed this year in Botcherby and on  the other Carlisle estates. The increase in rent bills is 30 per cent more in Carlisle than in a similar- size Cumbria town, Barrow, where, unlike Carlisle, social  houses continue to remain in council ownership, according to research by Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`` Federation.

In Carlisle the 6,500 social houses- former council houses- are owned by the giant Liverpool property organisation, Riverside Housing Association which recently reported a 41 per cent  annual surge in its reserves (profits) from £22 million to £32 million.

So Barrow council house rents are very much cheaper than the rents of Riverside`s former Carlisle council houses. And Barrow council house rents are even cheaper than that when Riverside`s “extras” are added to the comparison.

Riverside “extras” are the increases in the way Carlisle rents are  now charged... by introducing new “services” for tenants.

These “services” take the form of new cleaning charges. There are also new charges for door entry systems, for fire alarms, for emergency lighting, for electricity, and for what Riverside`s claims is its “high quality” administration.

These  new charges add about £10 (12 per cent)  to a typical Riverside  rent of £84 .

Carlisle Tenants and Residents` Federation has campaigned for many months against Riverside`s rocketing rents and these extra charges.

About these rents and charges and about the struggling Botcherby families, the Federation  has this comment:

“Riverside boasts every week  that it is transforming lives. For two years it has run an advertisement in the Cumberland News saying  that it is doing just that. The advertisement reads:

“ ` Riverside...transforming lives... revitalising neighbourhoods`

“Riverside`s rocketing rents and extra charges were certainly helping to transform the lives of the struggling people of Botcherby this Christmas.

“The transformation in Botcherby lives is also  highlighted in the headline(above) on another page  of the Cumberland News:`Hardship on estate deepens amid low pay and rising debt.`

“Was this the transformation that the Riverside advertisement is boasting about?”

Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of CarlisleTenants` and Residents` Federation.  Information about the Federation is contained in the first post of  this blog, dated March 25 2015

MR BUTTERWORTH AND THE SHEFFIELD SHUFFLE

PRESS STATEMENT

Dean Butterworth...new man at the top

New Riverside

boss and links to 

return-to-council-control city

With the national housing crisis getting deeper, questions are now being asked in Carlisle about whether the city`s biggest landlord, Riverside, under its new boss is up the job of tackling  problems in the city.

Could the answer be a return to council ownership of Riverside`s  6.500  former council houses, particularly as the new boss, Mr. Dean Butterworth has a Sheffield background associated with  a similar return to council control ?

Mr Malcolm Craik of Brampton who was a member of the Riverside board that took over Carlisle`s  council houses eleven years ago now questions Riverside ability to tackle the  housing crisis and solve its own long-standing problems.

In a letter to the Editor of the Cumberland News, Carlisle, Mr Craik addresses   his  questions  to Mr Dean Butterworth who took over  as Riverside`s Carlisle regional director a few  weeks ago.

 Mr Craik`s letter says:

”Tenants and leaseholders will be watching with more than a little interest to see how Mr Butterworth performs in his new role.

“Riverside’s rents in Carlisle are around 30% higher than those in Barrow in Furness, which retained its council housing, and the organisation’s former City Council leaseholders are still in dispute with Riverside over the terms of their leases and new service charges.

“Homelessness continues to be a major issue in Carlisle while at the same time Riverside claims that it can’t let three bedroomed homes because of the bedroom tax. All are serious issues that require urgent resolution.

“Mr Butterworth says his team is committed to improving customer services and satisfaction, delivering a consistent service to all Riverside’s customers. His customers will have to hope that he can deliver what he has promised.

“I understand that he was formerly an Assistant Director of council housing services at Sheffield Homes, an Arm’s Length Management Organisation set up by Sheffield City Council in 2004 to manage its 42,000 council properties.

“ In February 2012 tenants voted to return their properties to Council control with 88% voting in favour of the move. Sheffield will manage its own homes again from April 2014.”

“I wonder if Mr Butterworth will want to canvass the views of Carlisle tenants to see how many would like their tenancies to return to City Council control should that option become open in the future.”

Issued by Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation

December 10 2012.

COMMUNITY VOICE CARLISLE is the blog of CarlisleTenants` and Residents` Federation. Information about the Federation is  available in the first blog, dated March 25 2013

PRIVATISATION CASH VALUE...OR PEOPLE SUPPORT VALUE?

HOUSES FOR SALE

AND A COMMUNITY

SOLD OUT

Selling off a couple of former council houses is no big deal for  a giant housing organisation owning more than 50,000 homes.

But for neighbouring homes in Botcherby Avenue Carlisle and for other homes  in the Botcherby area  of the city,  the sale means the loss of two valuable community assets.

Number Two Botcherby Avenue

The two houses-numbers two and nine Botcherby Avenue-  have for  many years  been used as community meeting places and centres of a  council-run healthy living initiative.

One of the houses- number 2 Botcherby Avenue- has been a community meeting place for about half a century, many years before  the healthy living initiative. It was known then as BRAG House.

When the healthy living initiative closed a few months ago the Liverpool-based Riverside Housing Association put the houses up for sale.

Number Nine Botcherby Avenue

The community group, Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation is very concerned about Riverside`s sale decision, depriving Botcherby   of  long- established community facilities. The area is already very short of places for community groups to meet.

The Federation campaigned a few months ago about  Riverside in neighbouring Petteril Bank depriving the community there of similar facilities in Welsh Road.

The Federation is also very concerned about the Riverside sale for another reason- the loss  to the Botcherby community of what  were once two  social houses.

A Federation spokesman said:“Riverside should never have closed these two Botcherby Avenue  houses in the first place.

Coun. Betton....more social housing

“But having closed them, Riverside had a duty to the community to keep them as social houses for rent to hard up local people or to people who don`t want to buy a house - That is what they were built for by the city council.

“These days people often struggle to pay food bills, never mind  finding £100,000 for a house or even a deposit for a mortgage,” said a Federation spokesman.

The Federation view is shared by Botcherby councillor Robert Betton who continues to campaign for more social houses for rent. More than 400 Botcherby people signed his recent petition supporting social housing.”The people of Botcherby want  social housing”, he says.

The Federation will continue to campaign against Riverside`s policy of privatisation  and sale of the city `s 6500  former council houses which it took over ten years ago.”The Riverside organisation is neither properly accountable nor transparent in its dealings. It has questions to answer but will not answer them,”  said a Federation spokesman.

Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation. Information about the Federation is contained in the first post of this blog, dated March 25 2013.