457 Cafe closure and other News in June

Sadly today Nicola and her partner have had to close the cafe. A total lack of community support has left them with no choice, following on from the tragic closure of Come the revolution. It seems that unless you open as a brand, or turn yourself into an expensive hang out for rich students, the chance of a community cafe working and giving real jobs and free community and gallery space to local residents does not have a future. I have seen some great Goldsmith Shows and seen some truly wonderful stuff carried out at this cafe, but you cannot run a community cafe without the support of the community, who clearly have not been supporting it for quiet some time. From today New Cross and Deptford has lost a Community and Gallery Space, i am constantly told is needed. The Good News; Harts Lane Studios, the former Garage repair centre, taken over by People before profit, to stop Labour Lewisham from selling it of for just £15.000 is growing from strength to strength. John Hamilton has done some amazing stuff with this space, and on Sunday the 3rd Open day was another huge success, with wonderful art exhibition, and live bands and singers playing in the street and on the roof, as a free event, it was good to see people before profit putting back an empty building into a truly community space, that going by the crowed on sunday, truly reflected the people that live in the area. Having won the Housing Campaign with Lewisham Council, after Barbara Raymond secured 7000 votes in the GLA election, insuring People before profit came second in our key target wards, and giving us a real chance of getting Community Councillors Elected in next round of local Elections . We did have something to celebrate, Both South London Press and Mercury put our Victory for Common senses as main front page story, whilst other media also ran with the Story such as the BBC. We may not have won the GLA seat, but we are winning the Housing campaign, clearly shows, when you vote People before profit, your vote, for once, truly did and does count. ,Make sure you are on the voters roll for the next round of elections.

South London Press Report Housing Campaign victory

The South London Press, on friday confirmed that on May 39th at cabinet meeting, The Labour Council have agreed in full with our Housing campaign, They will no longer sell of our homes, they will get a local not for profit organisation to refit andv refurbish all the homes, whilst giving jobs and training to local people without work. It goes to show that when a community is united and vote in the numbers they did for Barbara Raymond in May, we can Win, and we can make a difference.

Deptford High Street a BBC History Lession

It seems that Lewisham Council has not changed over the years. The telling part of this good history programme, was to discover that the council reason to knock down the original period buildings in the area was based on some one making a lot of money , as secret papers seen by the BBC , clearly show thev reasons that were given to evict local people and families who had lived in the area for Generations was based on lies.as the secret papers state clearly, these were decent homes that should never have been knocked down in the first place. I hope you enjoy this Deptford History. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jt9bv/The_Secret_History_of_Our_Streets_Deptford_High_Street/

Central London Short. holiday and Olympic lets

If you are looking to stay in the best parts of Central and South London, for the Olympics or just to visit friends then the best site to view is www.london-countryshortandholidaylets.com. they offer Romantic 400 year old Thatch Cottages in the Cotswolds from £230, to Urban pads in Greenwich, Deptford, Rotherhithe and London Bridge. If you are on a budget, just email what you are looking to spend, and you could fine you secure a very good bargain at the rate you want to pay,not the website rate.

Housing campaign Victory update .May 2012

Lewisham Council Cabinet at a meeting held last night 31st May 2012, have agreed to the aims and objectives of our Housing campaign, by Removing from sale all the homes occupied by Lewisham People before Profit, and agreeing to have the homes refurbished by local social enterprise housing groups that will offer real jobs and training to local people, whilst bringing back to life these family homes,. to local residents in real housing need. After a very long campaign, Hundreds of signitures and thousands of Votes for Barbara Raymond, the people before profit GLA candidate in May local Elections.. Lewisham Council has listerned and acted..we are all truly delighted that common sense has won through.. Our Campaigns for jobs, affordable housing and in defence of cuts to front line services goes on. We may not have won the Election, but your votes, helped us win the Battle.Full details of LPBP website.

How to end the London Housing Crises, a working paper

A DISCUSSION PAPER - on - How to end London’s chronic housing crisis and drive up standards in the private rental sector - by - London Housing Expert: Ray Woolford Introduction Although it is an issue that affects every voter, it seems that housing is regarded as an insignificant issue as far as the election is concerned since no main-stream party is giving housing the profile it deserves. The neglect has seen voters turn to other groups, from the BNP on the right to Respect and People Before Profit on the left,who put housing at the very forefront of their campaigns. This is clearly at odds with the fact that the most popular Conservative policy of modern times was the Right-to-Buy policy, which led to 1.6 million people buying their homes, generated huge returns to councils in service charges and repair contributions, and transformed estates that were in danger of becoming sink estates into real communities where people were proud to live. The failures of the policy were that it was not thought through carefully enough, that the revenue it generated was not used to build new public housing, and that there was no claw-back mechanism by which the extremely large returns that some owners made by buying for a tiny sum and then selling for a huge profit would have boosted local authorities’ house-building budgets. Government figures released in March state that across the UK: • an estimated 100,000 council homes are being illegally sublet • 1.5 million homes stand empty at any one time • huge areas of land are held as land-banks to keep prices high. The average number of empty publicly owned homes for individual boroughs is approximately 3000, while councils spend on average £44,000 per year per family in bed and breakfast accommodation. When the huge number of government and local authority buildings that could be converted into affordable homes is factored in, it is astounding that this scandal, which has continued under successive governments, has been allowed to continue. This report sets out a clear vision: • to drive up standards • to reduce the cost of housing costs for the state • to put an end to empty buildings blighting neighbourhoods • to propose radical solutions that could work in the long term as well as the short term. These proposals will genuinely put an end to the chronic housing shortage in London while generating a large amount of revenue with minimal investment through policies that all voters can support. All that is needed are leaders in local councils, city hall and Westminster who have the vision and commitment to make a real difference and to start addressing the problem today. Although I focus on London in this report, the solutions I propose could be duplicated in all major cities and towns in the UK. INDEX Numbered Page(s) Content/Topic 2 Introduction 4 Accreditation, Licensing and Rogue Landlords 5 Affordable and Shared Ownership 6 Buy to Let 6 Rent Freeze 7 - 8 Repossessions: The argument to bring them to an end 8 Tenant Choice 9 Waiting List and Transfer Allocation 10 Young People: The impact on housing for the young 11 Conclusion Accreditation and Licensing and Rogue Landlords London is awash with licensing and accreditation schemes, e.g. • Newham Council proposals • London Accreditation Scheme • Boris Johnson's Blue Badge Scheme There are also many other schemes run by local authorities and trade bodies such as The Residential Landlords Association (RLA). Without a clear common vision and purpose, together with the means and budget to enforce them, it is hard to see how these schemes could drive up standards and deal with the anti-social behaviour issues in any way that improves on the current situation so that more – not fewer – private individuals will be prepared to invest in developing large property portfolios. The largest private landlord in London, Grainger, points out that the Newham scheme would cost between £300 and £500 per property to be licensed. This could result in landlords moving their portfolios and investment to other areas. The RLA have pointed out that with the time and effort required by the Newham scheme it would take 180 years just to license all the homes in Newham. The solution is clear. The large number of schemes should be reduced to just one Licence and one Accreditation scheme. This would enable landlords easily to choose which approved scheme they would like to use, much as they do at the moment with the Deposit Protection schemes. I would propose that all landlords and the directors of companies who provide properties to let should provide their National Insurance number as a way to drive up standards. This would make it easier to monitor landlords and property companies and would prevent them from securing any sort of state benefit from their tenants. Government could then seek to link this information to tax offices to put an end to council tax avoidance and to recover arrears. Bad landlords in the main are a very small minority, and most of them prey on benefit claimants and the poorer members of society. This simple idea of linking landlords' National Insurance numbers to their properties would lead to a huge improvement in standards in the private rental sector that would promote investment and produce substantial revenue. This revenue could then be reinvested in building more social housing or giving low-rate loans to non-profit housing groups for the purpose of building the homes and carrying out the refits that London needs. Sadly, London will always have far too many poor who will be exploited by bad landlords. The number of people living in sheds, in cupboards, in bin areas, and under flyovers shames the whole city. Councils have failed to address this issue for far too long, presumably out of a fear that any real crack down will lead to massive costs for hostel and bed-and-breakfast accommodation for the people who will need to be re-housed, councils can no longer afford to refit or refurbish the empty public housing they already own. Affordable and Shared Ownership What is meant by the word affordable? Where is the social benefit in allowing new developments to be built based on a priori percentages rather than on actual local housing need? The requirement that developers provide a certain percentage of homes as social housing is seriously flawed. It results in the provision of large numbers of studio flats and bedsits which usually have no real relationship with local needs, such as, for example, those of local residents who have a disability, or those of an elderly couple in a three or four bedroom property who are looking to move to a smaller home as their present property is too large and too expensive to run now that their family has left home. The criterion for affordability should be established, borough by borough, on the average wage for each particular borough. This would lead to a more stable house-pricing structure and enable London residents to buy locally. Far too many developers cynically put a single unit up for sale at a headline-grabbing price while the rest of the properties are far too expensive for most local people. It should also be noted that some developers use much cheaper building techniques and materials to build the social part of their developments, even though they charge the full market rate. In real terms, therefore, those who do manage to buy in this sector of the market are being exploited. Basing requirements for new-build affordable housing on square footage instead of the number of units would definitely address this issue of local need. It would also save a great deal of money by facilitating moving families or individuals who are currently living in very expensive private housing at the tax payers’ expense into units built especially for them. Shared ownership also needs to be reviewed. Many people who only own a percentage of their home find it almost impossible to sell on and move up the ladder if they have to move due to an expanding family or employment opportunities. Buy to Let It is difficult to truly assess the real size of the buy-to-let market: the most recent report by Savills and Right Move on the buy-to-let sector shows that the total value of property in the buy-to-let sector was £840 billion – a staggering increase of 42% over the past 5 years – producing a rental income of £48 billion which is expected to rise to £70 billion by the year 2016. To meet demand under the housing policies presently in place the private rental sector will require around £200 billion of investment. However, only one quarter of this money is likely to come from the private sector over the next five years. The Treasury's current concerns over buy-to-let mortgages and what it sees as the unfair tax advantages that they entail are likely to lead to policies which will restrict the private rental sector at the very time when what is required is further sustained investment that can only be stimulated via carefully targeted tax breaks and relaxations in planning law. Rent Freeze Political opportunism or a real solution for struggling tenants? While the idea of a rent freeze seems like a popular initiative, the reality is very different. The private rental sector is regulated in the main by the terms of its mortgage conditions and the state and fluctuation of interest rates globally. Setting a rent at a given figure while not taking interest rates into account would result in a large decline in the number of properties available in the private sector, and this at a time when precisely this number of rental properties available across London needs to be significantly increased. Although it might be possible for local authorities to freeze rents, as few council homes have mortgages, loan companies would have real concerns about how landlords could pay mortgages or pay for improvements if a tenant stayed for, say, five years with no rent increases. Landlords would also have concerns about evicting bad or anti-social tenants or their ability to move tenants out if they need to sell their property due to a change in their financial situation. In London, the fastest growing area in the buy-to-let sector is that of ‘accidental’ landlords, that is, those who have to move out of their homes due to family, work, or financial reasons and need to secure an income to cover mortgage payments and avoid repossession. Exactly how many of these and other private landlords fail to fulfil their legal obligations and/or declare tax liabilities is currently unknown. Repossessions: The argument to bring them to an end 75,000 homes were repossessed last year. The number of owners in debt who simply returned keys and walked away over the past 12 months is not currently available but it will be sizeable. The cost of this to the state and to the tax payer makes no economic sense at all. Once families are evicted, their first port of call is their local authority's Homeless Persons Unit, which initiates a long and expensive process that ends up costing the local authority an average of £44,000 per year for emergency hostel and bed and breakfast accommodation. Nevertheless, families go on being evicted despite the fact that their mortgage payments are substantially less than the cost of rehousing them. Mortgage companies and banks are covered by insurance, which means that repossessions result in no real inconvenience to the company concerned. In the private buy-to-let sector the current legal position is such that tenants have no protection under the law if the property they are renting is repossessed. Even though they have been paying rent direct to their landlord on time and with no arrears, the mortgage company has no duty of care and are not required to inform tenants that they could seek an arrangement for rent to be paid direct to the mortgage company when landlords are in substantial arrears. Repossessions also add to the blight of empty and run down homes that can bring down the value of properties in the neighbourhood and thus reduce the equity that home owners have in surrounding properties. It is therefore the local authority and the local community who are left to pick up the real cost of repossessions, not just through the huge cost of rehousing the newly homeless is very expensive temporary accommodation, but also through the loss of revenue from council tax and the money the home owners would spent in the local economy, which would have helped to secure the jobs of local small traders and, in turn, to increase revenue to the state via business rates. The Solution: Repossessions offer no real solution, make no economic sense, and bring terrible misery to the thousands of people who get caught up in the process. Therefore, as currently practised, they should essentially become illegal, as follows: Private Home Owners: Once two months’ payments have been missed, the mortgage provider should be required to notify the local authority housing department and to begin negotiations to prevent repossession. Any housing benefit payments should then be made direct to the bank or mortgage company. Remortgaging and Secure Debt: Homebuyers and home owners should not be allowed to use their property as collateral to borrow more than the property is worth. Loan companies should have a legal obligation to check with the Land Registry as to what loans, if any, are registered against the property. If a loan company fails to do this, it will not then be able to attempt to recover the loan through the courts. Repayments and Security Mortgage companies would be responsible for collecting payments from the council until such time as the homeowner is able to continue to make payments themselves, at which time reasonable charges for the administrative cost of this subvention would be added to their original loan. If the homeowner sells the property, the mortgage company and other debtors would be paid from the proceeds of the sale. This would ensure no excessively burdensome additional debt was incurred while people remained in their homes at no extra cost to the state, such as the huge cost involved in housing an evicted family in emergency temporary accommodation. Buy-to-Let Landlords: Once two months’ payments have been missed, the mortgage provider would have the right to collect their repayments direct from tenants. The landlords would still own the property while the rent money covered the cost of mortgage repayments plus a fair administration charge. Once any arrears are repaid, the property would continue in the ownership of the landlord. This would give security to tenants and, once again, ensure that there were no extra costs to the state. The solution outlined above would be politically acceptable to everyone, would save the state a great deal of money, and help sustain a stable housing market over the long term. Tenant Choice Tenants should be clearly informed of their legal rights and obligations as well as those of the landlord. The RLA have long campaigned for tenants to be better aware of the risks and responsibilites advice when signing a legal contract to rent a property. The reality is that government and local authorities no longer have the staff or the budget to promote such assistance. Landlords and tenants in the main are also not in a position to fund provision in this regard and requiring it of them could prove a policy disaster. Nevertheless, this is a very real issue and needs to be addressed. The solution is a simple one. The government could arrange for a range of online legal contracts that could be downloaded for a small fee. This would ensure the general use of contracts that are fair and protect tenants and landlords while producing revenue. Any contract should state in the clearest of terms the legal obligations for both sides and where the security deposit, if charged, is held and how to recover the same. With this data the state could monitor the sector to ensure deposits are being correctly handled in a cost-effective way. The rental sector would be more transparent and this would result in greater tax revenues as it would be much harder to run a cash rental business when the arrangement had to be registered online. This data could also be used to monitor both rogue landlords and bad tenants. This solution would drive up standards, improve the quality and flow of information, and produce a new revenue stream. Waiting List and Transfer Allocation The present waiting-list system changes from borough to borough and has failed to address real housing need and overcrowding, despite the fact that the waiting list continues to get longer year on year. Each London authority has a different points system, a situation which restricts tenants’ choice and movement and which will mean that the new universal credit will result in some areas’ waiting-list criteria being wiped out overnight. For example, under current governmental policy, council rents in Lewisham will rise to 80% of local market value. This will mean a huge increase due to the number of new developments being built and the improved transport links in the area. Thus local residents currently on the council’s list will be removed as they will not be in a position to afford to pay the resulting increased rents. Nationally, the ‘swap system’ is also outdated and complicated. It should be reviewed and reformed in accordance with the rules that apply to universal credit so as to give tenants greater freedom of movement. It is also necessary to create a single system for paying private landlords; at present, each borough has a different payment system with up to three different departments dealing with a single claimant. There is also a need for a simple mechanism that would allow tenants to portal their payments from one borough to another. This would speed up the process and allow more tenants to move to other areas for employment purposes or to receive support from family members. Tenants who receive public housing assistance also need to be given a wider choice and a fair playing field when renting in the private rented sector. Such a rationalised a system would also encourage more London landlords to accept tenants who are receiving benefit, would enable local authorities more easily to guarantee rents for fixed periods, and would ensure that landlords are given property back in the condition in which it was let via the council. It would also avoid landlords being expected to evict tenants via the courts. In Rotherhithe, South East London, all local estate agents have stopped renting to social tenants after Southwark Council insisted that tenants would only be helped once a bailiff had forcefully evicted the family, not just after a court decision. This process whereby families and children are being forced onto the street, which inflicts a tremendous emotional wound on these vulnerable members of our society, merely to give councils more time, must be stopped. Young People The impact on housing for the young: Owning a home is only a pipe-dream for young people under the age of 35 years. Government proposals to force people under 35 to house-share or live in hostel accommodation will further alienate young people from mainstream society. Currently, young people have been severely hit by a lack of real jobs and of proper housing, which they cannot afford on minimum wages or benefit. This problem is exacerbated by Article 4, which restricts the number of HMO premises and abolishes the squatters' law. Overcrowding is a major issue in London and many young people are exploited by private landlords who can pack up to eight people in one room. It is also not uncommon to see families of 5, 6 and 7 living in a one-bedroomed council flat. Government proposals to make under-25-year-olds stay at home further inhibit the future opportunities of the young and poor, and could lead to civil unrest unless more is done in respect of jobs and housing which would involve young people in their communities instead of alienating them from them. Lewisham Council in South London runs a remarkable housing co-operative known as the “Sandford Road Housing Co-op”. This co-operative provides a great place to live to young single people at low cost, thus engendering a sense of purpose and community engagement, a providing a real boost to each person’s self worth. It also makes a profit and uses the cash to support other local start-up housing cooperatives. Building on and developing this model across London could result in young people being trained in green energy and building skills and turning empty buildings into secure low-cost housing and, at the same time, give young people a real sense of purpose. Where this has happened, it has started to address the terrible blight caused to many London neighbourhoods by the state of abandoned and closed buildings, homes and commercial units. Relaxing planning law and providing financial support to boost social enterprise and the co-operative movement makes both political and economic sense. Giving people and communities the power to take over, under licence, empty buildings to be refurbished and brought back into use as social housing would be a low-cost and highly popular policy that the mayor and all political parties should seek to implement. Dealing with housing, over-crowding and jobs could do a great deal to address youth alienation and crime, and engender in young people a sense of pride and involvement in the communities in which they live. Conclusion I consider that the ideas and proposals in this discussion paper would, if implemented, transform the London housing market and encourage more private investors to enter both the social and private rental sectors as a real, long-term business opportunity. Tenants would see wider choice, improved standards, fairer rents and greater home security as a result of the improved ease with which they can change locality and/or own a stake in their local neighbourhoods and communities by taking on empty buildings and homes which councils and government abandoned many years ago. Simplifying and centralising payments and having a National Insurance number to log against properties would result in large sums being raised while providing a set of standard contracts that can be downloaded for a small fee would boost revenues, drive up standards, and close down rogue landlords and tax-avoiders. While London's mayoral candidates talk about transport and policing, they seem to have forgotten that the Conservatives won two elections with their right-to-buy policy. Homes and jobs are what matter to people. Recently, local residents in Lewisham and Greenwich who are part of the “People Before Profit” movement have come together to take over empty public housing that the council had ceased to maintain years ago. They are training local people in skills to refurbish them and making the newly refurbished homes available to local people who are in need and on the waiting list. This is an example that should be supported and followed wholeheartedly. This would relieve the housing shortage and put an end to the disfiguring blight to local communities caused by empty, unused and run-down properties. We already have the social-enterprise businesses and strong private rental sector that can play their part. What we need now is councils to work together beyond borough boundaries, to simplify payment mechanisms to encourage more investment, and to orient their policies and planning on people, not targets and budgets. We all need to think beyond the box and to have the resolve to make a difference in these difficult times. Ray Woolford

GLA ELECTION RESULTS ; Great Result for People Before Profit

With a pretty poor turn out, and with close to 2000 ballot forms being ruined. Barbara Raymond Greenwich & Lewisham People Before Profit Candidate, Secured just under 7000 votes, The best a Candidate of the Left has secured at GLA level, in a very long time. Barbara Raymond came 5th, Beating all the Candidates of the extreme right. UKIP, BNP, and the National Front. With two Local Community activists needing hospital Treatment, after being attacked in Lewisham High street last week, The result for Barbara, Helped make the result a bit sweeter, Although another term of Boris, is one we could all clearly do without. The Lib Dem Results, show Clearly, that in Lewisham, the only Alternative to Labour Lewisham Cuts And Homes sell off agenda, is People before Profit. We have 2 years to remind the 17.000 People on Lewisham Housing Waiting List, and the Thousands of Local people without work, That they do not have to vote like Turkeys for Christmas, but that a Vote for People before Profit, is a real alternative to see Homes build and Refurbished, jobs Created and our front line services improved and expanded. Labour in Lewisham, have a record of Greed and Mismanagement, that has for far to long shamed the Labour Movement. Next Local Elections in 2 years, Barbara raymond and her Result clearly shows, we can Win. We should Win the Mayor and abolish the Gravy train of Councillors and cabinet members, claiming thousands of pounds of hard earned tax payers money, whilst kicking the poor in the teeth and closing so many of our front line services with no sound economic argument.

Newham Council . Social cleansing of the poor?

As i have written many times, it is clear the present Labour party, is playing very real politics with the lives and services of the poor, the plans by both Newham and Waltham Forest Labour Councils to deport hundreds of families to the midlands, is what you would expect in Korea.. But this is happening right now in London.. John Hamilton for People before profit, has put our a very clear statement of our groups view.. Human beings are not commodities, to be bought, sold and shifted around according to the whim of goverment or the vagaries of the capitalist " Market". Unemployment and lack of oppertunity for school leavers are the root cause of many of society"s current problems, and moving people to distant towns were housing is less scarce fails to take account of the need to maintain community structures and familarity. This is even more importnant for unemployed people who do not have the security of a workplace, colleagues or enough money. The answer is in regenerating industry in London and the whole of Britian. what better way than by embarking on a large scale programme of council house building-a cornerstone of People Before Profit"s policies ever since our founding in 2008. We have the human resources in this country to build more environmentally sustainable homes and workplaces to replace the inefficent Victorian housing. It may not be profitable to build high quality homes for rent, but it is time to put people before profit, to create jobs in the building industry, and to offer training in a wide range of skills, from laying drains, to making wind turbines and solar panels. It has long been my personel view, that Lewisham council under the Labour Party has been planning to get rid of low income families for years, in order to reduce the demand for schools, heath care and front line services, This i think is part of the reason, the council has allowed so many family size homes to have been left to rot.. clearly if they can move familes to Croydon etc.. they will not require services in Lewisham. I will be raising a question on this at the next full Council meeting in June. Does any one out their still believe that a Vote for Labour, is a vote for the poorest members of our Community?

London GLA Elections Vote Barbara Raymond People before Profit

After 50 years of Campaigning and fighting for the people of Lewisham,Barbara Raymond has been selected to fight the Labour seat GLA of Greenwich and Lewisham. Labour have a terrible local record, of waste and mismanagement going back 30 years.. Taking local residents votes for granted and rushing through the ConDem cuts at record speed, instead of standing firm, and fighting hard to defend services, build more Council homes, and address the areas real poverty from lack of jobs, to Fuel poverty. In Lewisham, we have 2000 empty homes,homes that could be bringing in rent and Council tax to fund front line services. Lewisham Labour Council, have refused to allow local people to take over these homes, refurbish and help to address the real housing crises in London. As of yesterday, Lewisham and Greenwich people before profit, have stopped the these homes from being sold , at several Auctions across London of homes, being sold on the cheap, by Labour Councils. In Greenwich, the Borough has 3.600 empty homes, It is an out and out scandle.and Yet young people starting out are finding it impossible to secure a home, a Job or a basic living income, the End of EMA and Student funding shames us all. Whilst again Lewisham under Labour has said it will close 5 childrens centres with the loss of 78 staff jobs.. The Labour party was once a great party that fought for the poor, today it is a party of the Rich and the Business community, on May 3rd.. Please back Barbara Raymond and Back the TUSC list for London wide...A vote for these 2 will send a clear message.. We can stop the Rot... Building new homes will generate real long term jobs. Refiiting and refurbishinmg these homes will lead to loads of real long term jobs and skills..using Council buildings to generate green energy for all local residents will help us in South London reduce fuel poverty.. whilst supporting local small traders and boosting green enterprise in the area, will benifit us all, Labour seem only interested in the politics of greed and self interest..they clearly are using the cuts to punish the poor to gain political advantage at a time the Labour Mayor has given yet another Labour Chronie a job in his team.. If you can Help Barbara to Win on May 3rd, Can deliver flyers at stations and schools, wish to put up a Poster or make a donation, please go to the People before profit web page... But please use the real power you have, and the only power politicians fear..Vote them out on May 3rd.. If they can kick Labour out in Bradford, we can do it in South London..This fight has nothing to do with the Concervatives, a Vote for Barbar will not let in the Tories.. But it will force the Councils to Stop selling our Homes,to work at making jobs come to our area and help us end fuel poverty..

Lewisham Council Homes..Stop the bargain basement sell offs

One very busy week, with front page coverage of all the 3 local papers, more National news and TV coverage, and yet Lewisham Labour Council is refusing to admit that it is wrong at a time of cronic housing shortage to be selling off, much needed family homes.Could it be that it is Labour party policy to sell off Family homes and only allow new build flats to be built with 1 and 2 bedroom apartments?. could it be that our Labour council has a secret policy of getting rid of families in Social Housing across Lewisham, so it does not need to provide, New schools, Health Centers, Primary Care, Youth centres and More? How can you explain why in Answer to a Council Question, by Councillor Chris Maines, the Council admitted it had a staggering 2000 empty homes, left to rot across the Borough.Think of how many jobs could be created for local people refurbishing these homes...Why have the Labour Council at a time of cuts to front line services, paid £40.000 per year to keep just 1 family in a B&B, when it could have refurbished all these homes, got people of benifit and into real long term work, and had 2000 families paying rent and Council tax? Empty Homes do not just blight roads and streets, but we all pay a very high price for this Labour Council scandle, and Steve Bullock the Mayor, must be voted out at the next round of Elections.2000 homes would see Lewisham have more homes than the numbers in B&B and Hotels and Hostals Combined, we would have more money than we need to cover the cost of cuts to front line services prices would fall in private rental sector as the area would not have a property shortage..Our 5 Homes that we are refurbishing are ready to move families in need into.. is it so wrong, that we have had local residents and traders refurbish these 5 homes at cost, for free, so the Council can offer these homes to Lewisham residents in need? we are not seeking to profit or gain from this campaign, we are only seeking to high light a national Scandle that Lewisham Council is part off. in 1969 Lewisham Council was the first Council in the UK, tto support Housing Co-ops and squatters helping form wonderful Housing Co-ops, many of which remain to this day.. Lewisham Council could go back to this model, and be the UK leading Council on dealing with job creation and social Housing.Lewisham has the highest number of young people without work in the UK, and yet our proposals for Housing working with Lewisham College and our Come The Revolution Green skilled jobs scheme could turn this around.Please keep supporting the team..go to our website, become a member, launch other groups across the UK, in Irland People before Profit have 2 fantastic MPs, and sign on line our Petition,spread the word, Blog, Facebook, Tweet, and If you live in New Cross or Deptford, eat and Drink at our Community Cafe; Come the Revolution 467 New Cross Road Deptford Se14 6TA.open 8am-5pm Monday to Friday and 11am-4pm weekends.We offer tea and Crumpet just £1 and hot meal every day just £2. we also Offer meeting Space, Free Wifi and Internet Cafe.Advice, and Much more.. with summer Coming, we do best Ice Cream in South London. Our Petitions.. get every one you can to sign; www.change.org/petitions/defend-lewishams-council-housing Make a donation to Lewisham People Before Profit/ or Join us, membership is just £5 per year. Lewisham People Before Profit 97 Armoury road Deptford SE8 4LB www.peoplebeforeprofit.org.uk We will be at the Full Council Meeting Wednesday 29th February at 7pm to protest. Public Meetings; Lewisham People before profit hold open meetings the First Monday in Every month, at 7pm. Come the Revolution 467 New Cross Roadv Deptford Se14 6TA..you can buy Food and Tea/Coffee etc.

Greenwich signs up for its Own People before profit group

Last night Greenwich residents from across the political spectrum, and many who have never campaigned before came together to see if Greenwich was ready to welcome a new community campaigning group, that would put the Community and its residents interests before that of the Political establishment, and big business, with real talented people and real anger and concern at the way Labour Greenwich take labour voters for granted the meeting was really well run, and interesting, but certainly not the normal boring never ending meetings of old. Greenwich will meet in 2 weeks to form an action plan and a campaigns structure linked to opposition to cuts, the real need for Social housing, and a better deal for young people with Jobs and housing and services, so badly hit by the cuts..

Lewisham Homes Occupied for local residents

In just 1 week, Public sector housing in London, has become the number 1 story on ITN London Tonight news,. and BBC 1 South East News.. Evening Standard, radio and a huge host of publications have, and are running with the story.. so what is Lewisham People before profit hoping to do with this Campaign?. Most of the 5 homes we occupied last weekend, had been empty for between 5 and 10 years, with an average rent of £13,000 per year, plus £1300 Council tax per year. the loss to the tax payers of Lewisham in Council tax not paid and rent collected, is greater than the cost to save New Cross Library from Closure....Add to this the cost of 50 plus families in very expensive B&B and Hostal accomadation who could of been living in these wonderful homes. It is truly a disgrace and abuse of Power, that Lewisham Labour party who run the council, had also proposed on the quiet to sell these homes at knock down prices, with guide prices as low as £130.000 for 3 bedroom period homes, you do wonder as to who is getting what out of this, certainly not the Lewisham Tax payer, or the 17.000 plus people in urgent housing need on the councils list.. We plan to refurbish these homes at cost, and offer them back to families in real need on Lewisham Council housing list, even if you swallow the lie, that these homes will cost £40.000 to repair, this would cost in total £180.000 to buy a period 3 bedroom home in an area that as resently as January this year has homes selling at £400.000 plus. .By using local tradespeople and training local people out of work, we can get people back to work and off benifit, refurbishing these homes, and bring the homes back to life, for the Neighbourhoods they are left to rot in, and for the real housing need we have in Lewisham.. Paying rent, giving homes to people in need, collecting rents to raise funds to stop cuts in key local services.. is our campaign so wrong? Our House in Angus street is in wonderful Condition, we are hoping the Council will work with us, beyond the politics..and help us create local jobs for local people, mainly the young, and turn these buildings back into homes.. You are welcome to visit and see the homes for yourself..The Campaign Goes on, i hope that we can encourage Councils and residents across the UK, to stop selling public buildings, to get local people involved to bring empty buildings back in to community use..the Battle to Save and build more Council homes will go on.. Just help us build the campaigns and get the message out.. We still needs funds, People and offers of Help, and we could do with more people supporting our community Cafe, Come the revolution, at 467 New Crioss road Deptford Se14. open 8-5pm Monday to Friday, and 11-4 Weekends..