On Sunday November the 6th, around 100 tenants and housing activists packed out a studio room at the Augustine United Church to plan the fight against the ‘stock transfer’ of Council housing in Edinburgh to the City of Edinburgh Housing Association (CEHA). Campaigners, activists and tenants made a series of damning critiques of the Council's proposed privatisation of housing - and pledged a full-blown campaign to stop it

hands off council housing

tenant activist

In a meeting organised by Edinburgh Against Stock Transfer (EAST) and the Scottish Tenants Organisation (STO), campaigners, activists and tenants made a series of damning critiques of the Councils proposed privatization of Housing - and pledged a full-blown campaign to stop it. Tenants from every major city in Scotland heard Alan Walters of the English Defend Council Housing campaign group describe the consequences of stock transfer in England: HIGHER RENTS – HIGHER SERVICE CHARGES – INSECURE TENANCIES – NO ACCOUNTABILITY – GENTRIFICATION - BIG PROFITS -‘FAT CAT’ SALARIES.

Despite the ideological pressure from Central Government, Alan Walters pointed out that 92 councils had rejected the stock transfer option, including Aberdeen and Dundee. He made a formidable case that a combination of “peoples instincts against privatization, a grasp of the facts and hard arguments, and a determination to win� can win a NO vote in Edinburgh and help put enormous pressure on the government to directly invest in council housing.

The conference also heard about Glasgow’s botched transfer to the Glasgow Housing Association (GHA). Tenants stated that NO NEW HOMES had been built since the yes vote for transfer in March 2002. Despite GHA’s promises, tenants are still living in sub-standard housing while they wait for new homes. Sean Clerkin of the STO also brought attention to GHA reneging on their five-year “rent guarantee�. Only three years after the ballot, tenants have received a letter from the GHA - basically asking for permission to raise rents and break the “guarantee�. Defend Council Housing research shows that this is concurrent with the normal pattern for stock transfer.

In the initial Glasgow transfer GHA promised to cede power and responsibility to Local Housing Association’s (LHA’s). Iain Mcinnes, conference chair, revealed that GHA have recently announced they will not be handing homes over to LHA’s due to “difficulties over valuations�. This ‘secondary stage’ transfer was one of the major GHA selling points for a yes vote in Glasgow. GHA have failed to deliver. Despite frequent use of terms such as “tenant participation� and “community empowerment�, tenants like Graham Campbell from the Sightill Save Our Homes say: “we have less say in housing management than we did before stock transfer�. So much for GHA’s “community empowerment� strategy.

“Tenants have to fill in a ballot form, but there is only one candidate on the list. This sounds more like a mediaeval dictatorship than a democracy�. Gordon Brown in opposition (Daily Record, 4/1/96).

The Council’s plan for stock transfer is completely one-sided - none of the arguments for remaining with the council have been presented. Luke Henderson of EAST, in summary, called for urgency in developing an intense campaign of leafleting, stunts and public meetings - which builds on previous activist work - so that tenants can hear all sides of the argument before making a decision in the ballot.

The most encouraging result of the conference was the tenant participation. Many tenants who attended were new faces who showed a great desire to take on responsibility in the coming weeks. 10,000 EAST leaflets were picked up for distribution - with 10’s of thousands still to go out. Alan Walters gave the recipe: “this campaign will be won or lost on the estates�. What’s needed over the next fortnight before the ballot is a mass leafleting campaign so that tenants can make an informed decision on the future of their homes.

Related

http://www.defendcouncilhousing.org.uk

http://www.citystrolls.com