PROTESTERS REPRESENTING thousands of tenants from Peabody Trust
estates demonstrated on 21 September outside Peabody’s HQ in Southwark
at Peabody management’s plans to sell off its housing.
Niall Mulholland, Peabody tenant, Southwark Street
Peabody was set up in the 19th century to "provide subsidised
housing to the working class." But there is now a privatisation
"conveyor belt" where Peabody buys large amounts of council
stock, then sells off its housing.
If this New Labour-backed policy continues, housing campaigner Piers
Corbyn warned, social housing will disappear in London.
Next day, there was a protest outside a Kensington auction house
where Peabody managers sold off individual flats. Arthur Daley-type
private landlords snapped up Peabody housing at below market value, to
rent out at extortionate rates.
Peabody Trust have sold 200 homes already, supposedly to raise money
so their properties meet the ‘Decent Homes Standard’. Others are
earmarked for sale, including ‘E’ block on Southwark Street estate, near
the Tate Modern.
This ‘Bankside’ area has seen huge development. Millions are poured
into new buildings and tourist attractions, but Peabody management lets
our estate fester. Most tenants think Peabody want to sell off the
entire estate to greedy property developers.
Southwark Street Tenants’ Association organiser Lois Austin told the
socialist: "We want all our homes improved. But we totally oppose
selling much-needed social housing to pay for improvements. One reason
for Peabody’s financial crisis is that they bought up council estates
from local authorities (‘stock transfers’), rather than spending money
on Peabody estates and homes."
Under pressure, Steve Howlett, Peabody Trust’s Chief Executive met
protesters.
Huge sums
He defended sell-offs, claiming the government forced Peabody to
carry out Decent Homes Standards repairs, which cost £150 million.
Tenants’ reps asked: "How come Peabody borrowed huge sums from the
banks to buy council estates, but won’t do the same to invest in Peabody
properties?"
The Deputy Prime Minister’s office brought in Howlett precisely to
see through sell-offs and market ‘solutions’, using ‘Standards’ changes
as an excuse to erode social housing. Prescott’s office should pay the
£150 million – a small figure for a government that wastes billions on
war in Iraq.
In front of an 80 year old blind tenant, a manager complained about
elderly tenants not letting Decent Homes Standards improvements into
their homes because they only wanted to "hold onto their Belfast
sinks".
Peabody pensioners want to keep their working fittings, as well as
have 100-year-old windows replaced and other desperately needed
improvements. These overpaid, unelected managers can’t understand that.
At the end of the meeting Lois Austin called on Peabody to stop
selling off housing. "If your privatisation plans continue, we’ll
step up our campaign and demand that government money is provided for
social housing."
Tenants were astounded by the managers’ arrogance but determined to
fight to save social housing.
