North Tyneside: imminent eviction sparks urgent defence campaign

William Jarrett, North Tyneside Socialist Party

Chantelle McClarence is a young single mother living on North Tyneside’s Marden estate at a housing association property owned by Places for People.

Despite working full-time for a local mental health charity as a support worker for people seeking substance abuse rehabilitation, she always struggles to make ends meet.

She receives no additional financial support to raise her child, and through no fault of her own has fallen into rent arrears.

The Socialist Party has always been vigilant about evictions and similar sanctions against working-class people.

Among many other struggles, the campaign we led against Margaret Thatcher’s hated ‘poll tax’ – which eventually brought her down – included organising resistance to bailiffs.

In 2019, the more that establishment politicians insist things have changed, the more we know they’ve stayed the same. Today ‘poll tax’ is for many people spelled U-n-i-v-e-r-s-a-l C-r-e-d-i-t.

Chantelle was signed off sick by her GP late last year – unwell from a sustained period of stress relating to her work, and the financial inability to keep her head above water. Despite improvement and returning to work very soon, Universal Credit has failed completely to support her during her time off to recover.

As a result she states that food has been scarce, and that she’s making every sacrifice possible to ensure that her child eats adequately.

In the midst of this crisis for Chantelle, Places for People, a national social housing landlord, has initiated eviction proceedings against her.

She’s being hauled in to North Shields law courts at 10am on Monday 4 February. Pre-empting the proceedings of the court, the housing association has threatened eviction on Wednesday 6 February at 1pm.

North Tyneside Socialist Party is taking action, drawing on the experience of past struggles, to organise a lightning working-class resistance campaign to help Chantelle fight back. An injury to one is an injury to all – and here’s what we can all do:

• Contact Places for People with messages of protest: 0845 850 9571, and at their website
• Share this article on social media, tagging Places for People (@placesforpeople), North Tyneside Council (@ntcouncilteam), and any relevant trade union or media organisations
• Attend the protest outside the courts – Monday 4 February, 9.30am at Kings Court, Earl Grey Way, Royal Quays, North Shields NE29 6AR – meet outside with placards in support of Chantelle, and trade union banners

Housing is a crisis for the working class the world over. The Socialist Party believes that genuinely affordable, high-quality housing for all is a fundamental human right.

As capitalism is unable to meet the needs of the working class, then we need a socialist alterative. Join the fight – join the socialists.