Taking action on the housing crisis

Following the November housing crisis meeting at the Town Hall which was organised by Barry Gardiner MP for North Brent, Jacky Peacock has circulated the following notes on behalf of the Tenants Steering Group:
Comments and additional ideas on how to take things forward for private tenants are welcomed:

email jacky.peacock@bptrg.org

WEBSITE: www.bptrg.org

 

HOUSING CONDITIONS IN THE PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR

FOLLOW UP ON MEETING AT BRENT TOWN HALL ON 20 NOVEMBER

What is wrong	What should we do about it?
RENTS Rents are increasing by 5.7% annually -> due to increasing demand in renting properties (fewer people can afford to buy their own) Excessive rents are pushing poorer individuals out from the capital On average, the rent for a two-bedroom apartment in London costs 1,600 pounds -> 2.5 times more than in the rest of the UK As a result, poorer people will be squeezed out from the private market People spend so much money on rent that they will not be able to afford to buy their own property in many years in the future Average salary in Brent is 22,000 pounds/year which means that due to the Housing Benefit Cuts, many people will not be able to afford housing in Brent anymore Young people can’t afford to leave the parental home	It is legally possible to challenge unreasonable rent increases If people could not afford to live in Brent, they should move out Rent control - we should not focus on controlling the initial rent, but rather on controlling rent increases
HOUSING BENEFIT CUTS As a consequence, thousands of people will not be able to afford to pay for the rent Tenants receiving housing benefit comprise about a half of all the tenants living in Brent
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS Over a third of private rented homes fall below the Decent Homes Standard Many homes are very energy inefficient There is a positive relationship between health and adequate living standards  Tenants suffer from “fuel poverty” -> individuals would rather go to bed to keep themselves warm than pay for the gas because they cannot afford it	Energy poverty needs to be eradicated Energy bill will stop landlord letting the most energy inefficient homes but not until 2018. We could be campaigning for Government to highlight need for landlords to start improving properties now.
MANAGEMENT Many private tenants face harassment by their landlord and illegal evictions are common Letting agents rip off private tenants	Implement the Landlord Accreditation Scheme Campaign to expose bad practises.
GENERAL This is the worst housing crisis during the last 80 years There is no more social housing available in Brent 350,000 individuals have been placed on the Council’s waiting list for social housing Brent Council found private lets for 548 families last year The landlord/tenant relationship is weighted heavily in favour of landlords Why does the private rented sector remain unregulated? The local authority should have more power over the housing situation Councillors do not have answers to all the questions Housing crisis has a negative impact on the education of young people Brent is focusing its cuts on middle management and will be merging Housing Resource Centre (dealing with homelessness) and Housing Solutions (advice and rehousing into private renting)  Private Housing Services  (deals with enforcement of physical standards) hasn’t been reviewed yet.	The issue of empty houses in Brent -> they could be converted into usable houses Brent is committed to developing a CPO policy with teeth Why does not the Council have hostels in Brent?  Good quality hostels for young people used to be appreciated.  They were affordable and provided social life for those who had recently left parental home. Landlords would listen to the tenants if many people organized themselves into a larger group Housing & economic growth -  create more jobs in the construction sector How do we build a consensus on the need for better standards?  Access to a decent home is a basic human right. Petitions may help to get heard Letters from bishops get published – can’t we get them on side? If we all used the social media effectively on this issue we could build a groundswell of opinion – should we organize a workshop to learn how this is done? How can we influence decision on the Council’s services?  How could enforcement be made more effective?  Selective Licensing? We need more events like this one Can we use the Mayoral election next year to be raising profile of conditions in private renting? Politicians don’t give enough priority to private rented sector because most private tenants aren’t registered.  Should we mount campaign to increase registration? Labour Party is in listening mode as it develops its housing policies – how can we take advantage of that? We need to coalesce with other campaign groups like the National Private Tenants Organisation, Housing Voice, Pro-Housing Alliance, anti-cuts campaigns.