July 4th London Renters Union Day of Action to end Rent Hike Evictions

 

 

From Brent Renters Union

 

END RENT HIKE EVICTIONS ACTION  

Too many of us have been made to face the trauma and upheaval of eviction. On July 4th, LRU members are taking action to resist the government's failure to protect us from huge rent increases. Too many of us have been forced out of our homes by landlords hiking up our rent. The more members joining the action, the bigger impact we'll have! 

 

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Brent Renters Union Day of Action: Willesden Green Station December 3rd Noon

The Brent Branch of the London Renters Union is taking part in the London Renters Union Day of Action on Saturday December 3rd. Assemble outside Willesden Green tube station at noon

They said:

Millions face rent increases  of £5,000 plus per annum. Agents and landlords get richer and millions of tenants get poorer.

JOIN US! All welcome!

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@BrentRenters

 

 

Join Saturday's London Renters Union Day of Action - Brent branch of the LRU soon?

Saturday 27th June sees a Day of Action organised by The London Renter's Union aimed at highlighting  the plight of renters during the Covid19 crisis.

Is your rent too high? You’re not alone. Londoners face the highest rents in Europe. Many of us live with the threat of eviction or in unsafe housing.

Many have lost all or part of their income yet renters have received no help during the crisis.

For too long, our housing system has prioritised private profits of landlords over the needs of the rest of us, leading to unaffordable rents, increased insecurity, and the decimation of public housing. A housing system rigged in the interests of landlords and investors is now deepening the problems caused by the Corona virus pandemic.

By coming together and organising we can support each other, stand up to landlords and win lower rents, longer tenancies and better housing for everyone.The London Renters Union is already successfully organising with renters in Newham & Leytonstone, Hackney and Lewisham with branches planned in other boroughs including Brent, which has a high percentage of private renters. Estimates are for that to rise to 40% by 2025.

We need your help to become a city-wide union that can tackle the housing crisis.

By working together we can achieve our aims.

What can you as an individual do?

Join the London Renter's Union www.londonrentersunion.org 

Follow us across social media

Take part in Saturday's Day of Action by staying safe and

• hanging a banner from your window 
• taking a photo of yourself with a placard/poster and share it on your social media
• email your MP using the tool from our website

• Lewisham are doing a bike parade,  events are also taking place in Hackney and in Newham
• Holding an open meeting for people who haven't yet set up a branch such as in Brent encouraging them to get together with people they know in the local area to do something (e.g. a banner drop/hold a banner in a prominent place) and post on social media

Aim + Focus of this month’s day of action 

• The aim is to make people aware of the campaign and to sign up to The London Renter's Union. 
• We want the focus to be on racism in housing and to highlight that the issues we’re seeing disproportionately impact the BAME community and how borders in housing interconnect with our other demands. The way people can fight back against racism in housing is by signing up to resist evictions .
• Let The Government know you situation  - via your MP and social media

NEVER AGAIN! Social & private tenants demand immediate recladding of flammable homes & protection from fire and cold

An Open Letter to James Brokenshire, signed by over 100 organisations, MPs, councillors, architects and other relevant experts, and by residents of blocks affected by this national disaster, will be delivered with a demonstration at Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government between 1 and 2 pm on 17 October.  The letter will demand immediate recladding of flammable homes, and that residents must be kept safe both from fire and from cold, until this work is completed. During the re-cladding process tower blocks can be left freezing without cladding and insulation for months or even years.  

The letter will be delivered by tower block residents from both social housing and private blocks, including residents of social housing blocks in Salford that have been denied access to government funding. 

They will be supported on the day by Fuel Poverty Action, who initiated the Open Letter and organised this Day of Action,and by members of the Grenfell community, trade unionists, housing organisations, and many others who fear more deaths this winter.

Demonstrators will then go on to an event at the House of Commons from 3 - 5 pm hosted by Grenfell MP Emma Dent Coad.

Also part of the Day of Action are a solidarity demonstration outside the UK embassy in Brussels, organised by the Right to Energy Coalition, and a public meeting organised Southwark Group of Tenants Organisations focusing on how residents’ organisations are being bypassed and disempowered, even as everyone acknowledges that residents’ voices are key to keeping buildings safe.   

Ruth London from Fuel Poverty Action says:

No one can claim that tower block residents are responsible for the cladding on their buildings, yet they are the ones who are paying for this disaster in UK housing, with their health, with their food money or savings, and with their lives.  No wonder so many people are saying ‘No - never again! No more deaths from fire, no more deaths from cold!.’ The pressure on the Secretary of State will only increase until the government fulfills its promise to keep people safe in the homes where they live and put their children to sleep.  

Matt Wrack, of the Fire Brigades Union has supported this initiative:  

The Fire Brigades Union called for a universal ban on these flammable materials. Many firefighters and residents of high rise residential buildings wanted more comprehensive action taken against flammable cladding.  Flammable cladding needs to be removed and banned. But it also needs to be replaced before winter. If insulation is removed without being replaced, some of the most vulnerable members of our society will be left freezing, in poor health or in poverty due to extortionate heating bills.  That’s why this Open Letter is so crucial.

Elizabeth Okpo from Spruce Court in Salford says:

We still have the cladding on our building and other issues just the same as Grenfell Tower and we are living in terror.  I look at the children in our block, and I can’t bear to think of what could happen.  I go to bed with a bible, and wake up thanking God I am still alive.  They have only taken the cladding off the bottom three floors, and on those floors people were freezing last winter because there was no insulation.

The Open Letter can be seen online here; the final list of signatories will be available on Tuesday 16 October.