Conditional discharge for Sweets Way social cleansing resisters

Brent activists joined those from Barnet at a solidarity demonstration outside Willesden Magistrates Court.

People from the Sweets Way Resists campaign were appearing before magistrates charged with obstructing High Court enforcement officers when they were evicting tenants from Sweets Way, in what campaigners see as enforcing social cleansing.

The accused were given a conditional charge, which means no prison sentence or fines, but they may have court costs awarded against them.

SweetsWay Website

Proposed Selective Landlord Licensing Scheme stigmatises the poor and could lead to evictions

The Brent Council Executive on August 26th will be asked to approve a Selective Landlord Licensing Scheme in the private rented sector LINK  covering Harlesden, Wembley Central and Willesden Green wards. The charge to landlords will be £350 for the 5 year licensing period.

Here Scott Bartle of Brent Green Party gives a personal view on the proposals:

I thoroughly disagree with Brent Council’s proposed  Selective Landlord Licensing  Scheme. The basic premise is that selective licensing will reduce anti-social behaviour as opposed to the version Brighton and Hove Council LINK wishes to introduce which suggests that selective licensing will help tenants with rogue landlords.

Brent Council state that selective licensing will affect people from the lowest socio-economic demographics living in the lowest cost accommodation.

They are therefore in effect disparaging an entire group of people as trouble makers and are stigmatising people. 

In Reference Section 7 (pg 55) of the responses they acknowledge that the examples they used as 'anti-social behaviour' are covered by existing laws and that selective licensing will not have any impact.

In Reference Section 9 (page 56) it states that:

The council full accepts that tenants rather than landlords are responsible for anti-social behaviour.

References 7 & 9 clearly go against the core premise for introduction of this scheme. In Reference Section 15 the council acknowledges that due to austerity they have resource constraints and will have difficulty implementing the policy.

After reading the rest of the responses I'm convinced that this is part of the gentrification / social cleansing agenda and also a way to get money from people that will not be subject to the garden tax. They even state on the Equalities Impact section (pg117) that landlords could choose to withdraw from the sector leading to evictions with the risk  particularly pronounced for the people that this policy is specifically targeting

Help Barham Park Estate's Temporary Residents extend their tenancies

An urgent petition has been launched following the failure of attempts to rectify 'premature notices to quit' on tenants of landlord Brent Community Housing affected by a regeneration in Barham Park. Signatures need to be collected before Monday July 28th .

This is the petition - link to sign at end

We the undersigned petition the council to intervene in the premature issue of 42 "Notice to Quit" orders issued by Brent Community Housing to its tenants and subletting organisations who are resident in the Phase 3 development area of the Barham Park regeneration plan. These NTQs require all the affected residents in these 42 properties to leave by 18th August 2014, when the Council's website clearly indicates there are no plans to proceed with the Phase 3 demolition until early 2015. We therefore request the Council uses its influence with its contractor to extend the above tenancies until January 2015.

We believe that the premature issue of these 42 NTQs is liable to be financially detrimental to the Council in terms of lost rental income and the security of tenure and duty of care for existing Council tenants.

It is our understanding from viewing the Council’s regeneration plans, and from discussion with the contractors and others involved in the proposed scheme that Phase 3 is unlikely to start for at least six months. The Council’s website states that the current building under construction, Phase 2C, is not due to become occupied until “Early in 2015” (http://brent.gov.uk/regeneration/barham-park-estate-regeneration/the-barham-park-estate-project/). To date it has been usual to start to move tenants into the new builds prior to initiating the next demolition schedule.

In addition to forcing a large number of young single people to seek alternative accommodation, which will impact on the council’s Housing Options Team, and the substantial loss of income to the Local Authority, we are also concerned about our neighbours who have council tenancies and are awaiting rehousing. They have already expressed their worries that leaving these 42 properties empty will encourage anti-social behaviour from outside elements.

 Sign ePetition

Call to help family resist eviction tomorrow morning

A call has gone out to local housing actvists to help the Caridades family who are faced with eviction. Supporters should go to 4A Harrow Road (close to junction with North Circular) HA9 6PG at 8am tomorrow.

Kazuri Properties, a social housing group, have launched a crowd funding initiative on IndieGOGo LINK to help the family.

According to Kazuri Properties this is the background:

 Kazuri Properties came across the Caridade family after one of our Directors, met the teacher of one of Ms Caridade's children at a Mindfulness event in London. She was deeply upset and moved by their plight, so we at Kazuri stepped in to help by finding sustainable housing. Our main focus is defending the disadvantaged and speaking up for women who have no voice; raising our words, when no one will listen. We now need your help to secure this family's future, they are currently being evicted under an ‘Order for Eviction’ on Wednesday 18^th June at 08 00 hrs. To make matters worse, the Local Authority has refused to help and blocked two previous housing solutions. 

The Caridade family came to London in January 2014 from Portugal, where Mrs Caridade was promised a job in catering by her traffickers, who encouraged her move with her three children; 28, 19 and 15 in order to run away from domestic violence and a dangerous environment. Ms Caridade is now a desperate single mother of a 28 year old with Down's syndrome, a 15 year old who is now eight months pregnant and a 19 year old struggling in work at a supermarket trying to keep the family afloat.

Now Mrs Caridade is being asked to pay back  her family's passage   by being a prostitute. There was no job in catering, she is the victim of human trafficking and now subject to being sold as a sex object.   
 
The London Borough of Brent which has statutory responsibility for this vulnerable family, with many diverse needs, has done all that it can to exclude, alienate and force them to return to Portugal, by systematically neglecting their basic needs for the past five months. Brent has jeopardised their health by forcing them to live in an unhygienic environment due to   low income, ignoring the basic needs of the disabled and thus creating a hostile environment for a 15 year old pregnant child. To further make matters worse, the social worker assigned to this case has put aside all of the above, and has instead offered to pay for the family return to Portugal and falsely offering help to re-house them in Portugal.

 LB Brent should, according to their statutory duty to this family, provide a deposit and the first month's rent so this family can move safely out of the borough and start to rebuild  their lives. They are refusing to do so, for technical reasons and because they claim a License to Occupy is not a valid lawful agreement between a landlord and a tenant. 

The social worker asked why Brent should help this family. We say, because that is what you are supposed to do. She asks, “What about all the other homeless families in Brent facing homelessness?” We say, we can only change our corner of the world and Caridade has become part of that.

The housing officer tasked with disposing of this family does not consider Mrs Caridade's employment bona fide, although she has a cleaning contract with the southeast's largest lettings agency. He is deliberately misstating the DWP's own policy on employment and self-employment. This is an abhorrent misuse of power and lack of knowledge of the law, where an official can adapt and pervert the law in order to avoid supporting families in need.

 Your support will mean Mrs Caridade can start to build a brighter future, one she can control and in which she can build some security. Safe and secure housing is a huge advantage for women who have suffered trauma and violence. She's not asking for a handout, your support will help her to build her own cleaning company and stick it to The Man.

Pub Quiz fundraiser for Brent Housing Action on Monday