Here in the UK, it started with Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government giving the local councils the authority to sell flats and houses that had been known as Council flats and houses.
The rents for these properties were always kept at a fair level and here in London as in other cities through the country they were situated all over the city.
There are blocks of flats situated here in deepest Knightsbridge, well maintained blocks which nestle on streets alongside the small two or three storey houses typical of this area's architecture.
But then the chaos started. Residents were allowed to purchase their homes which was all well and good but and here are the BIG buts, there were no stipulations put into place.
So tens of thousands of social housing homes were sold to their occupants, many of whom promptly sold them. And they went off to rent another cheap property having gained a significant amount of money.
Thereby removing the home from the jurisdiction of the local authority who now had many fewer homes to house the people who needed them.
Why the government didn't put certain guide lines into place is beyond us, we think they should have said yes, you can sell it after so many years but 50% of the profit comes back to us if and when you sell.
That would at least have put money back into the pot for building new social housing.. which all of the councils have been extremely negligent in doing.
There is a video article on the Guardian website today about a woman in Dublin who was made homeless through no fault of her own.
Her landlord said he had sold the house, she and her 19 year old daughter were put up in hostels for two weeks, they are now living in a hotel which the council pays for.
The Irish housing minister was interviewed and it was disclosed that since the new Irish government was elected in 2016, only 500 houses throughout the whole of Ireland have been built.
But all over Ireland as in England, you see blocks of flats and houses boarded up.. an Irish estate agent from Dublin was interviewed and he said that rents have rocketed, a property that had rented for 1,200euro would now be costing 2,000euro.
That's worse than the 40% increase which we wrote about yesterday in Seattle!
He described the situation as due to a chronic lack of affordable housing.
Which brings me to the scandal of Earls Court.
She was talking to a friend last night about the blocks of flats which are situated on the North End Road between Lillie Road and Talgarth Road, she knows that his sister in law lives in one of these flats.
They back onto land which used to hold the exhibitions halls known as Earls Court, the blocks were due to be demolished and the tenants moved into new accommodation that was going to be built on the old exhibition site.
Then new blocks would have been built on the site of their old homes.
Unbeknownst to most people, us included, the entire plot of land, which is enormous, was owned by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea & Hammersmith & Fulham.*
The exhibition halls were demolished a few years ago now and the plot was sold to a building company on the proviso that a percentage of the housing built would be for social housing for the boroughs.*
That sounds ok, doesn't it?
Except that the two companies involved, Berkeley and Capco, who bought the land at a reduced rate, have gone back on their word and are not building the social housing.
Now.. most of you are aware that it takes a lot to make her speechless.. but this did.
And so watch this space..
For apart from the new Lillie Square.. which is being touted as a high-profile residential development transforming a 7.4 acre car park into a 808 high-end new homes offering modern garden square living.
Which is being built as a joint venture between Capco and KFI - which represents certain members of the Kwok family. They are a Hong Kong Chinese family.
Nothing in the way of social housing is being built and like the massive development over on the Walworth Road at Elephant & Castle called Elephant Park, whose properties are being advertised for sale in China, India and Russia, I doubt that anything will happen in a hurry.
In the meantime, the residents of the old flats on the North End Road are having to live in properties that need serious renovation works that the council will have to do and..
Yes, of course, our Council Taxes went up.
GeeGee Parrots.
January 9th, 2019.
The rents for these properties were always kept at a fair level and here in London as in other cities through the country they were situated all over the city.
There are blocks of flats situated here in deepest Knightsbridge, well maintained blocks which nestle on streets alongside the small two or three storey houses typical of this area's architecture.
But then the chaos started. Residents were allowed to purchase their homes which was all well and good but and here are the BIG buts, there were no stipulations put into place.
So tens of thousands of social housing homes were sold to their occupants, many of whom promptly sold them. And they went off to rent another cheap property having gained a significant amount of money.
Thereby removing the home from the jurisdiction of the local authority who now had many fewer homes to house the people who needed them.
Why the government didn't put certain guide lines into place is beyond us, we think they should have said yes, you can sell it after so many years but 50% of the profit comes back to us if and when you sell.
That would at least have put money back into the pot for building new social housing.. which all of the councils have been extremely negligent in doing.
There is a video article on the Guardian website today about a woman in Dublin who was made homeless through no fault of her own.
Her landlord said he had sold the house, she and her 19 year old daughter were put up in hostels for two weeks, they are now living in a hotel which the council pays for.
The Irish housing minister was interviewed and it was disclosed that since the new Irish government was elected in 2016, only 500 houses throughout the whole of Ireland have been built.
But all over Ireland as in England, you see blocks of flats and houses boarded up.. an Irish estate agent from Dublin was interviewed and he said that rents have rocketed, a property that had rented for 1,200euro would now be costing 2,000euro.
That's worse than the 40% increase which we wrote about yesterday in Seattle!
He described the situation as due to a chronic lack of affordable housing.
Which brings me to the scandal of Earls Court.
She was talking to a friend last night about the blocks of flats which are situated on the North End Road between Lillie Road and Talgarth Road, she knows that his sister in law lives in one of these flats.
They back onto land which used to hold the exhibitions halls known as Earls Court, the blocks were due to be demolished and the tenants moved into new accommodation that was going to be built on the old exhibition site.
Then new blocks would have been built on the site of their old homes.
Unbeknownst to most people, us included, the entire plot of land, which is enormous, was owned by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea & Hammersmith & Fulham.*
The exhibition halls were demolished a few years ago now and the plot was sold to a building company on the proviso that a percentage of the housing built would be for social housing for the boroughs.*
That sounds ok, doesn't it?
Except that the two companies involved, Berkeley and Capco, who bought the land at a reduced rate, have gone back on their word and are not building the social housing.
Now.. most of you are aware that it takes a lot to make her speechless.. but this did.
And so watch this space..
For apart from the new Lillie Square.. which is being touted as a high-profile residential development transforming a 7.4 acre car park into a 808 high-end new homes offering modern garden square living.
Which is being built as a joint venture between Capco and KFI - which represents certain members of the Kwok family. They are a Hong Kong Chinese family.
Nothing in the way of social housing is being built and like the massive development over on the Walworth Road at Elephant & Castle called Elephant Park, whose properties are being advertised for sale in China, India and Russia, I doubt that anything will happen in a hurry.
In the meantime, the residents of the old flats on the North End Road are having to live in properties that need serious renovation works that the council will have to do and..
Yes, of course, our Council Taxes went up.
GeeGee Parrots.
January 9th, 2019.
You should be a member of Parliament!!
ReplyDeleteHello Pegeen, there are undoubtedly some more than half way decent politicians in both your country and mine. BUT, if the guys or gals who are at the top are rotten to the core and are as cruel as most of them are, the decent politicians don't & won't stand a snows balls chance of getting anything done for the people they represent in government.
ReplyDelete