March for Homes: four protesters’ stories
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Version 0 of 1. Michael James, 52, from Tower Hamlets Three days after telling his landlord that the flat upstairs was a deathtrap, Michael James was handed an eviction notice. The flat’s roof had collapsed above its bathroom, the debris fortunately missing the young Bangladeshi family and their baby as they slept in the nearby bedroom. The landlord was informed but instead of apologetically offering repairs told the family that their rent was going up. “Despite it being January and freezing, the landlord simply covered the hole with some plywood and then told the family they could look somewhere else to live,” James said. James, 52, had lived in the block in Shadwell, Tower Hamlets, for 25 years and was concerned that the Bangladeshi family were not aware of their legal rights and decided to complain to the council on their behalf. When the landlord, who owns 60 properties in London, discovered James had intervened he decided to get rid of him. “Within days I had an eviction notice,” James said. James fought the order and the landlord backed down. The reprieve was short-lived: another eviction notice duly arrived with a court date only for the landlord to back down three days beforehand. James is now nervously awaiting his landlord’s next move, an uncertainty that has left him stressed and suffering from insomnia. “I am being threatened for coming to the aid of people who could not speak for themselves,” James said. Related: Hundreds gather in London to protest against lack of affordable housing Jasmin Stone, 20, from Newham Single mother Jasmin Stone has no idea where she and her two-year-old daughter Safia will be living in a few days’ time. On 6 February her contract in private rented accommodation expires and she has yet to be told if she can stay on or will be turfed out. “I’ve honestly no idea where we’ll be going, I’ve never even met my landlord,” she says. The 20-year-old is deeply perturbed by the possibility the lack of social housing in Newham, one of London’s poorest boroughs, means her landlord will exchange her for a more wealthy tenant. “Too many people are being forced out of London or are about to be forced out of London, and once they are out then they can’t get back in. My family has lived in Newham for generations and I want to stay close to them.” The deteriorating situation has inspired Stone to become an activist, campaigning against a process she describes as the “social cleansing” of the capital and also a role that has seen her witness a catalogue of housing horror stories first-hand. Stone said: “A 91-year-old woman living in Newham got done for bedroom tax for having a spare room. She was forced out to Manchester, away from her family and support network at a time of her life when she was most vulnerable and needed support. “Recently a mum-of-three was forced out by a landlord and spent the night on the floor of a police station.” She and some and friends raised money to find the mother a hotel and eventually Newham Council found her a place. “We have had some amazing victories, but there just so many. The fight goes on.” Jacob Wills, 25, from Hackney Like a growing number of his generation, Jacob Wills has been forced to live on London’s waterways, in particular the canals and rivers that dissect east London. Until last month Wills, 25, split the £1,000 monthly rent for a one-bed flat in Hackney, him sleeping in the living room. Threatened rent rises made even this untenable and last month Wills moved onto his girlfriend’s canal boat. She too had been pushed from her Hackney home as the area’s accelerating gentrification encouraged her landlord to propose a 50% rent increase to £175 a week. Life on the water is comparatively cheap and, unsurprisingly, Wills has watched as the capital’s housing crisis has made it an increasingly popular option. “It’s becoming more and more crowded because of the housing situation,” Wills said. He also acknowledges that even this may provide only temporary respite from the escalating rent costs. “People are paying more and more for their winter moorings and stretches of the waterway are being privatised which is reducing moorings.” His peers who remain on terra firma are being squeezed further east to places such as Leyton. “Rent is skyrocketing, earlier this year we had a single room in Clapton going for £900, the destruction of communities that were being formed is disheartening.” In 2013 Wills – who cannot work after suffering a chronic nerve condition caused by his vocation as a professional violinist – formed pressure group Hackney Digs to help people with housing issues, which already has hundreds of members. “More and more people are experiencing rent rises or sub-standard properties. We had one case involving a woman who was evicted because the landlord didn’t like the way she answered back,” Wills said. Wills is hoping one day to return to work, appreciating that overcoming his complex condition might be as problematic as finding an affordable home in Hackney.“I might have to squat.” Related: Why march for homes? Because the housing crisis goes far beyond us Focus E15 mums | Jasmin Stone Annette May, 68, from Lambeth Annette May has watched with mounting dismay as the community fabric of the council estate where she has lived for 44 years steadily unravels. May remains proud of the progressive thinking that meant estates like Lambeth’s Cotton Gardens allowed the poorly paid and disadvantaged to reside near the city centre. “I could have bought my home for £19,000 at one stage on the right-to-buy scheme but I refused on principle,” May said. Now, though, the 68-year-old retired council worker watches as three-bedroom homes opposite her own are privately rented for £1,500 a month or sold for £270,000, changing the once tight-knit community she loved and lamenting the loss of social homes for families that still need them. “Road sweepers, street cleaners all deserve a decent home, they certainly don’t deserve to be priced out of council property. Where are they going to live? Under the arches? Middlesbrough? I’m from Sunderland myself but I don’t want to go back. I want to stay here. “Housing is absolutely frightening, it’s scaring so many people at the moment. If you have to pay these extortionate rents then you can’t save up a deposit for a place.” But she says whatever happens she won’t be leaving Cotton Gardens. “I’ll be staying here until I go in a box.” |