Marcon Court is an estate in central Hackney which the Council is considering privatising and/or demolishing. Residents are fighting against this, and demanding instead that the Council remain as their landlord and refurbish their homes.
Residents decided that they needed to hear the experience of community activists from other estates that had been privatised. So at the Tenants' and Residents' Association (TRA) meeting on 8 December 2003, Nick Strauss from Haggerston Estate spoke. This is a summary of what he said, followed by questions from residents and Nick's answers.
It should be useful not just to residents of Marcon Court, but to others - both in Hackney and around the country - who are trying to understand the privatisation plans of the Government and their local Council, in order to be better equipped to fight them.
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- In 1995, Hackney Council announced that it would privatise Haggerston estate as part of the 'Estate Regeneration Strategy'. The Government was giving money to Councils to give homes to Housing Associations. Eventually, tenants voted for the transfer/privatisation - 59% of an 80% turnout voted yes.
- So Hackney Council thinks that privatisation/'transfer' is a successful policy.
- But it has brought many problems for tenants and residents, on Haggerston and other estates:
- Cuts in the quality of works eg. we were promised aluminium windows that would last 40 years; we got uPVC windows that last only half as long.
- A new landlord has denied tenants access to community meeting rooms.
- Estate cleaners' wages have been cut by up to 40% (we have run a campaign alongside TELCO to put the wages up again, which has been partially successful).
- Site safety problems. A few years ago, a child tragically died on Kingsmead estate. Housing Associations use contractors, which then contract out to sub-contractors.
- The new landlord was given £19,000 per flat to take over ownership. But:
- made decisions without tenant involvement;
- put rents up, and rented out empty homes not to people on the Council waiting list, but to 'key workers'.
- The political context of housing privatisation in Hackney at present is:
- 'gentrification': expensive apartments for commuters replacing public housing and other buildings;
- the Olympics - it may be good to have it in Hackney, but it may not - in other cities which have hosted such events eg. Sydney, local communities have been badly affected;
- the Council's plans for Arms-Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) - elsewhere in the country, these are running out of money to spend on improving homes; and anyway, if they do not get a two-star rating, they do not get the money they need.
- Hackney Council has divided its housing into categories 1, 2, 3 & 4 - where 1 is decent standard; 2 needs one aspect repairing; 3 needs more than one aspect repairing; 4 is unfit and in need of demolition. [Marcon Court is category 4].
- The Council estimates that 10% of Council houses will be demolished.
- Tenants and residents have no right to vote to decide whether we want our homes to be demolished (unlike in the case of transfer).
- Tenants often vote for transfer because the Council has managed estates so badly.
- In many cases of 'gentrification', landlords have prepared for it by systematic disinvestment, allowing housing to fall into a spiral of disrepair.
- Therefore, tenants and residents must campaign now for the Council to carry out repairs.
- The new landlord, Canalside, took the 'best bits' of Haggerston estate, and matched it with another estate where residents supported privatisation. The vote was taken together, rather than separately for each estate, so an overall majority for privatisation could have meant that people/estates were privatised when they did not want to be.
Questions and answers
Q. Is there a possibility that any tenants' vote on the future of Marcon Court could be carried out across the three estates in this scheme (Marcon Court, Alexandra National House, Bridge Marian), rather than estate by estate?
A. Yes. This was done to Haggerston estate, after the Council changed its policy between 1997 and 1998. The Council may try to use the votes of other, less well-organised residents to outnumber the votes of Marcon Court.
Q. What is an ALMO?
A. Arms-Length Management Organisation. It is run by a panel which is often one-third residents; one-third Council; one-third business.
Q. What about leaseholders?
A. On Haggerston estate, the landlord used government money to provide services to leaseholders without charge. But this is very unusual. More usually, leaseholders oppose transfer because they suffer the consequences eg. service charges go up and/or there are big one-off charges. Also, if there is demolition, but no ballot, you are in a very weak negotiating position.
Q. What about private tenants? ie. People who rent from a leaseholder.
A. They don't have any legal right to a say. They should have, as most would like to have a secure tenancy, live there long-term, and pay the same rent as Council tenants.
Q. The Council has definitely let the estate run down - to deliberately make people desperate enough to agree to privatisation. Now they are dragging out the decision-making process, and stalling on carrying out basic repairs, to make residents even more desperate and frustrated. What can we do to make them hurry up?
A. Some ideas:
- In the case of clear health & safety problems, tenants have a statutory right to repair. Get a lawyer to take cases to court, especially for tenants on benefits who may get free legal help. Hackney already has more legal cases of this kind against them than any other London Borough.
- You need to campaign on the doorstep on your estate, but also in the wider community eg. ask shops to put up posters.
- To get '184 works' - ie. communal repairs identified in estate walkabouts - done, you must take part in the Neighbourhood Tenants' and Residents' Panel.
- Organise some protest action eg, a 'repair-in', a media stunt. Involve building trade unions. Invite the press.
- Keep up your good profile in the local press by getting articles written and letters published. Send in photos. Try for national press coverage too.
- Organise a petition - on the estate, but also in the wider community, explaining why it is an issue for everyone.
Q. Should we be concerned that people might vote 'yes' to transfer in a ballot out of apathy and frustration?
A. Yes, but at least with a ballot, you are stronger in negotiations.
Q. How does the issue of Marcon Court affect residents of Aspland estate? [the estate next to it]
- There are shared facilities eg. playground, open spaces, community hall.
- Any demolition or refurbishment works will affect the neighbouring estate in terms of noise, dust, inconvenience etc.
- If the Council gets away with running down, demolishing and/or privatising Marcon Court, then Aspland (and other estates) could be next.
- Many of you will have friends and family on Marcon Court, and friends and family who need a Council flat, which they will not get if the estate is privatised.
- The Council has a policy to increase 'density' ie. the number of people who are housed per square-metre of land. This policy is a threat to people who live in houses rather than blocks of flats.
Q. What is the 'Decent Homes Standard'?
A. The Government has set a target for all public housing to reach a 'decent' standard by 2010. This is a good aspiration, but it is not clear that there will be enough public funding for this, so it may be dependant on privatisation. But we are in a strong position to campaign for public funding, because many trade unions and community groups favour public investment in public housing.
Q. The government aims to reduce the amount of Council-owned housing, doesn't it?
A. Yes.