Forum Topic

Ealing Housing Shame

Have you seen this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnjVUDR8PTA. GB news reporting on Ealing residents forced to live in containers, unfit for human habitation. Council leader Mason says Ealing is committed to changing this situation but it will take time. How much time? How long does it take to ensure residents have hot water? How long does it take to ensure raw sewage is not an issue? How long does it take to ensure that such accommodation is safe for children and not plagued by drug-dealers? There's an awful lot Mason needs to do NOW!

vincent paul wrigley ● 227d27 Comments

Ealing Council Liebore, such a shining example of truly caring "Socialism" at work......... 🤣

Rosco White ● 202d

.....and all since they unilaterally decided to end charitable status.And green lighted with the help of a few London Councils and a peculiar view taken by the Charity Commission. 

Raymond Havelock ● 202d

“We have a social purpose” trumpets A2Dominion’s website. “We put 100% of our profits back into building new homes and services.”It’s unlikely there is very much left for building new homes and services by the time A2Dominion’s fat cats have trousered their eye-wateringly high salaries. To put this in context, 58 people at A2Dominion are paid more than £100,000 a year, with six of them taking more than £200,000.Bear in mind all of this is being paid for out of rents – and those rents are paid by some of the poorest people in our community. 

David Marshall ● 202d

A2 Dominion again!  The links between them and council officials past and present both elected and in prominent senior positions, really ought to be closely investigated.

Raymond Havelock ● 202d

You are so right! What’s happened is truly disgraceful! So much so I seriously wonder whether Ealing Council should/could be charged with human rights violations!

Pat McNair ● 213d

It is patently obvious that LBE under Liebour has a Political Agenda, and sod the residents. You know, we who pay the taxes.Why concentrate on and provide effective and efficient basic Council Services when you can perform grand postures with Virtue Signalling and other carp that is FA to do with running a Council.How many residents for instance are aware of LBE becoming a "Borough of Sanctuary"?

Rosco White ● 216d

Ealing should he leading NOT simply rolling over every time a developer says "jump". Imagine what it would be like if the lacklustre councillors and officers had actually produced the legally required area planning documents on time rather than ignoring their responsibility to taxpayers.

N V Brooks ● 217d

The LibDems say that the wrong housing is being built in the wrong places BECAUSE of housing targets and because there is too much developer-led development.

Philippa Bond ● 217d

Council Liebour Lemmings don't want to know all that, I think it's called "An Uncomfortable Truth"?  😆

Rosco White ● 217d

Oh Philippa, shame you didn't read, or chose to ignore Simon's posts. Ealing could have mandated a percentage of social housing in any new development as part of their authority monitoring reports. They chose not to publish these for five years while "Three Homes" Bell lead the Council. This allowed developers to put in schemes with little or no social housing element, it hamstrung planners and planning committees and allowed outrageous schemes to be passed for a pittance of an Infrastructure Levy (formerly Section 106) payment.Your beloved Ealing Labour Party is also servicing a £400 MILLION loan to build social housing with very few starts to show for it. So congratulations to you Philippa and your fellow lemmings for you continued blinkered support of a local party that has, in effect, mortgaged our grandchildrens' future by playing property developer when, had they actually done their job properly, could simply be actively monitoring successful projects rather than being shafted by any chancer who sees Ealing as an easy touch.

N V Brooks ● 218d

Shame you can't post anything constructive Rosco.Did you actually listen to the More or Less programme - the link to which I posted?  If you did you might understand why Councils are trying and have trouble in providing social housing.  The amount of social housing available has increasing declined because of Margaret Thatcher's Right to Buy policy. Then you wonder why or complain that the developers who are having regulations loosened by Govt are trying to create as many dwellings as possible - but they are not social housing as they often wriggle out of that and they are too expensive for many people who need homes to live in.

Philippa Bond ● 218d

Oh Mr Hayes, the Local Liebour Lemmings don't want to know about that, doesn't fit with the swill they are fed........ and swallow. 😉

Rosco White ● 218d

Not sure why posted that link Philippa. Two plus years old and the building of high rise apartments in Ealing continues. John Lewis the latest to get in on the act in West Ealing.LBE are complicit in the slinging up of substandard and largely unaffordable housing due to its negligence in publishing annual authority monitoring reports, despite being required by law. No sanction however, but allowed all appeals against planning refusal to succeed.The acid test of any building project is would those profiting live there themselves.

Simon Hayes ● 219d

http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/default.asp?section=property&page=stats2105.htm

Philippa Bond ● 219d

A lot of buy to let are in a poor state.The difference between affordable and social housing etc and the numbers built:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001qm89

Philippa Bond ● 219d

Funny how containers that are older than these but in private ownership are in reasonably pristine condition, and their inhabitants seem happy living in them.Funny that.

Rosco White ● 221d

The big problem lies with a hatfull of Multiple Landlord and Housing Trusts and the Likes of A2D ( who have an appalling record towards tenants and anti-social tenants. And again poor workmanship, inappropriate solutions and bodge jobs the order of the day. These undermine the vast majority who are diligent but get forced into competing with these corner cutters.As usual the Local Authority or Gov internventions and up as another tier of red tape and charges which inevitably get passed on to the end user. But sadly in our society, we have some appalling people who do not respect other people's property or even public property and too many who cannot manage basic housekeeping.I recall going to a prospective school once and being alarmed at a coughing senior teacher who handled food but worst of all, spoke whilst eating with her mouth open and carpeting anyone near her.  Some example there! Little wonder.So whilst poor landlords need to be eradicated, just who is left to take on irresponsible tenants?  Even a local authority is not a charity with bottomless pockets to keep fixing things and then all those who do look after their home have to endure those who do not.As I said, Sadly we do seem to have a lot of these people in our society and no easy answers if any.

Raymond Havelock ● 222d

No fault evictions.  Wasn't it  an election promise to deal with this?  Complain to your landlord and rather than do the work you may lose your home.  No wonder there are so many poorly maintained buildings and such a need for homes together with the increase in AirBnB type lettings.Michael Gove's new renters bill appears to have hit a snag - there are a lot of landlords amongdt the MPs in Parliamenthttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/buy-to-let/no-fault-eviction-ban-renters-reform-delayed-landlord-mps/

Philippa Bond ● 222d

Many jobs were privatised which meant that there wasn't the enough distance between those doing the work and those doing the checking. The Building Research Establishment was privatised.If you don't employ enough people in the DWP or in Border Control you are not going to be able to control and know who is here and who isn't.In the great push to create as many home owners as possible in the hope and belief that they would then vote for the Tories many regulations were loosened.  More recently there was Boris Johnson announcing that he was going to sell off Housing Association homes just as Margaret Thatcher had sold off council homes and not funded replacements.Here is one of the results:https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/powerless-housing-association-leaseholders-hit-with-unexplained-3-000-service-charge/ar-AA1gyHJu?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=1c91793a8b3a43378ae79f6edfb80a75&ei=36There are still many people who can't sell their homes because they still haven't had remedial work done following the problems shown by the Grenfell tower fire.  That seems to have pretty much dropped off the news.  Grenfell happened despite previous fires and Coroners' Reports. Instead top of the news we now have RAAC which has been known about and ignored for quite a while and there is still asbestos which has been forgotten - so much so - that many working in the buildings don't know/have not been told/have forgotten or don't believe that they could have been put in such danger as it isn't obvious and no action has been taken.  "Leave it undisturbed" being decided as the best option but children are boisterous and teachers' working lives may not take them  into a long enough retirement to meet and enjoy their grandchildren.Where is the necessary investment in so much infrastructure important for the health and well-being - and the morale of a population?  The obsession of wanting everything to pay for itself immediately by turning it into a market doesn't create longterm excellence.  It creates a dog-eat-dog atmosphere.  How much more is being allowed to gradually decline because it is not considered to be one of the services that Councils have by law to provide? Roosevelt's reaction to the depression was to invest in infrastructure.

Philippa Bond ● 223d

It's true that during the Blair era the influx of cheap labour was taken advantage of.But overlooked is the very high standard of skill and competence that those from some former Soviet Countries possessed.Those same people who remain are now only working for the top end of their trades and remain way above average for high quality and reliable service.But the root of poor standards of indigenous craftspeople is the huge cuts and downgrading of respect.Training and proper full apprenticeships were all but wiped out from the mid 1970s onwards and even mores during the Blair years where specialist technical colleges were deprived of funding to the point that hand skills could only be taught from a book.Health and Safety thus  became the only area of focus, not actual skills.To fill quotas the most unsuitable and disruptive young people were placed into courses wholly unstable for them and massively disruptive for those who did want to be there.  That erosion of standards and attitudes made it very hard for anyone to compete when competition arrived in droves.Even those who did work hard and get qualified and could demonstrate good skills and attitude got passed over as employers were given incentives to take those who were not as competent.  All Labour initiatives but the Tories have sat back and let it all continue.It's still going on.

Raymond Havelock ● 223d

That’s through proper channels.What about the 100s/1000s of others, via dubious routes

Peter Yale ● 223d

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-shortage-occupations/skilled-worker-visa-shortage-occupations

Philippa Bond ● 224d

And there's the rub, PC Lefty Liberal Woke Socialists don't do Common Sense.EVERYONE has the best intentions, works incredibly hard, is unquestionably honest, is infinitely reliable, unfailingly trustworthy, and All Those Other Good & Admirable Qualities in Never Ending Abundance!    😂

Rosco White ● 224d

The UK is full.We don’t have room, just basics - housing etc.Deal with our own & the newly arrived, then what.?There’s dinghies crossing as & when, ( the ones we are told of ) where’s the cut off, it’s basic common sense

Peter Yale ● 224d

As ever, a pitch for government replacement from Philippa but a sensible reply from Rosco.Part of the reason for the shortage of local tradesmen is the huge undercutting from eastern Europeans attracted here in the Blair era. Living many to a house, unsurprisingly, they could offer a lower price that British workers who had mortgages to pay etc.

Peter King ● 224d

Well, I'm at an age that when/if Labour get in I will happily stand there as they spray me with money.Because I won't be around to have to pay it back.                    😉

Rosco White ● 224d

There is a tremendous shortage of housing and container housing is in itself not such a terrible thing.  Or so unusual.  However, that doesn't mean that it is good as permanent housing or suits everyone placed in it.But there is much more to a home than the home itself - including the environment around it - and all homes need upkeep and maintenance but there aren't the same number of experienced and competent and qualified workers as we used to have in this country.  Management of workers has declined so it is harder to keep tabs on what people are doing and where they are.  Of course that is cheaper but if something is cheap then you may well have to pay twice to get a job done properly - and the work will still need to be checked. There is drug dealing everywhere - we have had years of austerity - and even Conservative MPs have said that austerity went on for far too long. A lot of the stealing is to feed drug habits and also for gangs.  The courts are crumbling, the prisons are crumbling and there aren't enough  police.  Morale has been at an all time low. Maybe there are more police than there were originally now but the classic response of "we have employed more/nurses/police/teachers/etc etc" is churned out again and again.  But "more" since when?  More money than ever before - before when?  Last week or before the start of austerity?  We are told in Parliament that crime figures are going down - but then we hear that fraud figures are not being included... And as for sewage leaks:https://www.libdems.org.uk/news/article/hundreds-of-sewage-leaks-in-englands-hospitalsWhy are so many people depending on food banks?  Why are the charities having to spend so much time helping people who are struggling?  Why is there a growing difference between rich and poor?https://liveoffgrid.co.uk/galaxy-container-homes/https://www.philspace.co.uk/news/container-life-how-people-are-using-shipping-containers-as-homes/  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/23/they-just-dump-you-here-the-homeless-families-living-in-shipping-containers

Philippa Bond ● 224d