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| Council tenant and social housing campaigner Tanya Murat © Paul Coleman, London Intelligence 2015 |
Council
tenant Tanya Murat lives between two of London’s biggest council estates.
Well, only one now, writes Paul Coleman.
The 1,200-council home Heygate Estate at
Elephant and Castle in south London is now demolished.
The Heygate is now primed for
‘regeneration’ - coming in the shape of luxury flats and
with only a smidgeon of replacement social housing equivalent to the lost council
homes.
The 2,704-home Aylesbury Estate could go
the same way – if a ‘regeneration’ partnership between Southwark Council and
Notting Hill Housing gets its way.
“I’m wondering if my home is next for
the wrecking ball,” says Murat.
“I want our council homes in Southwark
to stay and we want more council homes built.”
Crisis
Murat is the recently elected chair of
Southwark Defend Council Housing, organisers of a ‘housing crisis’ meeting at
Walworth Methodist Church on Camberwell Road on 10 February.
Southwark Defend Council is part of a
wider Defend Council Housing organisation that campaigns against council house
demolitions, rising rents, unaffordable house prices, the Bedroom Tax, Benefit
caps, and what it says is a ‘rising tide of evictions’.
Refurbishment
Murat also helped organise the London-wide
March for Homes on Saturday 31 January. “We wanted to give confidence to people
fighting the demolition and redevelopment of their estates,” explains Murat to
about 100 people in the church’s main hall.
“We feel refurbishment is best,” says
Murat.
"We want to keep – and not destroy –
council housing.”
Movement
Following the March for Homes - and
subsequent occupation of emptied ‘decommissioned’ flats on the Aylesbury - Murat
says some people are talking about an emerging ‘housing movement’.
“I’m not sure it is yet, but we’d like
it to be,” says Murat.
“Thousands of people across the country
could demand decent homes for everyone.
“Housing is a human right.
“And we shouldn’t have to pay forty or
fifty per cent of our income for rent.
“And people shouldn’t be chucked out
their home for under-occupying as the Bedroom Tax or Benefit cuts dictate.
“Housing is part of the Welfare State
and should remain so.”
Occupied
Murat explains how the March for Homes
originated in Southwark.
The March for Homes itself consisted of
two marches that converged on the approach to Tower Bridge; one from the
Elephant and Castle in south London with another from Shoreditch in east London.
“We’re very pleased to see that some
young people have occupied some empty flats on the Aylesbury.”
Murat says 1,400 tenants still live –
and claims want to stay – on the Aylesbury.
March
Hence, Southwark Defend Council Housing
is organising a local march on Saturday 14 March to protest against the
demolition of council homes on the Aylesbury Estate and their replacement with
luxury apartments for sale on London’s overheating property market.
“The Aylesbury doesn’t need demolition,”
says Murat.
“The
Aylesbury needs refurbishment.”
© Paul Coleman, London Intelligence, February 2015
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