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| NEWS | BY RICHARD OSLEY |
 Housing Minister Keith Hill, left, with Ian Walker, Camden’s Anti-Social Behaviour Order coordinator on a tour of a King’s Cross council estate yesterday (Wednesday)  Click the picture for a printable copy of the petition |
Mr Hill, on his first visit to Camden since tenants and leaseholders voted overwhelmingly against a plan to transfer control of homes to an Arms-Length Management Organisation (Almo), told the New Journal he favoured meetings with the council instead of residents. He claimed tenants activists had led residents “up the garden path” when they encouraged them to vote against the Almo, which would have seen homes managed by a new board of councillors, tenants and appointees. “We are still committed to getting homes up to the Decent Homes Standard,” said Mr Hill. “The impasse must end but that will not happen by a fourth option. There is no fourth option. We are saying to Camden that they should go back and speak with their tenants and leaseholders.” Whitehall has withheld £283 million earmarked for repairing and upgrading Camden’s housing stock because residents have rejected the three funding options offered by the government – stock transfer, PFI or Almos. Tenants’ leaders have joined MPs and councillors calling for the money, which will fund an extensive programme of improvements, to be supplied in direct investment to Camden Council’s housing department, a high ranked authority in government indicators. Mr Hill, on his first diary date in Camden since the ballot results – which saw 77 per cent of tenants who voted rejecting the Almo – were made public, said: “As a minister I see my role to meet with councils to see how we can move forward rather than meeting with tenants, especially if we are talking about tenants who told people that if they voted no then the government would provide the money anyway. We made it absolutely clear about our strategic options and said that would not be the case.” Referring to campaign group Defend Council Housing (DCH), who spearheaded the anti-Almo campaign in Camden, Mr Hill said: “They have led tenants up the garden path and they need to answer to people.” Mr Hill has already angered residents in Camden by referring to tenants leaders as “communists” and “Trotskyists” and warning Camden that it must consult with tenants who ignored their chance to vote in the referendum. Alan Walter, from DCH, said yesterday (Wednesday) that Mr Hill had already turned down written requests for round-the-table talks with tenants in Camden. He said: “It’s outrageous that a minister can keep going on about promoting tenants’ choice and then talk down to tenants like this. We pay our rents, we have a right to expect that the government invests in council housing. That is what we want and no amount of bullying from Keith Hill is going to persuade us to accept privatisation. We should remind the minister that his office (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) said it puts tenants at the centre of policy making.” Councillor Raj Chada, who was selected as Camden’s new housing boss on Monday night and will be confirmed in the position next month, said tenants’ views had to be heard by government. He said: “Different groups have different roles to play, such as the New Journal with its petition, and all are important to helping get the money.” |
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