Plea over homes improvements deadlock

FED-UP housing campaigners have told Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott: “Stop playing games with our homes.”
In an open letter to Mr Prescott, council tenants have told him to honour a pledge made at the Labour Party conference to review how badly-needed improvements to Camden’s 33,000 council homes will be funded.
The government has kept £283 million under lock and key since Camden’s tenants voted against shifting control of homes to a new board, known as an Arms-Length Management Organisation (Almo), at the start of the year.
As a result, Camden Council is short of the money needed to bring its housing stock up to national standards by a Whitehall deadline of 2010.
At the Labour Party conference in September Mr Prescott pledged to create a “level playing field for council housing” and to carry out a review into funding options such as stock transfer and private finance initiative (PFI) schemes which have so far proved unpopular in Camden.
But he has since written to rebel MPs insisting the review will not take place because delegates forced through a motion on housing which saw ministers beaten in an embarrassing eight-to-one conference vote.
The hard-hitting letter, drawn up by several Labour Town Hall backbenchers and pressure group Defend Council Housing (DCH), is supported by councillors from all parties.
It says: “Government ministers put a lot of emphasis on choice in public services. Denying council tenants the right to choose to remain council tenants and get improvements to homes clearly fails this test. We urge you to stand by your commitment. This is not a procedural game – a promise is a promise.”
DCH organiser Alan Walter, who lives on the Peckwater Estate in Kentish Town, said: “You just can’t have the Deputy Prime Minister making a promise one day and then trying to go back on it a week later.
“This isn’t a game. Six million people living in council homes expect John Prescott to deliver on his promise. We want the council to carry out the improvements.”
Surprisingly, a new survey ordered by the council shows Camden tenants are more likely to blame the Town Hall’s housing department rather than the government for the delay over improvements.
The MORI poll of 1,000 tenants also shows that large numbers of residents do not feel they will be affected by the outcome of the deadlocked talks, which have now entered their 11th month, however they turn out.
Three-quarters of tenants said they were satisfied with their homes the way they were. Other results placed safety on Camden’s estates as a key priority for tenants.
Housing chief Councillor Raj Chada said: “The message we are getting clearly is that tenants are worried about community safety.”
The Town Hall is now setting up a forum, the Strategic Housing Group, to gather tenants’ and leaseholders’ views.
Cllr Chada added: “Camden Council is committed to doing what we can to improve the prospects of council homes while we negotiate with the government for proper investment.
“The MORI poll tells us some really encouraging news about how highly tenants rate their council properties. However, we have to take a long-term view and we know that, without proper investment now, the state of housing in Camden will only deteriorate in the long-term.”
As the council is starved of cash to begin its improvements programme, Cllr Chada admitted only critical areas were being considered.