Monthly Archives: April 2021

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Homes for All Manifesto for London Mayoral and GLA elections

Homes for All Manifesto for London Mayoral and GLA elections  

  1. Gentrification is the biggest problem facing Londoners. The Mayor and GLA must lead the fight against gentrification and social cleansing.  
  2. The Mayor and GLA must lead the fight for the eviction ban to be maintained until march 2022, with write-off of arrears accrued during the pandemic until March 2022; and Central government to develop an emergency financial package for tenants and landlords to stop evictions.  
  3. No more funding of estate demolitions. Invest in improvements instead.  
  4. The Mayor to demand adequate fire safety funding from government including cladding replacement and leaseholder protections.  
  5. The Mayor’s housing programme should be 100% council rent with no rent-rigging and no so-called affordable rent homes.  
  6. All private developments to include a minimum of 50% council rent housing or equivalent  
  7. Conversion of all Mayor-funded affordable rent and Mayor’s rent homes back to Social rent.  
  8. The Mayor to lead and support community campaigns to demand adequate council rent housing funding from government, at grant rates that avoid sales of public land, or building unaffordable homes on public land.   
  9. The Mayor to speak out and oppose the government’s Planning White Paper proposals  
  10. The Mayor should revisit the London Plan to ensure that developers build adequate numbers of family sized homes.  
  11. The Mayor must identify and bring back into use all long term empty homes in Greater London.   
  12. All mixed tenure housing schemes to be pepper-potted. No more GLA funding for tenure-segregated schemes.  
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Report: EMPTY HOMES DAY OF ACTION – Saturday 17TH APRIL 2021

We made it happen!

Yes, the empty homes day of action was a great success, with people joining events in Southwark, Newham, Islington, Haringey, Milton Keynes and Harlow. Live streams from some of these events were fed into the online rally, giving it the feel of a live news report, but without the tech capacity or boring conservatism (small c) of the established media. Instead it was punchy, pacey and politically cutting edge, with all the speakers and live streamers giving incisive and detailed analysis with radical, forward looking proposals. Especially loved Jon Glackin from Streets Kitchen, who spoke about homeless people taking over empty buildings, and John Bird pledging support from the Big Issue, and calling us “comrades”. Crucially, this was a solidarity rally, with so many links being made. This bodes well for the next day of action in October.

Special thanks go to all the live streamers. You were the stars of the show!

In the news…

In Islington, activists made the front page of the Islington Tribune and got a solidarity visit from one Jeremy Corbyn! See 2 min Corbyn video here. In Southwark the event at Manor Place was reported in Southwark News, on the front page! And South London Press , which covered the empty homes situation in all south London boroughs. In Newham, the Canning Town event was trailed by the Newham Recorder. Director of Action on Empty Homes and researcher Sam Burgum, and expert on squatting and requisitioning, were interviewed in Socialist Worker. The Suffolk Mercury asked Why are 3,500 homes stood empty in Suffolk? Other reports included the Wirral Globe, the Maldon Standard, and Isle of Wight paper the Island Echo, where ” a staggering 1 in 20 homes are classified as second homes”.

Empty Homes Day of Action Rally n

Watch the Rally on Facebook

Watch the Rally on YouTube

Manor Place Depot, Walworth, Southwark, SE17
Newham, East London
Carpenters Estate Newham, East London
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Islington, North London, Pentonville Prison with Jeremy Corbyn
Pentonville Prison, Islington, North London

More details about the Day of Action here

http://www.axethehousingact.org.uk/uncategorized/empty-homes-day-of-action-saturday-april-17th-2021/

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Early Day Motion Template letter to your MP

Template Letter to MPS

I am writing to ask if you will support the Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled by MP John McDonnell to be published on the members website on Tuesday 13th April. It is:

That this House calls on the Government to allocate time on the floor of the House for a debate on the potential merits of extending the moratorium on evictions in response to the covid-19 outbreak; and further calls on the Government to write off all rent arrears accrued during the covid-19 outbreak until the end of March 2022 or later.

We also ask if you would sign a letter from the national housing campaign Home for All to the Guardian making the same demand – you just need to click this link and sign or we can add you if you can let us know the name, title and organisation you would like to use,

Many thanks

Name

Address

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HOMES FOR ALL UK

NEXT GENERAL MEETING SATURDAY 10th APRIL

H4A zoom meeting Saturday 10th April 11am

Topic: Homes 4 All General Meeting – followed by Filling Empty Homes
Organising Meeting

Time: Apr 10, 2021 11:00 AM London

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82622489588

Meeting ID: 826 2248 9588

Agenda
Evictions campaign and Early Day Motion
Empty Homes Day of Action 17th April – stay on zoom to join organising meeting

Manifesto & Hustings.

Council Rents & benefit Cap


AOB