We’ve written more times than we care to remember about the social cleansing of London as the capital is made into a welcome home for the global super rich and their money while ordinary working class people are pushed out. We were recently alerted to a case which illustrates the personal toll of councils acting like shits and decanting people they don’t want to house right out of the capital. The case concerns Elina who was originally dumped by Newham Council in a block of studio flats in Welwyn Garden City which were simply not fit for purpose. This is her account of the conditions she had to endure: Families are speaking out against social cleansing – https://focuse15.org/2015/12/13/families-are-speaking-out-against-social-cleansing/

Elina was offered accommodation in Pitsea which understandably she accepted in a bid to get away from the horrendous conditions she had to endure in Welwyn Garden City. The problem is that as in Welwyn Garden City, she’s a long way from family, friends and the support network she needs. Elina is not alone – there are many, many people who’ve been turfed out of London by councils who are willing to bend over backwards for the developers but who don’t give a toss about their working class residents. All too often, people booted out of London by councils who want to wash their hands of any responsibility for housing them, are dumped in estates that already have more than their fair share of problems.

The problem is that the local authorities out here are not fully in the loop as to how many properties they could potentially have in their housing portfolios for use as social housing (IF they had the political will which they DON’T!) that are actually owned by housing associations based in London charged with the task of helping to socially cleanse the capital. Even if Basildon Council did know, somehow we doubt they would care as the problem is a) mainly to the south of the great divide known as the A127 b) the Tory Mafia from Billericay and Wickford regard anywhere south of the A127 as a potential development opportunity regardless of the human cost and c) they don’t give a toss about social tenants anyway!

Another problem is that long standing residents are not fully in the loop as to what’s happening with people being decanted from London and effectively ‘dumped’ on their estate. When this happens seemingly out of the blue without any explanation, there are elements on the estates who will regard any newcomers on their turf with hostility and it’s not long before the rumours, verbal and physical harrassment starts. We’re doing our level best to get the truth about what’s happening with social cleansing from London out to people on the estates to counter the crap coming from the divide and rule merchants on the far right. The problem is that with this blog, and pretty much most political blogs, it tends to be a self selecting audience. With the South Essex Stirrer paper, owing to our constrained finances, the print run is in the hundreds rather than the thousands we would like. However, we’re working on a flyer explaining the situation in the plainest terms possible and linking it to the shite conditions that long standing residents have to endure on estates across Basildon.

There are also renegade elements on the estates out here who while they are in the minority, with their persistent anti-social behaviour and utter contempt for any notion of neighbourhood solidarity and cohesion they can drag an entire neighbourhood down with them if their actions remain unchallenged. It’s scum like these who glean the vibes coming from the divide and rule merchants and use that as a justification to harass and bully anyone they regard as ‘different’ or an ‘outsider’. It’s this element who have targeted Elina among a number of other residents in the area. Suffice to say, solutions to isolate and deal with the renegades are being looked into: How do we deal with the wreckers? – https://southessexstirrer.wordpress.com/2017/03/30/how-do-we-deal-with-the-wreckers/

In Elina’s case, the property in Pitsea she’s housed in is owned by the Stratford based Local Space Housing Association – http://www.localspace.co.uk/ – who have close links with Newham Council. At the time of writing, we suspect that Local Space own considerably more than one property not only in Basildon but across the rest of southern Essex. We also suspect that a fair number of other London based housing associations with dodgy links to councils with a penchant for social cleansing own a considerable number of properties across southern Essex.

If you have clicked the link to the Local Space website, here’s a content warning…it’s bullshit! These housing associations do the bidding of the London councils who are in effect their masters and to help them implement their agenda of social cleansing and removing so called ‘difficult’ tenants as far away from their original neighbourhoods in the capital as they can get away with. Their definition of ‘difficult’ is anyone who has the nerve to question the way they operate and the way they come to decisions about decanting people from the capital. In Elina’s case, it’s because she’s a housing activist with Focus E15 that Local Space and Newham Council don’t want her moving back. So, it could be said that Elina is on the receiving end of a political vendetta from these two because she had the temerity to challenge them.

We’re all in favour of residents and tenants who reject the bullshit that spews from the mouths of local authorities and the housing associations who do their bidding and instead, stand up to them demanding justice and respect. As mentioned in our previous post: Notice to Basildon Council – FFS, listen to your tenants! – https://southessexstirrer.wordpress.com/2017/06/18/notice-to-basildon-council-ffs-listen-to-your-tenants/ we’re putting Basildon Council on notice that we’re intensifying our scrutiny of them. It doesn’t matter if it’s people displaced from Newham putting their council under the cosh for what they’ve done to them or Basildon & Southend Housing Action piling the pressure on Basildon Council, as far as we’re concerned it’s one fight for decent, secure housing for all!