Laura and her daughter in their ‘temporary’ flat
Nancy Taaffe
Waltham Forest TUSC coordinator
The stories of Sandra and Laura Sharpe sum up the effect of the housing crisis on every generation of working class Londoner.
I first met Sandra in 2013. She’s a disabled woman living in Leytonstone. When the Con-Dems announced the introduction of the ‘bedroom tax’ – cutting the housing benefit of social housing tenants deemed to have too many bedrooms – we sprang into action on Sandra’s estate. We leafleted and called a street meeting one Saturday afternoon which Sandra came to.
The street meeting where Sandra first met TUSC
She told me about her family’s history of fighting to hang on to their homes – she remembers her mum barricading them in against the bailiffs when Sandra was young. That spirit had stuck with her and she was prepared to do the same and refuse to move – she told the local paper “they’ll have to drag me out of my wheelchair”.
Sandra was always prepared to move to a smaller house which was more suitable for her needs, but was desperate not to leave her community and the support network of friends and family it contained. Then the council started threatening her with eviction because of the arrears she’d accrued by refusing to pay the shortfall on her rent created by the bedroom tax.
We’ve been with Sandra from the start and never given up. I’ve gone to the housing office with her numerous times, we’ve organised protests for her and made sure she’s been at meetings where she can challenge local politicians about her situation. Now she’s in a nice new flat close to her old estate and the arrears are not being chased.
I also put her in touch with Wally Kennedy, a TUSC activist in West London. Wally helped get Sandra re-categorised for council tax benefit and now she doesn’t have to pay any for a year.
Sandra on one of the protests outside the housing office
Recently, Sandra introduced me to her daughter Laura. Laura now lives in Ilford, with her four year old daughter. In January 2014 she started a new part time job in Westminster. Her partner was working full time. Because of cuts to her housing benefit, she had fallen into rent arrears on her privately rented home in Walthamstow and was evicted in July. She had to take time off work to take documents to the council and to move house. Because of this time off while still on probation at the new job, Laura was sacked.
Laura said: “even before I lost the job and got evicted we were struggling. My daughter was entitled to 15 hours of free childcare but that wasn’t enough for the hours I was working. I had to find a nursery around the corner from my mum’s. I would drop her at mum’s in the morning, my mum would take her to nursery at 1, pick her up at 4 and then I’d pick her up after work. If it wasn’t for my mum, what would I have done? Even with that help I got myself in debt.”
Laura went to Waltham Forest council who put her into temporary accommodation – which she’s still in eight months later. The rent is £190 a week and the property is managed by letting agents Whitworth’s. The house has a blocked drain, bad mould in the toilet, the toilet leaks, the garden is a mess and the back fence is falling down. Whitworth’s said this would be sorted as soon as Laura and her family moved in but they’re still waiting. The day before I visited, her partner had lost a day’s pay to stay home waiting for a promised visit to carry out work – nobody came.
After contacting the letting agent about the repairs, Laura was told by the council that she’s in rent arrears again – around £400. She told me: “they only told me when I called about something else. If I hadn’t, when would I have been told? It would have just got higher and higher until I definitely couldn’t pay.”
It’s still not clear how the arrears have come about as Laura’s housing benefit was calculated at £190 a week – enough to cover all her rent.
“We’re really struggling, especially with me not working. Out of less than £200 I get a month I pay £100 for council tax. Then there’s gas and electric, and because the place is so cold we were spending £20 a week on gas. We’ve had to borrow money from friends to try and get by. Now the landlord’s put the rent up.
“When I first went to the council they said they could help me get a part rent-part buy place. How’s that going to happen when I don’t have money for a deposit, I’m not working and they don’t accept housing benefit? And I can’t afford to go back to private renting – if I could then I wouldn’t have lost the one bedroom place I had before. We need a council house.”
We need urgent action to provide enough decent, affordable homes for all those who need them. That’s part of what TUSC is fighting for.
Rent Control in Waltham Forest: Vote TUSC 