26th May – Public event for all local private tenants

In oppostition to Government cuts to housing  benefits, we demand…

AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR ALL – BRING RENTS DOWN!

Saturday 26th May, 2pm-4pm
Wood Green Library
Wood Green High Road, N22
Information stalls * Know-your-rights sessions * Discussions about what can be done
Includes refreshments & a small toddlers play area

Calling all private tenants in Haringey

  • Is your rent too high?
  • Do you get enough Housing Benefit – has it been cut?
  • Do you want to see affordable housing for everyone, and rent-reductions (instead of evictions) for those unable to pay?

Come and find out about your rights and what you can do to stand up to your landlord. All private tenants and those wanting to support them are welcome.

Event Leaflet (pdf)

Event supported by Haringey Housing Action Group, Haringey Solidarity Group, Day-Mer, Haringey Federation of Residents Associations, Haringey Alliance for Public Services, Haringey Defend Council Housing, The National Private Tenants Organisation

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This special public event has been organised in response to the shocking Government-driven cuts to the housing benefits of thousands of Haringey private tenants (especially hitting people under-35, those with large families, and those in anything but the cheapest 30% of local available tenancies).**

Unless landlords can be forced to lower their rents then these people and their families face eviction and possibly inability to afford anywhere in the borough.

Some of the key questions we aim to discuss at the event are….

  • How can private tenants get together to support each other, know their rights and find the strength to stand up for themselves?
  • What rights do tenants have if they cant pay / won’t pay high rents?
  • How can we encourage people to support private tenants in defending their homes and their rights to a home, and in opposing evictions?
  • What pressure can be put on landlords, including specific landlords, to get them to lower their rents?
  • What can we learn from past tenants’ struggles and housing rights gained?
  • Could we and should we demand a local maximum-rent level / rent-capping like existed up to the 1980s?
  • Is there a need for a Haringey Private Tenants Organisation or Action Group, like in some other north London boroughs?
  • What should the Council be doing to support such tenants and to provide housing to any made homeless?
  • What can be done in the longer term to campaign for longer tenancies and security of tenure agreements?

On May 3rd there’s an open planning meeting to discuss the organisation of the May 26th event and how to publicise it widely throughout the borough (especially to private tenants). Publicity will include mass leafletting (contact us to let us know how many you need), doing street stalls, involving residents associations, word of mouth, posters, leafletting specific places to reach private tenants affected (eg hostels, CABs, customer centres etc), emails among local networks… please help spread the word!

The next planning meeting is at The Tollgate Pub – Thursday 3rd May, 6.30pm.26 Turnpike Lane, N8 0PS. Please come along if you have some ideas and if you can help organise the event – eg help with publicity beforehand, interpreting at the event itself, donations towards the costs etc. If you dont know us look out for the leaflets on the table in the pub!

Contact: info@haringeyresidents.org   0208 216 9651
Housing info: www.haringeyhousingaction.org.uk  Includes briefings on: ‘Cuts to Housing Benefit – The Facts’, and ‘Non-payment of Rent – Your Rights’

Note:

** The Housing Benefit Cuts

Private Tenants on Local Housing Allowance:

-Tenants will no longer be able to keep up to £15 excess, an average weekly loss of £11 income for around 440,000 low-income households
-LHA rates will now be set at the 30th and not 50th percentile of local rents leaving households even less choice of landlord or area than before
-Maximum LHA rates will also be capped for each property size, further constraining the available private rental market in pricey areas like London
-The 5-bed LHA rate is being abolished meaning families currently renting a 5-bed or larger home will now only receive the 4-bed rate, a huge reduction in benefit that will inevitably force large families into overcrowded housing conditions
-Single people aged 25-34 years old will be downgraded from the 1-bed to the shared-bed rate, hitting around 62,500 people by an average of £41 per week
-From April 2013, LHA rates will no longer be calculated by monthly market rents but will rise annually in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Social housing tenants:

-From April 2013, working age tenants in council or Housing Association housing who are deemed to be living in homes ‘too large for their needs’ will have their HB cut per surplus bedroom – this is likely to hit some 670,000 households by an average of £13 per week, with 70,000 losing more than £20 per week

April 29, 2012  Tags:   Posted in: NEWS