CIRCLE HOUSINGS PLAN FOR THE GENTRIFICATION AND SOCIAL CLEANSING OF MITCHAM EASTFIELDS There’s no place like home and soon, if Circle Housing has its way, Eastfields won’t be home to working class people anymore. What they appear to be planning is the demolition of our homes, the gentrification of our area and the social cleansing of our community. Eastfields Estate is an established, diverse community made up of tenants, leaseholders and freeholders. Each group can expect to be forced out of the area if Circle Housings plans come to fruition. TENANTS FORCED OUT THROUGH ROCKETTING RENTS It appears that Circle Housing plan to move from charging rents to tenants at the ’general needs’ level (which is calculated at 40% of market value) to the ‘affordable housing’ level which is set at 80% of market value. Given that the value of properties on the gentrified development will rise massively, so too will corresponding rents, making them unaffordable for ordinary people. For homeowners too, the punishing increase in service charges could make remaining on Eastfields impossible. TENANTS FORCED OUT THROUGH ‘UNAVAILABILITY OF SUITABLE ACCOMMODATION’ In addition to failing to consult Eastfields residents about regeneration, Circle Housing has failed to carry out a demographic survey. They have been shrewd in PR terms by mentioning overcrowding but fail to mention that they are not building new homes for the Eastfields residents currently experiencing overcrowding. How could they? They don’t have a clue who they are, how many there are or what their housing needs are because they haven’t conducted a demographic survey. Why not? Because social housing is a mere fig leaf to conceal the vast profits to be made by Circle Housing and its private partners from the new builds on the gentrified development. As long as CHMP provide the same number of homes described as ‘social housing’; job done. They don’t care who gets shoved in, just as they are unconcerned about what happens to those that they are forcing out. The trick is to get tenants into decant properties first. Once out of Eastfields and once the new builds are done, allocation to social housing will be based on council priorities. So for example, two pensioners living in a three bedroom house on Eastfields, who have raised their children and watched them fly the nest, will be told (once they are decanted) that their ‘housing need’ has changed and that they are now only eligible for a one bedroom property. They can then be told that due to the shortage of one bedroom properties on the gentrified development that they are not a priority to be allocated one. Circle Housing can then feign sympathy and say it’s not their fault but that of Merton’s Housing Allocation policy. Similarly a family currently living in a two bedroom flat with four children are likely to be informed (whilst decanted) that, due to high demand, there are no suitable three or four and bedroom properties within the new middle class settlement to bring them back to. Once again Circle Housing can try to shift the blame onto the council, but seeing how they are designing properties with architects right now, without a clue about the specific needs of current residents, it is clear for all to see that they are unconcerned about homes for Eastfields current tenants. HOMEOWNERS FORCED OUT Circle Housing’s plan to pay leaseholders and freeholders market value + 10% home loss payment (the 10% is the legal minimum, not a generous CHMP favour as they have hinted) will ensure that working class homeowners are socially cleansed not just from Mitcham but from London. Eastfields Residents who own their homes will not be able to remain in Mitcham in like-for-like sized properties if Circle Housing force them to sell. For example, a freeholder with a family in a 3 bedroom house with a garage, currently living on Eastfields Estate can expect to be bought out by Circle Housing for about £225,000. An equivalent property in Mitcham is worth about £375,000. On the gentrified development an equivalent house (built on the grave of the freeholders current home) could be worth £450,000. In order to remain in the Borough of Merton, the freeholder will be forced to dramatically lower their standard of living by descending into overcrowding in a two bedroom dwelling. To return to the gentrified development, the Freeholder would face a new crippling mortgage or have to share their equity with the organisation that forced them out in the first place. To maintain their standard of living and to continue to have a three bedroom family home, the Freeholder would be forced to uproot their children from school, sever ties with neighbours and friends and move out of London completely. Another example is that of a widowed, lease holding pensioner in a one bedroom flat. Mortgage free at the moment, Circle Housing could be expected to pay them around £150,000. Their world will collapse as they will not be able to get a property of that size in this area for that price. They will not be able to get a new mortgage either because they have retired. They will be forced to leave South East England completely if they wish to remain mortgage free. Their only alternative will be to except the humiliation of having to pay rent to the company who forced them out of their home, socially cleansed their friends and gentrified their community. THE ABSENCE OF CONSULTATION MAKES PERFECT SENSE. Circle Housings complete lack of consultation in 2013 makes sense when seen through the prism of gentrification. Why consult a community they want to drive out? Why talk to residents they want to displace? Why seek the opinions of a working class estate when they plan to replace us with a middle class settlement? CHMPs couldn’t-care-less attitude towards consulting the hard working people of Eastfields was evident at the most recent design workshop. At short notice, the times and location were changed, which led to residents, a local councillor and (embarrassingly for Circle Housing) even an ITRA having to phone the Eastfields Residents Association to find out where to go and when. The gentrification of Eastfields is a non-starter. ERA is determined that there will either be an equitable regeneration for the benefit of all or it won’t go ahead at all. The social cleansing of London’s working class through the compound impact of gentrification, rent rises, housing benefit caps, the bedroom tax and straight forward demolition is a live political issue. So to is fat cat pay, unaccountability, localism and bullying. We believe that Mitcham Eastfields represents a microcosm and a study in progress of gentrification and the social cleansing of ordinary, hard working Londoners. It also provides an up close and personal example of how a fat cat run organisation, paid millions by the tax payer, can ride roughshod over tax payers and the degree to which a local authority is prepared to stand up for the constituents who elected them. ERA is currently working night and day to develop the logistics and infrastructure for a campaign in autumn to make our struggle a national issue. If it continues on its present course, Circle Housing’s gentrification plans will be in tatters as will its reputation. The residents of Eastfields are absolutely clear: these are our homes. This is our community. This is our choice. This is an issue of national significance and if Circle Housing proceeds with its plan to amass a fortune at our expense, we will ensure that the whole nation knows about it.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 09:52:42 +0000
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