Workers at homeless charity and housing association St Mungo’s have been told that their Harrow Road Assessment Centre is to be shut down after being sold to luxury private developer Lodha. It is safe to assume that the site will not be used for low cost housing or homelessness services. Lodha proudly boasts of being:
“One of London’s most active prime residential property developers, with £2 billion worth of properties either under development or already completed”.
The sale is a betrayal of St Mungo’s founding values. The charity was launched in 1966 after the television drama Cathy Come Home exposed the brutality of precarious housing and government indifference. It later registered as a housing association.
Initially, Westminster Council had expressed an interest in buying the assessment centre, and promised that it would continue as a homelessness support service. The council has the highest number of rough sleepers of any local authority in the UK. In fact, they were so keen for the service to continue that they even increased their bid from £5.8 million initially to £8.7 million when it was rejected. But when the council was out-bid by Lodha, the St Mungo’s board decided to ditch the organisation’s charitable aims and sell to the highest bidder.
It is not as though the need for homelessness support has declined. As St Mungo’s own annual report for 2023 points out, homelessness in England increased 26% in the previous year. They conclude that this makes their services more precious than ever, yet are willing to shut them down if the price is right. A St Mungo’s worker and Unite the Union member commented:
“This is what the creeping corporatization of our charity looks like. Decisions made in the interests of profit, not workers or clients.”
The latest sale of St Mungo’s property follows a pattern of similar transactions to divest themselves of sites housing vulnerable people. The most notable was the Weston Park site in Crouch End.
Unite the Union Fighting Back at Mungo’s
This is not the first time that workers at St Mungo’s organised through Unite the Union have had to defend the charitable aims of their organisation. More than a decade ago, the union fought a protracted and bitter battle to stop cuts to services and improve pay and conditions for workers. They were ultimately successful, but as recently as 2023, were having to take action again over poor pay and mistreatment.
See more here.
Workers at the assessment centre are concerned that the sale of the Harrow Road centre will place 44 clients at risk of homelessness, and Unite is now considering what action it can take. Union members are clear that the sale of the site to a private developer does not serve the interests of anyone other than Lodha and those who seek to further corporatise the charity. The union has set up a petition and continues to resist Mungo’s leaking social purpose. You can sign their petition demanding that Harrow Road stays out of private hands here.
12 August 2024
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