By Grace Lally, Housing Rebellion
A steady stream of shoppers in Hastings town centre on Saturday stopped to read and take photos of the new ‘Community Notice Board’ with a rather grim theme – the unrelenting misery caused by the housing crisis in the town.
Part of the ‘Rogue’s Gallery’ in Hastings
The hoardings surrounding the former entertainment centre, OWENS, displayed a variety of posters designed by local artists, tenants and campaigners, ranging from pictures of giant bed bugs attacking blocks of flats, to graphics about the landlord economy, and stories about tenants suffering revenge evictions after reporting repairs.
As one local renter commented
So many different posters expressing the different issues of so many tenants in this town but the common theme is neglect and exploitation and wanting control over our housing, whether its a private landlord, temporary accommodation or social housing provider – they are not looking after our housing or us. Can we just fire these shady little monopoly men and do housing proper?”
The action was organised by Housing Rebellion, a direct action campaign linking issues of housing and climate justice.
The owners of the building Moxie Ltd sent security guards on the day to warn people against putting any posters on the hoardings, but in the event they did not intervene when about 30 people took part in putting up the posters.
Poster quoting David Graeber
Local councillor John Cannan who was there supporting one of his constituents, who is currently sleeping in the woods rather than sleep in his bedbug infested Southern Housing flat. Cllr Cannan said “I’m very happy to join with Housing Rebellion today using the new “Community Notice Board” to express our disgust at the Housing situation in Hastings. I hope Southern Housing are watching”.
The security guards ripped down the posters as soon as the campaigners left, including one poster which said “This is a community noticeboard paid for by £400,000 of [Department of] Levelling up government funding”, referring to the large government grants received by the owners of the building, as well as their former tenants OWENS for their short-lived business venture.
A selection of posters from the gallery
Roost and Orbit were two other large landlords in the town named and shamed on the posters, in what was described as a Rogue Landlords Gallery. Roost currently rent hundreds of properties to the local council on a nightly basis at a very high cost to provide temporary accommodation for homeless people. Campaigners argue that if they rented out those same properties at an affordable rate on long term secure tenancies, they could be part of the solution to the homeless crisis rather than seeking to profit from it.
Orbit owns a block of 53 flats near Hastings Station which it has left boarded up and empty for over a year and has no current plans to refurbish.
A Housing Rebellion member who took part in a protest occupation of the empty flats earlier this year said:
We created this Community Notice Board to highlight the real stress and anxiety people are suffering just trying to keep a decent roof over their heads, but events like this are also about creating community and creating a culture of resistance, because the only way for people to challenge rogue landlords is to stand up to them together.”
To contact housing rebellion email housingrebellion@protonmail.com or text 07760 234 851
22 November 2024
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