A Statement from SHAC A massive housing crisis is shaking the Spanish state. It sends a clear warning to our own government. The housing emergency will lead to unrest, and it needs a fundamental plan to end the commercialisation of our homes. As soaring costs push Spanish working-class communities to the brink, a powerful mass… Continue reading Lessons from Spain: Organising to Fight the Housing Emergency
By Lindsay Bush The Post Office Horizon Inquiry has done something that tenants and residents rarely see in housing: it has stepped back from thousands of individual experiences and asked whether they were actually signs of a much bigger system failure. The Inquiry did not just investigate faulty computer software. It examined how complaints were… Continue reading Does Housing Need Its Own Horizon-Style Inquiry?
Grenfell United, the group representing the bereaved and survivors, has called on Barnet Group to reverse its appointment of the former housing director of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) at the time of the Grenfell fire. Barnet Group is the council's wholly owned housing company and the appointment has deeply angered survivors… Continue reading Standing With Survivors: SHAC Joins Grenfell United Demand That Barnet Sacks Laura Johnson
By Olivia Virag An Ordinary Question When I moved into my shared ownership home in July 2020, I wasn't looking for a campaign or preparing for a legal dispute. Like most people, I simply wanted a place to call home. At the age of 50, after many years of renting shared accommodation, home ownership had… Continue reading I Thought I Was Just Checking My Service Charges
By SHAC and Lindsay Bush Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP and a cross-party group of MPs have blasted the Government's lack of housing association accountability, writing to the Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook, on the 29th July saying: We strongly believe that residents in housing association (HA) properties across the country are being failed. They are being failed… Continue reading We Can End the Conspiracy of Silence: Join MPs’ Call for Action
By SHAC and Geri Girardi Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) has lost a First Tier Tribunal Case after attempting to recover historic major works costs by raiding the residents' reserve fund. The decision of the First-tier Tribunal raises important questions about how registered social landlords recover the cost of major works from leaseholders. But it also… Continue reading Notting Hill Woes: Residents Win Legal Battle Over Historic Repair Costs
Government's Two-Front Rent Failure Betrays British Tenants Housing Secretary Angela Rayner’s explicit decision to rule out private rent controls, coupled with the government's policy allowing social housing landlords to increase rents above the rate of inflation, represents a coordinated disaster for millions of tenants across England. In a blow to private renters, the Ministry of… Continue reading The Double Squeeze: Government’s Rent Failure
On Friday 10th July, SHAC received fresh communication from the National Audit Office (NAO), for the first time concurring with SHAC that there is a serious gap in regulatory oversight when it comes to service charges paid by councils using Housing Benefit, although they do not agree with all our conclusions. For some tenants, the… Continue reading Service Charge Abuse: Audit Office Validates SHAC Risk Evidence and Campaigners Win Landmark Ruling
By June Atkinson Last year I experienced a retaliatory eviction. It happened when the landlord and rental agency asked me to pay for repairs. It was illegal, but I had little protection because the Welsh Assembly kept the 'no fault evictions' provision when they changed other aspects of housing law in 2016. I wouldn't pay… Continue reading A Pensioner’s Fight Against Housing Injustice
Housing Campaigners Demand Council Action as Corporate Landlord BMR Group Targets More Than 100 Families Tenants on the St James Estate in the London Borough of Southwark are fighting mass evictions and unaffordable rent rises after corporate landlord BMR Group Ltd began trying to force residents from their homes. Campaigners understand that BMR Group plans… Continue reading A Community Under Threat: Southwark Families Fight Mass Evictions
