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Council house building in Sussex

October 14th, 2011 · Posted by Skuds in Politics · No Comments · Politics

A little plug for an event that may interest some people. The Crawley Independent Tenants Association is hosting a public meeting as part of the campaign for new council house building.

This meeting is in Friary Hall, Crawley (by the bus station) on October 19th at 7:30pm.

The invited speakers are Norman Baker MP, John McDonnel MP, Henry Smith MP, Bill Randall (Leader of B&H council), Bob Lanzer (Leader of Crawley council), Eileen Short (from Defend Council Housing) and Robin Burnham (Independent Tenants Association)

Worth going if only to see how many of the 7 turn up. I’m guessing at least 5. But it is a serious topic and a topical one. In the Guardian today there is a scary story about unaffordable private rents which backs up all the points made in the flyer for this meeting, except it is even worse. The flyer says that private rents can top £1000 a month, but the Guardian story features a family in Brighton who are paying £1550 a month on rent out of their take-home pay of about £2000.

Of course, £2000 a month means they earn too much for a council house and they are not likely to save up for a 25% deposit with the £500 a month they have for food, clothes, heating, etc. so they are stuck there unless something is done to reduce the demand for private rentals – like building more social housing.

If you can’t make it and want to sign their petition go to http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk and search for Housing crisis! Build council houses.

 

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