Private tenants in Islington need a salary of £70,000 per year for a 2-bed flat to be affordable, according to housing charity Shelter – and local Green Party campaigner and European Election candidate for London, Caroline Allen, says it is time for radical action from the government.
In a piece published in the Islington Tribune, Caroline wrote of the difficulties she had personally faced as a tenant in Islington, as well as the outcome of a recent meeting with the newly-established Islington Private Tenants group. At the meeting, Islington tenants were shown to be paying very high rents but also with no proper regulation of landlords or letting agents, and very few rights.
Caroline said: “Housing has long been a problem in Islington. My own family were forced from the Borough 60 years ago when the condition of the then slum tenements of Lonsdale Square left my Gran walking four flights of stairs for running water and the offer of a decent new Council home outside of London was too good to refuse. Leaving family and friends behind though was a real wrench which was never forgotten. But today the problems are acute and there are no shiny new council houses for people to move to.”
On the subject of the meeting, Caroline added: “Some useful proposals were put: for regulation of letting agencies, tackling the worst rogue landlords and at a national level protecting people against massive increases in rents. These are all very worthwhile proposals and the main question has to be why has this taken so long? The fact that anyone can set up a letting agency, with no CRB checks and an ability to charge all sorts of opaque fees is shocking. However, these measures will do little to tackle the main concern raised: the very high level of rents that, along with changes in benefits, are leading to the social cleansing of our Borough.”
She was also highly critical of successive government policies on housing: “Unfortunately successive governments, with arguably the Labour government being the worst, have done all they can to fuel consumer booms through increasing house price. A key plank of this has been a massive promotion of buy-to-let and property has changed from being a home to an investment, where the market trumps all.
We are now seeing where this policy ends, new flats across Islington and London lie empty, owned by overseas investors who don’t see these flats as homes, but just another asset on their balance sheet. Amateur landlords fail to understand what is required of them leaving their tenants at risk.Rents skyrocket and an ‘affordable’ home can cost half a million pounds.
“The situation in Islington clearly shows that the market has failed and it is time for radical intervention as the Green Party proposes. This is very unlikely to happen with the current Mayor and Government, but as angers grows about this situation campaigners must make their voices heard and ask politicians where they stand on the needed changes.
“We need action over the overseas buyers who pay no tax, changes in capital gains tax and stamp duty that favour owner occupiers not investors, we need rent controls and to look at implementing a Land Value Tax. The current housing situation is scarring people’s lives. Rising house prices are not be celebrated when they divide us even further in to the property haves and have nots and drive people from the Borough. I am happy to have returned to my family’s roots. Islington is a diverse Borough, it’s one of the reasons we need urgent action to keep it that way.”
Caroline’s blog can be found here
