Edinburgh Tenants Message to CEC!

Edinburgh tenants 'Doormat' City Chambers

On Monday, 21st of November, tenants from across Edinburgh carried their doormats in protest to the City Chambers on the Royal Mile. On the day that most tenants received their postal ballot papers for the Council’s proposed ‘stock transfer’ of 23,000 council homes, the tenants struck a message that they will not be treated like doormats by the Council, and will reject Council plans to have their homes sold off at a scandalous £899 pounds each to a private company.

The tenant demo came as the City Council and Scottish Executive pushes a ballot for the proposed stock transfer of 23,000 homes from the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) to the City of Edinburgh Housing Association Limited (CEHA).

Johnny Gailey, a participating tenant from Dumbiedykes, and member of Edinburgh Against Stock Transfer (EAST) argued:

“This proposed transfer is nothing but privatization, this is part of a wider New Labour agenda to sell off public assets, but these are our homes, they aren’t just units to be sold off to the highest bidder. We want to show we won’t be trampled on like doormats by the Council and that’s why we’re here today."

The event was enlivened by the appearance of Councillor Sheila Gilmore, CEC's head of housing, and Chair of the CEHA's management board. (Unbelievably, the Council argue that Sheila Gilmore's position as the Head of the selling organisation, CEC, and also the Chair of the buying organisation, CEHA, does not represent a conflict of interest).

Councillor Gilmore was confronted by Leith tenant and member of EAST, Wendy Walton, who asked why all the literature the Council sent out promoting stock transfer made no mention of CEHA being a 'limited' company - yet the ballot paper did. Councillor Gilmore smugly refused to acknowledge that CEHA are a private organisation despite this evidence. Wendy Walton, commented afterwards:

"A similar deceitful tactic was used in Glasgow. They're clearly determined that tenants don't know that this stock transfer would mean privatisation if it goes through."

The tenants were also incensed by the one-sided nature of the Council information leading up to the ballot. Jenni Marrow, a tenant from Pennywell, said:

“The Scottish Executive have spent at least £5 million on propaganda to promote stock transfer but absolutely nothing on the arguments to retain public ownership of Council housing. They’ve refused to listen to tenants throughout the consultation period, yet they keep banging on about ‘tenant participation’ and ‘community ownership’. The truth is they don’t care about tenant opinion. This is top-down management at its worst. We’re calling for all tenants to vote no in the ballot."

Edinburgh Against Stock Transfer (EAST), a campaigning group composed of tenants and housing activists, have become a real thorn in the flesh for the City Council’s PR machine. EAST argue that the council is trying to railroad stock transfer through and have misled tenants on vital matters regarding the transfer.

Luke Henderson from EAST says that CEC are essentially bribing tenants:

“The Council says that if tenants vote yes, the Executive will wipe off £310 million of debt and ‘unlock’ £2 billion pounds of investment. They say this won't happen if transfer doesn't go through. What they don’t say is that if the money is there to wipe off the debt for a private company, it is there for retention and investment in council housing stock as well. They also neglect to mention that £1.3 of the £2billion investment will come from banks with much higher interest rates than at present, and the rest from huge Scottish Executive subsidies - which could just as easily be utilized while retaining council ownership of a vital public asset. It’s a total con, we urge all tenants to vote no."

The EAST campaign is playing to win. They point out that 93 local authorities have rejected stock transfer proposals, including Dundee and Aberdeen. Despite its meagre resources, since the start of the month, the campaign group have managed to get 50,000 leaflets and broadsheets through tenants letterboxes, hosted a score of public meetings, made several hits on the mainstream media, and generally challenged the Council's position that there is only one option - private investment, subsidised by the state - at every turn.

The ballot papers will be collected by December the 15th, and the results will be known before Christmas.

Related

http://www.defendcouncilhousing.co.uk
http://www.citystrolls.com