Single biggest issue

I was born and raised on a council estate. We knew our homes were safe and that we could stay there for as long as we needed.

Renting used to just be for young people but the way the housing market is now there are families with young children forced to rent and it is not secure.

What’s happening on the New Era estate illustrates the consequences of the housing crisis across the country where greedy landlords are making huge profits at the expense of tenants. A lot of Londoners will be able to relate. I have been hearing many similar stories in my surgeries and I want to be able to tell them about the consequences.

I will be calling on Westbrook to scrap their plans to renovate the estate and hike rents and instead sell to a social landlord. I don’t want to give the residents false hope but I believe people power can make a difference. The New Era residents have the backing of their union, Unite, politicians and Russell Brand and it’s a powerful message.

We have got to educate other Londoners. Many think this doesn’t affect them but the problem is so widespread. If they knew of the uncertainty and the fear that many people are living with day in day out they would want to work towards changing the housing market too.

Bill de Blasio is the Mayor of New York, the most capitalist city in the most capitalist country in the world. Yet he is against this. Where is our Mayor in all of this? Bill de Blasio says there should be a limit on the amount of profit developers are allowed to make. We need the same here.

This is the single biggest issue that politicians and people of my generation must address.

 
We need long term tenancies – a minimum of three years. Rent increases must be in line with inflation. We need protection from rip-off letting agencies. We must build more houses to cope with the demand. Not just affordable houses but to include council houses. Developers must leave half of all estates they build for Londoners. This year 70 per cent of all houses built in London went to foreign buyers.

But tomorrow (December 11), I just want to listen to what the residents have to say. I want to help in any way that I can. I want to show them my respect for their campaign and their hard work. I want to take their story with me and tell it to anybody who thinks housing is not an issue.