{"id":9605,"date":"2016-08-23T16:25:16","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T15:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=9605"},"modified":"2016-08-23T16:25:16","modified_gmt":"2016-08-23T15:25:16","slug":"housing-crisis-in-ramsgate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=9605","title":{"rendered":"Housing crisis in Ramsgate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Unite Community \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Housing Crisis Roadshow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 reached the seaside town of Ramsgate yesterday, where local people said unaffordable house prices and a shortage of social housing has left them unable to find a secure home and the possibility of eviction and even homelessness looming over them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Samantha, 26, is a single mother who was recently relocated from a hostel in Thurrock to a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098mother and baby\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 facility in Ramsgate. The council have now told her that she will need to live here for three years before she can apply for a council home for herself.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy daughter is two years old and the council has moved us at least six times since she was born,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Samantha says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s horrible way to live. I have to share a bed with my daughter because there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough room for her to have her own in the place where we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re staying, and this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to get better for at least three more years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s encouraging to see Unite Community campaigning for us like this. I hope that it helps to give our government a wake-up call,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pressure <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Samantha is not alone \u00e2\u20ac\u201c other parents in Ramsgate are also feeling the pressure of the housing crisis.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lucia, 45, is desperately concerned about what will happen when her 17-year-old son decides to move out and the bedroom tax is placed on her property.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen I was my son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s age it was an exciting and wonderful thing for my family and I when I was ready to fly the nest and start my independent life,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Lucia says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut for my son, this is tainted by the worry of what will happen to our house, and what will happen to me, because I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be able to afford to pay the Bedroom Tax once his old room is empty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo do I have to tell me son to never leave home? It seems in this country some people are seen as worth having a promising future, and others simply aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Roadshow took place on Ramsgate high street yesterday (August 22), where local people had the chance to talk to the Unite Community south east team about how the crisis is felt in their town, and vote on the issue most concerning them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in Ramsgate, unaffordable housing received the most votes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kelly Tomlinson, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s south east community coordinator says that it is unsurprising this had the most votes, as house prices in the south east are in some places 20 times higher than the average wage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHouse prices are unaffordable for average families and renting is sky-rocketing,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kelly said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is a lack of affordable housing and local authorities are not building new council houses to provide the homes that are desperately needed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite wants to get the general public aware of the myriad issues relating to housing and encourage them to work with the union to campaign for homes for all.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Married couple Phil and Christine live in housing association accommodation because the high cost of housing made home-ownership an impossibility.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt would be great to have a place of our own,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Phil said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTo walk through the front door and know that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ours, but the way things are, this just isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t an option. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll keep playing the lottery and maybe one day we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be lucky.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Karen Constantine (pictured), Labour councillor for Newington ward, also attended. She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe do not have enough housing here, so we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re seeing many people in dire need, living on a knife edge not knowing where they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to live. It breaks your heart to see hard-working families going through this.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnything we can do to unite communities and raise awareness of unmet needs in local populations is a good thing. It really concerns me that some people blame those who most need our sympathy and support.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDifferent groups in society have got to come together to support each other through this crisis, because it affects everyone now.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The month-long roadshow will reach Crawley on Wednesday (August 24) before continuing through the south east.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To find out more, including how you can get involved and when the show will be stopping in your town, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

@Unite_Community <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Unite Community \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Housing Crisis Roadshow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 reached the seaside town of Ramsgate yesterday, where local people said unaffordable house prices and a shortage of social housing has left them unable to find a secure home and the possibility of eviction and even homelessness looming over them.   Samantha, 26, is a single mother who was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[109,76,131,232],"wps_subtitle":"The south east has housing pain too","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9605"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9607,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9605\/revisions\/9607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}