The Right to Housing Newsletter (May 2013)

The Right to Housing...................................................................................................................................................................................

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THE RIGHT TO HOUSING NEWSLETTERMAY 2013

Who we are and what we doPPR puts the power of human rights in the hands of those who need it most. We help groups use human rights in practical ways to make real change in their communities. The groups launch campaigns which measure success when change is seen on the ground, not when government and public bodies make a promise. The PPR supported housing group, the Seven Towers Residents Group, have campaigned for years for positive change in the New Lodge flats, and have now branched out to help other residents across North Belfast.

• Successfully campaigning to have many families rehoused from flats into suitable accommodation.• Forcing changes in multimillion pound plans which ignored resident’s needs.• Improving housing conditions including forcing the Housing Executive to deal with sewerage, pigeon waste and unsafe balconies.

• Helping residents’ get compensation

for damages caused by poor housing conditions.• Raising awareness of religious inequality in north Belfast housing and campaigning for housing equality.• In 2012 the United Nations High Commissioners Office recognised the work of the Group as “an example of how people can effectively use indicators to claim their rights.”

Seven Towers New Lodge, Belfast

Where it all started: Seven Towers, New LodgeThe Seven Towers Residents Group has been active in the towers for over 5 years surveying residents on the doors to find out what the problems are and putting pressure on the

Minister for housing – through human rights monitoring, campaigns, actions, and publicity - on a regular basis to hold the Minister, the Department and the NIHE to account.

What residents of the Towers working with PPR have achieved over the years:

More InformationPPR also supports groups campaigning on a wide range of human rights issues such as mental health, employment, welfare, and homelessness.

Go to our website to learn morewww.pprproject.org

You can also contact us via:

Phone - 02890313315Email - [email protected] - bit.ly/16DGkauTwitter - @PPR_Org

And there’s much, much more to do

In 2008 the Housing Executive came up with a plan to spend £7 million to cover the towers in PVC. Our surveys over the years have shown that one of the big problems for residents is heat. Many flats are cold, have draughts, are riddled with damp and mould and have a very poor Economy 7 heating system which costs a fortune and doesn’t heat homes properly. However, using freedom of information legislation we found out that the cladding plan did not even consider these issues and that building experts were concerned about 13 important tests in relation to fire safety, noise and insulation which the Housing Executive had not considered before making their decision to spend £7 million of public money. We began to campaign to ensure any money spent would help residents and not just give the blocks a face lift. We brought petitions to the Housing Executive, signed by residents, and held protests. Every six months we provided the evidence of our survey results to the Minister of Social Development to show what the real problems were in the Towers and how money should be spent. When we brought alternative plans

designed by world renowned health and housing experts to the Minister for Social Development, in 2010 he told us that the residents should ‘be happy with half a loaf rather than no loaf at all’ Eventually the Housing Executive in a meeting in December 2011 told us that insulation had now been included in the proposal and that fire tests would be carried out by the company doing the work. It is now 2013 and there is no sign of the cladding. The contract was awarded in October 2012 to acompany called Piperhill Construction Ltd, in Ballymoney and they had until April 2013 to pass the required tests to make sure the cladding was safe. Even if it goes ahead it will be on a tower by tower basis depending on money, starting with Cú Chulainn house. The cladding, according to the Housing Executive themselves, is about keeping the Towers standing for the next 30 years. It is not about addressing residents’ needs, although they have been forced to consider this now. We still believe that the best way to fix problems in the Towers, is to develop a number of options based on residents’ needs - and let residents decide what is best.

Is your balcony safe and repaired?Using freedom of information laws we uncovered that the HousingExecutive were officially warned in June 2011 of ‘serious concern over the condition of the metal surrounds to the balcony glazing units’ and recommended ‘it would not be unreasonable to stop people from using these balconies in due course.’ As soon as we uncovered this shocking evidence we went on the Nolan show to make people aware. In response, the Housing Executive quickly apologised and scheduled a full test of the balconies across the towers. They promised that any damage would be repaired and that people would be informed of what the full problem was. However following these statements, we waited over a year without any information from the Housing Executive. We submitted another freedom of information request and gained access to a report that many balconies were in fact very badly damaged. We encourage residents to get in touch with the Housing Executive to ask for an explanation and to have yourbalcony repaired if it has not been already.

What ever happened to the ‘cladding’?

“be happy with half a loaf rather than

no loaf at all”

MarisaWhen I joined the Seven Towers Residents Group almost 5 years ago I went along for a cup of tea to be honest. I didn’t really know what to expect. Once there and after hearing the stories of the others and the work they had done it made me realise that people like me could make a difference and could challenge people in positions of power like the Housing Executive. I continued to work on the issues with getting the families out of the towers and then with the monitoring of the dampness and heating. There had already been great work done with getting the pigeon waste cleared up. It was through the help of the STRG that I got moved out of the towers and into the apartments

I now live in - a move I thought was right for me. However, this was not the case. Harborview then became yet another glorified tower block with many of the same problems I had left. At one point in Harbourview, there were over 100 children housed within 52 apartments and not one single play facility! The nearest shop involves having to cross a busy road with no

traffic lights. Over the last year PPR have also been helping some tenants in Harborview with campaigning forbetter housing conditions. Personally, after I sent a letter and done some media which PPR helped me with I have got work done on damp in my flat within a week that I had been waiting over 6 months to be done!Through the work with PPR I have been able to attend hearings regarding housing issues as well as going to the EU to speak about homelessness and the housing issues we have here in north Belfast. I have become more confident. The group have helped me help myself and I now feel able to argue my case with the likes of Clanmil Housing Association and the Housing Executive all thanks to them.”

AngieWhen I eventually moved into Carlisle Parade from the tenth floor of Maeve house in the towers I was very happy because I was finally on a ground floor and my health problems meant I was suffering very badly in the high rise flat. I had been helping campaign for years with the STRG to get better conditions in the flats, including a better heating system which residents are still crying out for today. But no sooner had I moved in than I started to recognise the same old story of the Housing Executive not doing their job properly.

I spoke with other residents and with the support of PPR began collecting their concerns in surveys. We did a freedom of information request and found out that over £20,000 had been spent on maintence and repairs

in our block – most times the same job getting done over and over. We highlighted some of the issues in the press having already raised it with the Housing Executive numerous times.All of this helped build pressure, and where once the Housing Executive denied the problems exist, now they recognise the problems and have replaced the floors, agreed to paint the inside of the buildings, repaint the outside of the building and power hose the ground around the building. Now I hope to work with residents to make sure the Housing Executive keep their promises.

Laura“I lived in Sheridan Street in the New Lodge and had my home wrecked because of a damp problem that was two years old and the Housing Executive failed to fix. The Housing Executive was giving me the run around until I got help from the Seven Towers Group. Through them and PPR I used data protection laws, wrote letters and went to the media to force

the Housing Executive to move on my case. If they aren’t listening to you, you have to fight your corner and PPR can help you do that. (Laura has since been moved to a new house suitable to her family’s needs).”

Residents fighting for their rights

SarahSarah lived in a damp flat in Cú Chulainn house for years with her Son who has asthma: “The Housing Executive was ignoring me. I wasn’t getting the help that I needed until I got in touch with PPR. PPR helped me to fight my case and I was allocated a two bedroom house. I couldn’t be happier all thanks to them.”

Ellen“I tried to contact the Housing Executive on numerous occasions about the dampness and living conditions but was being ignored so I got in contact with PPR and the Seven Towers Residents Group. They helped me write letters and campaign to find out more about what the Housing Executive were doing about my problems. Pretty soon I started getting

replies and it started moving forward. It wasn’t long before I then got an offer of suitable accommodation which I took. Without the help of the group I think I would still be in the same position.” (Shortly following Ellen’s campaign to be moved the Housing Executive put a new roof on Finn House to help tackle the damp and mould problems faced by residents).

NikitaThey ignored me until I got help from PPR and used data protection and went to the papers and embarrassed them and even then they only began to make unacceptable offers. When my mother died they refused to allow

me to stay in her home. I had to write to them again and explain my circumstances and eventually after much work I have been allocated a two bedroom apartment. I don’t think anything would have happened if I had just kept phoning up and not campaigned for myself and others.

ChristineChristine, whose three year old daughter has spent her entire life in Gráinne house hostel, has been campaigning for years to shine a light on families struggles to find a suitable home in north and west Belfast.“What me and other families want is somewhere safe to call home, to settle with our kids close to schools and support. I have been waiting for years being told my area of choice is wrong because it’s high demand. That’s what needs fixed. They need to build and allocate houses where there is high demand and put the people who need them most in them”

Residents fighting for their rights continued...

Everyone is entitled to live in a home that is warm, comfortable and suitable to their needs and the needs of their children. Yet, many people in north Belfast are being failed by the social housing system. With the support of PPR, residents are currently surveying north Belfast for human rights failings. Do you have a problem with poor housing conditions? Have you been waiting for years on the housing waiting list and getting nowhere? Your story is important to us and we can help you use human rights to fight for what you deserve.

Please contact us:Phone - 02890313315Email - [email protected] - bit.ly/16DGkauTwitter - @PPR_Org

Tell us your story...

On the 9 the January 2013 Social Development Minister, Nelson McCausland announced plans to dissolve the Housing Executive and restructure the delivery of social housing. It outlines plans to privatise social housing and most likely lead to higher rents for those in most need. PPR's, Kate Ward, expressed alarm at the Minister's plans for social housingstating:

"The recognised and documented statistical evidence about serious religious inequality in socialhousing, which has attracted the attention of both the United Nations and the European Commission, is not mentioned once in a Strategy which runs to almost sixty pages.""Indeed, that the NI Executive andDSD can show disregard for the findings of these authorities –

findings which should ring alarm bells given the history of civil disturbance here – is an indication of the growing levels of unaccountability and non-evidence based decision making at heart of our government."The principles of equality and objective need must be adhered to. Otherwise, rather than ‘Facing theFuture’, we will be 'Reliving the Past'."

In 2012 North Belfast residents launched the Equality Can’t Wait campaign. In 2008, the Housing Executive’s own calculations showed

that by 2012, 95% of the need for social homes would be in the Catholic community, but the Minister’s plans for Girdwood, launched with cross-party support in June 2012 ignore this need. The Housing Executive’s own plans are crucially failing those in need as well. In September 2012 North Belfast families, many of them single mothers living in the Gráinne house hostel, brought 1000 signatures

from the New Lodge to the Minister for Social Development, Nelson McCausland, asking that houses are built and allocated based on need.They have also produced a video which you can support online at

http://www.pprproject.org/content/equality-cant-wait-film-launched-online

Equality Can’t Wait

What’s the future for the Housing Executive?

“R I P Inez Mc Cormack a great woman who will be sorely missed by all her friends at Seven Towers Residents Group. We loved working with you and knowing you as a person. I hope our group continues to make you proud. If we in any way turn out quarter of the woman and leader you were the world won’t know what hit it. I never met a woman more passionate about her work and helping people. We will miss you dearly. Gone but never ever forgotten.”

Inez Mc Cormack - PPR founder and long term campaigner for the rights of people and communities all over the world died on 21st January 2013.

A final thought for Inezby Róisín KellySeven Towers Residents Group