Emma Reynolds MP guest speaker at UNISON Housing Association Labour Link

This flyer is going out to all members of our branch who choose to pay the Labour Party political levy - the Applied Political Fund (APF).  Emma is the MP for Wolverhampton North East and Labour Shadow Housing Minister.

In the past our Guest speakers at our Labour Link AGM have been previous Housing ministers Jack Dromey MP; Alison Seabeck MP and John Healey MP.

Wolverhampton North East and Shadow Housing Minister, - See more at: http://www.emmareynolds.org.uk/#sthash.7kNbTXEr.dpuf

Wolverhampton North East and Shadow Housing Minister, - See more at: http://www.emmareynolds.org.uk/#sthash.7kNbTXEr.dpuf

Boris THE OMEN: Branch Labour Link report

This was my Annual Report to the UNISON Housing Association Branch as the Labour Link officer

"We had a well attended branch Labour Link meeting at the House of Commons with Shadow Housing minister Alison Seabeck MP as keynote speaker. Next year we will try to get the new shadow Jack Dormey MP to a similar event.

In 2011 branch activists have been out campaigning for Labour. They have taken part in street stalls, telephone and door to door canvassing. We have also taken an active part in the formation of a new London branch of the Labour Housing Group.

The big battle in 2012 will be over the GLA Mayoral elections in May. It is absolutely vital we do all we can
to get rid of Tory Mayor Boris Johnson and elect Ken Livingstone. This will also send a message to the
government to stop and think again about the disastrous economic policies they are following. Below is a message from Ken Livingstone to all members of our branch.

“Each week, I meet too many Londoners struggling on waiting lists, and living in overcrowded or
Unsuitable accommodation, who represent the reality of London’s social housing shortage. The facts show that these are some of the Londoners worst let down by Boris Johnson. The Tory Mayor should be ashamed that on his watch, London has had the biggest decrease in house building in the country, and just 56 affordable homes have been built in the last six months.

Tackling the shortage of homes in the capital and undertaking a large scale programme to build social housing will be one of my priorities if elected next mayor.  

Londoners need a Mayor who is on their side and committed to taking action on the big issues that
matter to them like housing, transport and crime.” Contact http://kenlivingstone.com to volunteer. 


John Gray
(hat tip caption Col. Roi)

#Lab11 Labour Housing Group/Co-op/SERA fringe

After the TULO fringe on Sunday I went with UNISON housing members to the Labour Housing Group meeting which was held jointly with the Co-operative Party and SERA.  It was called "Homes for the Future". It was chaired by Jacky Peacock OBE, Vice Chair LHG; Speakers: Alison Seabeck MP, Shadow Housing Minister and Leonie Cooper, SERA.  We were late but listened to the Q&A.   

Alison mentioned that she was looking into whether Council pension funds could be used to fund new homes.  This is a potentially a sensible idea in my view since we need to invest in so called "alternative assets" such as property and it should be a "safe" long term investment ideally suited to help match pension fund liabilities.  This has been talked about for years and should have legs but I think advisers are cautious about such "direct" investment since the days of Arthur Scargill and the Cowan decision.  I think that times have moved on.  This is not an "ethical" investment issue. 

"Something radical" Housing Policy? Shadow Minister speaks to Branch Labour Link

s.On Wednesday evening the Labour Shadow Minister for Housing, Alison Seabeck MP, was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of

UNISON Housing Association branch Labour Link. This took place in the House of Commons.

UNISON National Officer, Mike Short, spoke first about how some employers (not all) are using the "cuts" as an excuse to attack their own workers while others are trying to invent "creative" reasons to evade their responsibilities under TUPE transfers.  Not only are jobs, pay and conditions under threat but also even union rights to organise and defend their members.  We need to campaign, regionally and nationally, against government policy with local community groups.  Win the argument with the public that we are not to blame for the deficit.

Alison Seabeck is of course a politician but also a widely respected housing expert, unlike her floundering ministerial opponent.  She spoke for 10 minutes then rushed off and voted against the (awful) Tory Coalition "Health and Social Care" Bill before coming back to continue.  The single most interesting thing (amongst many) that she said, in response to a question about what a future Labour Government would do over housing, was once in power, the housing crisis could be simply so profoundly bad that "we may have to do something radical..." and similar to the what was done "after the Second World War" do deal with the crisis. 

Bring on that Labour Government!

There was a lively Q&A with Alison, members bringing up problems in the sector for workers and residents.  I asked a question about low pay and the unacceptable level of top executive pay in our sector, using the example of the strike the previous day by UNISON members in the Scottish Charity "Quarriers" (who are facing up to 23% cuts in wages).  I pointed to research in "The Spirit Level" that unequal societies are destructive for everyone and that the same principle would apply to unequal organisations. Alison was I think genuinely horrified at staff wages being cut.  She also agreed that excessive pay for executives  was wrong and that as a start, all such employers should publish the salaries of everyone in their organisation and this may shame them into doing something about it.  She brought up the example of her own Constituency in Plymouth where the Tory City Council is trying to trying to cut the wages of its workforce and de-recognise UNISON, while its own Chief executive is paid huge amounts of money.

After the meeting, some of us went off to the Red Lion pub in Whitehall to continue to put the housing world to rights, where we met UNISON and TULO activists who had just come back from the candle vigil for the NHS.  (Picture of Alison 5th from left)

Quarriers..."a charity that is going to make the workers children, the poorest children"

YouTube of the rally in Glasgow on Tuesday following the unprecedented strike by UNISON members in Scottish "Charity" Quarriers, who are facing massive cuts to their pay and conditions. Ironically a Charity that was formed 140 years ago to tackle child poverty will now expect its workers to bring up their children on poverty wages.

Last night at the House of Commons, member's of UNISON Housing Association Branch Labour link lobbied the Labour shadow Housing Minister, Alison Seabeck MP on the battle Quarriers members are fighting in order to preserve their livelihoods.

Hat tip to "UnionNews reports from Glasgow as hundreds of UNISON members at one of Scotland's largest social care charities, Quarriers held a day of strike action on 6th September against pay cuts of up to 23%. Campaigners from other unions and anti-cuts groups say Westminster, Holyrood and local government cuts risk damaging services provided by those who care for some of the most vulnerable people".

...the end of the NHS as we know it...

This evening there was a candle vigil outside the House of Commons to draw attention to the potential
destruction of the NHS by this Tory led government. In particular the removal of the private patient cap and the threat of privatisation.

The Health and Social Care Bill was given its 3rd reading and will now go on to the House of Lords. UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis had warned Lib Dem MP's that by voting for this bill they will find their party out of power for a
generation.

"Our candlelight vigil marks the end of the NHS as we know it.

“Despite the denials, this government is throwing the door wide open to private companies, who will cherry pick profitable parts of our NHS, and make a fortune. We know that talks have already taken place with a German firm company about running 10-20 NHS hospitals".

I missed the vigil since by coincidence, I was chairing a meeting of my Branch Labour Link members at the Commons with shadow Labour Housing Minister, Alison Seabeck MP and UNISON National Officer Mike Short (I will post on this meeting later).  She had to dash out of the meeting for 10 minutes in order to go and vote against the Bill.  Afterwards, on the way out at the foot of the stairs from the committee rooms, we passed the statue head of the NHS founder, Aneurin Bevan.   I was reminded once again of his argument that "The NHS will last as long as there are folk with the faith to fight for it".

Alison Seabeck MP to Speak to UNISON Housing Association Branch Labour Link

This should be an interesting meeting.  Housing is the key London issue. An invite has been sent out to all branch levy members inviting them to this meeting. RSPV only.

Alison Seabeck MP: Keynote speaker at UNISON HAB Labour Link 2011

 Shadow Labour Minister Alison Seabeck MP has agreed to be our keynote speaker at the Annual meeting of UNISON Housing Association Labour Link (APF).

This will take place on Wednesday 7 September 2011 at Committee room 5 in the House of Commons - 6pm to 8pm.

We are planning to have other political and UNISON speakers present and encourage members to contribute to the "Refounding Labour" debate, particularly of course on Housing issues. 

Finishing off with a Social in a local Westminster hostelry (venue tbc).

Last year we had a very successful event with then Labour Housing Minster, John Healey MP. 

This year branch members, particularly those in Care and Support are facing massive ideological cuts in services and unprecedented attacks on pensions, terms and conditions.  We must stop the rogue employers who are undercutting decent employers in order to win contracts that put vulnerable residents at risk of abuse. We must protect our residents and ourselves.  We have to campaign against Boris and Cameron and work for a Labour Mayor for London in 2012 and the return of a Labour Government. ASAP.

This meeting is open to all branch members who support the UNISON Labour Link political fund (over a 1,000 members in our branch alone).  This will be by invite and RSVP only.  I will be sending invites out soon but contact me now to reserve a place. (view my profile left)

"Housing Voice" - for Affordable Housing in Britain

On Thursday I went to the Parliamentary launch of Housing Voice the Affordable Homes Alliance
in the Jubilee Room of the House of Commons.

The meeting was hosted by it's Chair - Lord Whitty (2nd right). This cross Party campaign has been formed to raise awareness of the lack of affordable homes across the UK and the need for
urgent government action. Lord Whitty also spoke at last week's UNISON housing fringe.

David Orr, the Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, Shadow Housing Minister Alison Seabeck MP (speaking) , Alison Graham of Child Poverty Action Group, Roger McKenzie, Assistant General Secretary, UNISON and Stephen Gilbert, the Liberal Democrat Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Housing spoke at the launch.

UNISON sponsored the launch and YouGov research which has showed that:-

• 71% of the public do not think the Coalition Government is giving much attention to affordable housing
• For those in private rented accommodation affordable housing is their biggest concern after the economy – 40% compared to 28% for health and 18% for education
• Building more homes for rent would be a very popular policy with 70% support - including a majority of supporters of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or Labour
• Given a list of possible policies, less than half (40%) supported the idea of increasing supply by moving people from their council or housing association homes once their incomes rise above a certain limit
• A massive 18% - almost 1 in 5 – always or often struggle to pay their rent or mortgage

"The Housing Voice campaign aims to become a forum for ideas and a vehicle for action in order to build public awareness and push for urgent Government action to deliver more affordable housing"

So all good stuff. What I found interesting was:- Lib Dem Stephen Gilbert MP recognising that we have 250k new households per year but we are only building 125k new homes per year; Alison Seabeck MP thinks that there are votes to be won in planning but too many MPs think it will lose them votes.

David Orr pointed out that countries such as Finland and Norway plan to build 7 homes per 1,000 population to adequately house their people. This would have meant the equivalent of 420k new homes in the UK. We only built 100k last year - the smallest number since 1923 - when our population was half it is now.

Former Housing officer, now an Assistant General Sectary of UNISON, Roger McKenzie, reminded everyone that we we do live in one of the richest countries on the planet but if people do not have dignity, jobs and homes then life becomes intolerable.

Alison Graham of CPAG pointed out how can children who live in awful housing succeed in education if they smell of damp. (Which as a housing officer I know what she means) Toby Lloyd of Shelter was really pleased that at this launch that there was a wide spread of players and not the usual "housing suspects".

  

Finally, in the Q&A I mentioned that there seems to be a clear connection between countries cited in the debate who have good housing policies for all and are also those countries who are more successful because they are more equal. This would seem to support the arguments put forward in "The Spirit Level" book that societies that are more equal are simply better for everyone - rich and poor.

Update: forgot to add that Alison Seabeck MP had previously agreed to be a guest speaker at a UNISON Housing Association Branch Labour Link meeting, which we now hope will take place early September.

London Labour Housing Group

I was reminded today that I haven't posted fully on the successful launch last month of the London branch of the Labour Housing Group (LHG). 

Steve at the LHG "Red Brick" blog has of course posted an excellent report.  Check out the comments at this post which gives an accurate flavour of this event.

It was (IMO of course) a pretty damn good Labour Movement Family event that drew together the best elements of our movement. Labour Party elected representatives, trade unions and grass roots Party campaigners and members working together and sharing ideas.

It was held at the Grand Committee Room in Westminster Hall and was packed to overflowing.  Standing room only. It was more like a rally than a meeting. 

It was Chaired by Nicky Gavron AM, guest speakers were Ken Livingstone, Karen Buck MP and London UNISON Regional Secretary, Linda Perks.   Labour Shadow Housing Minister, Alison Seabeck MP came in and opened the meeting.

I think that many people present were fairly shocked at how mean, destructive and sheer bloody minded nasty the Condems polices are on Housing. 

Afterward there was a reception sponsored by UNISON London Labour Link in St. Stephen's Tavern which also went down well.  You can see in the collage above Party members of UNISON Housing Association branch with London Assemby member, Murad Qureshi (who use to be a member of our branch). Double click collage to bring up detail.

I think we will all be looking forward to a future LLHG Policy and Campaigning day soon. 

Check out more photos of the event at Facebook here.

Housing matters: Alison Seabeck MP New Labour Shadow Minister

Labourlist "Anyone who campaigned for Labour during this election knows that housing matters. Anyone who spoke to an overcrowded family on a housing estate still waiting for the Decent Homes upgrade, to the twenty-something graduate still living with their parents or the young couple putting off marriage or children until they can afford a home knows housing matters.

I grew up in a Labour home, my dad was a local councillor who led Havering council before spending five years at Westminster. He was dedicated to provision of high-quality social housing and remained involved with housing late into life.

I’m proud to be leading the fight for Labour on one of our key areas. I’ll follow in John Healey’s footsteps in placing housing front and centre when we speak to our local communities and campaigning for the party. I’ll hold the coalition to account and I’ll listen to you when you tell me how the coalition’s policies are affecting your area.

If we get housing right then we build strong, safe, cohesive communities; get housing wrong and it isn’t merely a case of poor housing stock or a shortage of homes, it’s an affront to people’s sense of community, to their sense of justice – you need only look at the way housing was exploited by the BNP in Barking & Dagenham, where I was born, to see not only the consequence of where we get it wrong on housing but where we can rebuild bonds with the community which have broken down and reaffirm our commitment as a party that listens and campaigns for a fair deal on housing.

Too many people thought we weren’t listening on housing and we will need to reflect long and hard on our record; a record of which we can be justifiably proud – even in the depths of recession the Labour government was building tens of thousands of new homes and funding repairs to existing properties and protecting homeowners who feared they could lose their homes; but we must not be afraid of looking carefully and critically at our record and asking, what more could we have done? How will we do better next time? We will listen, we will consult, there will be no sacred cows.

Decent and affordable homes go to the heart of our welfare state and to the heart of our Labour Party. Whereas the Tories let our housing stocks thin out and disappear in the right to buy and let the remaining estates sink into disrepair, we embarked on the most ambitious repairs programme to bring all council homes up to a minimum decent standard and it will be a test of this government’s tenuous commitment to fairness whether or not they commit the remaining funding needed to complete this vital work.

Faced with the immense challenges that we face in housing, we need a government which acts to resolve the problems. Instead, we have a coalition convinced that all it needs to do is hide the evidence or pass the responsibility down to local councils or the voluntary sector. When addressing the high cost of housing caused by low supply their response is to take away people’s ability to pay by cutting housing benefit and to scrap regulations which will mean substantially fewer homes will be built over the next twelve months than if Labour had been in power. We have a housing minister who wants to see more first-time buyers and yet he’s pursuing policies that will see fewer homes built and he’s scrapping Labour’s HomeBuy Direct scheme which helped first-time buyers get a foot on the ladder.

At every turn, the coalition is making the wrong decisions. Cameron says see what they’ve achieved in five months and imagine what they could do in five years. It doesn’t bear thinking about. In housing they have managed to alienate almost every sector within housing and are being taken to court by housing developers

In the 1980s I worked in Roy Hattersley’s office and I know the price of opposition, watching a Tory government chip away at the foundations of a fair and equitable society; I also worked for Nick Raynsford, the former housing minister, when we were in government and I know what we can achieve and why winning the next general election is so important.

I promise I will listen to everything that this party has to say. We will attack this government when they make the wrong decisions on housing but we won’t rush into policy making and we won’t have a knee jerk response to everything but we’ll keep the pressure on the Tories and the Liberals. I’m delighted to be part of a strong shadow CLG team under Caroline Flint and I look forward to hearing from you.