Saints Drive walkabout

Picture college from a recent Saturday morning walkabout in the small, low rise Newham Council estate in Manor Park called Saints Drive. I met local residents, ward Councillors(Cllr Daward and Cllr Patel) and the new (and very pro active) LBN Housing Liaison officer for the ward.

Some agreed outcomes from the walkabout included getting overgrown foliage to be cut back to improve light and discourage Anti social behaviour; blocked/inadequate drains reported; faulty and/or inadequate communal lighting; trip hazards; fly tips; inadequate sweeping; cleaning external windows; Communal repairs; removal of abandoned vehicles (this is a complicated process but can be done. Extending Controlled Parking Zones to housing owned land is a much better way of dealing with this problem); possible gating of alley ways and improved signage including details of contacting local Councillors and relevant Housing officers.

Cllr James Beckles, Cabinet member for Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour also did an inspection of the area later that morning.

I am really pleased that the new team of Newham Housing Liaison officers are tasked to jointly inspect with local Councillors and residents all their patch low rise blocks every 3 months and high rises every month. 

UNISON NDC19 Collage

Some random pictures from the latter part of conference. 

You cannot escape UNISON good stuff!

After 4 days of full on #undc19 unison conference, I stop off on way home to #Smoke at #CannockChase #AONB to walk in countryside and enjoy some non union R&R, but what is the 1st thing I come across on a bench!

Well done to the Staffordshire branch for fantastic @UNISON_HS #WorkersMemoral dedication. I will post again on a beautiful walk in a lovely part of the world.

UNISON newly elected Presidential team 2019/2020

Congratulations to Josie Bird from @NorthernUNISON elected @unisontweets President. Sian Stockham @sian_aber elected Senior Vice President and @JamesAnthonyRN elected Junior Vice President. Great team! #UNISON #NEC #UNDC19.

The team were all elected with overwhelming majorities by the newly elected UNISON NEC. Josie was 37 to 23 which is a decisive result.

I am so, so pleased we have such a strong team elected to represent our union which is clearly supported by our lay member NEC.

It was sad to say goodbye to my NEC colleagues (from all sides of the political spectrum) who were not re-elected or were retiring. 

UNISON Local Service Champions

"Local government workers are there for us through every stage of our lives. From birth, through our youth and adulthood, to old age..."

UNISON NDC19: Composite E - The Housing Crisis

This is the speech I gave yesterday afternoon. The debate continues this morning.

"Conference, John Gray, speaking on behalf of the NEC in favour of this composite which quite rightly highlights that the housing crisis is not only the lack of housing - it is also all about the money. The truth of the matter is housing is simply unaffordable for the many and this is blighting the lives of our members and their families.

Our members need truly affordable homes near their places of work but often they are forced into homes that are beyond their reach in the private rented sector since they cannot afford to buy and cannot get a social tenancy.

And while the crisis is much worse in the private rented sector, it is also in the social rented sector.

A new report by the Affordable Housing Commission says that 1.3m households are in unaffordable housing in the social rented sector.

This is mainly due to cuts and caps on basic welfare benefits and the rise in Tory defined “affordable” homes that are up to 80% of market rents. In my part of East London, some housing associations are charging £1100 per month for a 2 bed flat

The government continues to define affordability based on private market rates, which has no link to what our members actually earn. That is why we need a new definition of affordable housing that reflects what people earn and what they can afford.

Conference, this year marks the 100 year anniversary of council housing! A hundred years ago councils were given a duty to build homes “fit for heroes” to solve the housing shortage.

At the time councils were supported with land and government funding – and they went on to build over a million homes!

A hundred years later we face another desperate housing crisis, and councils – alongside housing associations - need to be given a new national duty to build new quality homes at scale and quickly.

Just like 100 years ago, the government must support councils with more money to return to their historic role of building homes. Remember, someone has to provide the difference between what people can really afford and the private market provide. If you have no subsidy, you have no truly affordable housing.

Remember, also, that for the first 18 years of my life governments of all political colours use to compete on who could build the most council homes and who can provide the cheapest rents.

Finally, Conference, Why is it in this country that we only build affordable homes after wars? If we can build homes in 1919 after the end of World War 1 and then do the same again in 1945, we can build homes now. Please support this composite

UNISON National Delegate Conference 2019: Day 1

I arrived in Liverpool yesterday afternoon in time for the Greater London delegation meeting. Some of us then went for a meal at a local spoons. I was back in the hotel for 8.30 pm to catch up on emails and speech writing.

Up early for a slow jog along the Mersey then arrived slightly late for the first 8.30am NEC meeting.

Conference itself started with us showing our respect for members who have passed away during the previous 12 months. Then standing order committee reports and questions; UNISON annual report and financial statements.

Now listening to our President,  Gordon Mckay give a typically funny but passionate speech to Conference on his year in office. 

Kent Street ASB, Cleaning & Parking Walkabout

Last Wednesday I took part in a "Walkabout" in Kent Street, Plaistow South ward, West Ham with local Councillors, residents and our new ward based housing officers. There are a lot of problems with Anti-social behaviour, parking, communal disrepair and cleaning.

I am really pleased with the approach of the new Housing officer's liaison team. They are tasked with inspecting all tall tower blocks with local Councillors and residents every month and low rise blocks every 3 months. There were a number of actions agreed to tackle the problems we found.  Some more easy than others.

We are also introducing controlled parking zones on all housing estate land and car parks (subject to consultation) which will help stop its misuse by non residents.

"Murder graph shows how London killings compare to US cities" - the hypocrisy and cant of President Trump

The level of deaths from knife and gun crime in London and other major UK cities is simply unacceptable and we must do everything possible to reduce it. This of course includes reversing the 20, 000 Tory cuts in Police numbers and the 23% cut in police civilian staff.

However, hat tip to the Metro for the above chart which shows the hypocrisy and cant of recent attacks by President Trump against London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. 

US Cities murder rates are staggeringly high compared to London. Unbelievably high. New York is twice the rate of London, Washington is over 10 times as high and St Louis has a gut wrenching 64.9 murders per 100,000 citizens compared to London's 1.5.

My nephew is currently living in Chicago which is about 17 times more dangerous than living in London.

Will Trump be calling for all his US city Civic leaders to resign (followed hopefully by himself)? I will not hold my breath. 

The Great Housing Housing Rip-Off! - When will you be able to buy a home

UNISON have produced here an online calculator (called appropriately https://housingripoff.org/) about how long it would take you to save enough money to buy a home up and down the country.

We bought a flat in Newham in 1989 for £55,000 (just before the housing crash but that is another story) with a 100% mortgage. Nowadays, you cannot get a 100% mortgage but for anyone who is on my substantive salary as a Housing officer (which is significantly above the average wage in Newham) it would take 20.8 years to save enough for a deposit to buy an average home in Newham.

What a scam.