Branch Secretary : info@housingworkers.org.uk
  

London: first time rough sleepers up 12%

Cost of living crisis

 

A shocking total of 1,614 people in the capital were recorded as sleeping rough for the first time between April and June 2023 by the Combined Homelessness and Information Network ( VIEW

Unsupported Housing Officers under pressure

Survey supports Unite claims

 

Overwhelmed, left without adequate support and training, desperately search for jobs outside the sector – this is the picture VIEW

Labour commit to not spending on home building

Huge profits

 

Rachel Reeves has announced that Labour will not spend public money on building houses. She used the Laura Kuenssber

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Building a political voice to fight the housing crisis

Every week new figures illustrate deepening housing crisis

 

 

As the housing crisis intensifies, how can we fight back? Our branch is campaigning for policies that would make a difference and we engage in

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Rough sleeping figures are up by over a quarter

Cuts and closures

 

Rough sleeping and all forms of homelessness are on the rise. Meanwhile reports are coming in of service closures and cuts. Our branch has repeatedly warned that government policy would lead to a ris

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Mandatory training for housing staff

Return to professional training

 

After years of deregulation of social landlords and the widespread closure of specialist housing courses the government has announced that mandatory qualifications will be introduced for

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Fire Chiefs call for tower block safety measures

No more single staircase blocks

 

After the Grenfell fire we were told it would mark a watershed; there would be change. But change has been slow or non-existent. The bonfire of regulation has not been reversed. Our bra

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Confessions of a hostel worker

How do they pay the rent?

 

 

A recent article on the BBC website caught my imagination as it throws light on how much harder life has

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Successful Support not Deport meeting

Cooperation with the Home Office

 

Our branch hosted a good meeting last week on the Support not Deport campaign. This meeting brought together Unite, Unison and IWGB members. The Public Interest law centre and a ra

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New Home Office guidance puts homeless at risk of deportation

Support not deport Charter

 

New guidance setting out circumstances in which

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Housing day of action - supported by Unite housing workers

Stop evictions! Drop debts!

 

Branch members will join housing campaigners and Tamil Solidarity on Saturday April 17th in a day of action on housing demanding: “Stop the evictions! Drop the debts!”


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Forced deportation of rough sleepers discriminatory

Internal Home Office reports finds discrimination

 

New immigration rules to criminalise and deport rough sleepers may discriminate against ethnic minorities, including Asian women who have survived domestic violence ac

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Legal win in battle for women only refuges for homeless women

Significant cuts

 

We welcome the success of the legal challenge to Camden Council’s practice of accommodating homeless women fleeing abuse in shared hostels with men. The Unite housing workers branch supported PI

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Grenfell: Inquiry is slowly revealing scandal

“Almost everyone” affected by safety crisis.

 

Watching the Grenfell inquiry has been an agonising process for the survivors and bereaved. But it has become clear that fire safety problems are much wider tha

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Put a roof over people’s heads

Unite urges Jenrick to further extend ban on evictions for those renting their homes

 

The UK has some appalling housing inequalities. Overcrowded and unfit accommodation is too common. Millions of people are struggling

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Unite calls for eviction ban extension

Jenrick urged to follow Scotland’s footsteps and extend ban on evictions for renters

 

Thousands of renters are only days away from homelessness unless the government extends the ban on evictions due to end on Mon

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Stop the government deporting homeless people!

Crowdfunding legal challenge

 

Homelessness workers are opposing the disgraceful proposals to deport homeless rough sleepers though their un

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Deportation plans threaten homelessness services

Frontline homelessness workers oppose brutal policy

 

Homelessness workers reacted with anger at proposals to deport rough sleepers.  Vulnerable people sleeping rough often mistrust agencies and are unwilling to en

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Tories reduce winter homeless funding

£1 million less for cold weather shelters

 

The government announced £12 million of additional cold winter funding to support r

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Mass evictions threatened

Cancel rent

 

The threat of eviction has been a major topic of discussion among branch members fearing for their own homes once the eviction ban is lifted and wondering what landlords that they work for will do.

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Unite homelessness workers warn of rough sleeping disaster

Rough sleepers asked to move in with family

 

Housing minister Luke Hall has written to local councils asking them to put in place plans to support rough sleepers as the lockdown restrictions are eased. He suggests that

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People still rough sleeping: Read about it, sign the petition

Two articles on rough sleeping and see below for petition.

 

Homelessness worker and branch secretary Jack Jeffrey writes:

 

Homeless people still not able to access accommodation


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New money “doesn’t repair the damage done by years of austerity”

‘Revolving door’ of housing ministers hinders plans to eradicate rough sleeping

 

The ‘disgraceful’ number of rough sleepers across the country demands a joined

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EU rough sleepers and the NHS

 

This report was originally published by the Public Interest Law Centre. Our branch has been active on the rights of EU rough sleepers and we have consista

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First home discounts: investment in public housing still needed

First home discounts for key workers must be part of a sustainable housing strategy

 

Government plans to give key workers 30 per cent discounts on their first homes must be balanced with a council housing strategy that

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Rough sleepers bin shelter ‘dangerous and offensive'

Unite calls out Millionaire

 

A supposed shelter made of two wheelie bins designed by a multimillionaire to help rough sleepers is ‘dangerous and grossly offensive’, Unite said today.

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Labour declares “moral mission” to end rough sleeping

Impact of austerity

 

Our members working with rough sleepers have a burning awareness of the impact of austerity.  As a branch we have produced material highlighting the impact of VIEW

TheGuardian: Why isnt homelessness election priority? A response

"Britain has a horrific homelessness crisis. Why isn't it an election priority?"

 

This is the headline for an article in todays VIEW

It’s Time to Be Honest about Housing

For decades terms like 'affordable,' 'social,' 'mixed' have been used as cover for market failures in housing - it's time to move on from those schemes and commit to a real solution: council housing. Branch member Glyn Robbins has this in VIEW

Meridian Water: Call for truly affordable council homes

Halt plans for unaffordable homes - build council homes under a Labour government

 

Chance to offer hope to those trapped by Enfield's housing emergency

&

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Firefighters important new report on Grenfell

Fire fighters:  Austerity and privatisation by consecutive governments led to Grenfell

 

An important new report from the Fire Brigade Union (FBU), points to the real causes of the fire at Grenfell Tower.

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Labour homelessness campaign launch

Rotten System

 

Branch members joined the crowd at the launch of the Labour Homelessness campaign last night.  We heard Owen Jones describe homelessness a

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Rough sleeping cuts: agencies should work with Unite

Spending on rough sleeping halved since 2010

 

Spending on single homeless people has more than halved since 2010 while rough sleeping has risen by 165% since 2010.  No one should be surprised that deaths of homeles

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Housing support cuts lead to increased rough sleeping

St Mungo’s report produced in response to government strategy

 

Rough sleeping is on the rise because of austerity and specifically because of cuts in housing services.  Jack Jeffrey, a branch member work

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Winners of the Tarnished Trophies Announced!

The winners of the 2018 Tarnished Trophies have been announced following hundreds of votes from workers, residents and tenants. Top of the leader board for this year were:

  1. VIEW

London assembly questions housing association CEOs

Catalyst boss Rod Cahill fails to impress

 

Management communication with staff was allegedly helped by derecognising trade unions, at least according to Catalyst housing association boss Rod Cahill.  Not surpr

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Unite: lack of progress on cladding disgraceful

Unite calls on members to sign open Grenfell letter to housing minister


 

Unite members are being urged to sign an VIEW

Likely that St Mungos passed on confidential information

“Likely that St Mungos passed on confidential information without permission”

 

Rough sleepers rounded up

 

The Information Commis

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Theresa May: no solution to housing crisis

Housing Association bosses give Theresa May standing ovation

 

Housing association chiefs gave Theresa May a standing ovation for her speech to the National Housing Federation on Wednesday.  There can’t be man

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Housing Green Paper 'pitiful'

No new money

 

 

Faced with public outrage following the deaths at Grenfell tower, a deep housing crisis with unaffordable homes and rising numbers sleeping rough the government promised a “fundament

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Branch meeting - tackling the housing crisis

Branch meeting - all members welcome

 

As well as discussing what is happening in our workplaces including the strike at the VIEW

St Mungos facing legal questions

Lawyers complain to Charity Commission & Information Commissioner

 

Lawyers from the Public Interest Law Unit (Pilu) have lodged a complaint with the Charity Commission and the Information Commissioner’s Office

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Homeless reduction act not funded

Minister: "I dont know why rough sleeper numbers are up"

 

The new Homelessness Reduction Act comes in to force on April 3rd im

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Undercover rough sleeper

ITV Tonight Programme

 

In a TV programme screening tonight Tory MP Adam Holloway spends a week sleeping rough in Lo

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Housing workers contribute to Labour Housing Policy review

Grenfell Tower fire brought home that Britain’s housing system is broken

 

The Unite housing workers branch has responded to Labour’s consultation on social housing policy by calling for a commitment to a mas

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Tory council demonises homeless

Gloucester’s ad campaign shame

 

Our branch organises workers in a number of homelessness agencies and we camapign for decent properly funded homlessness services and against victimisation of the homeless as we

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Axe the Act - Housing Summit Pledges Action!

The second Axe the Act (AtA) Housing Summit took place on the 25th November attended by around 150 activists from housing campaign groups, housing organisations, trade unions, and other labour movement organisations. The meeting opened with speeches from Eileen Short, one of the AtA organisers, h

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Budget – not the ‘game changer’ we need

Eighty per cent of housing budget going to private market

 

Just 2.5% of new homes built last year were social rented. Terrie Alafat, of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), is right to make the point: “So

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Housing workers oppose 'hostile environment' for EU nationals

Judicial Review of the Home Office’s policy of detaining and deporting homeless EU citizens

 

 

Unite housing branch members will join a protest outside the Royal Courts on Justice on Tuesday Novembe

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No more excuses: fit sprinklers now!

Government set face against paying

 

In the immediate aftermath of the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower the go

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Labour and housing after Grenfell

Housing policy rarely been more political

 

After Grenfell, housing policy and what it’s doing to our communities has rarely been more in the political, media or public eye.

 

Housing campa

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Housing association deregulation takes another step

Housing Associations reclassified as private bodies

 

An obscure letter from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) to the treasury signalling its intention to move £63.5bn of housing association debt back off the

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Unite: May's housing commitments fall short

 

Government admits extra £2bn will fund only 5K homes a year



Theresa May’s promise to build “a new generation of council houses” during her speech to the Tory conference on Wednes

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Remove 'pests' outrage

Eviction firm compares tenants to rodents


 

An eviction company has been slammed by Unite after running an advert comparing domestic renters to vermin.

 

The Facebook advert for the Remov

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Branch member Glyn Robbins on Grenfell in the Guardian

Grenfell must be a turning point in housing – for staff and residents

 

Unite has been active in responsing to the terrible events at Grenfell, responding the VIEW

Election issue: Rough sleeping rising

New rough sleepers in London soar by 15%

 

The number of new rough sleepers in London has risen by a shocking 15%; new figures from CHAIN (Combined Homelessness Informati

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HAs' Serial Neglect of Residents and Properties

Housing associations have been guilty of 'serial neglect of residents and properties' according to the Guardian. It highlighted allegations against many of the biggest names in the sector, including Catalyst, Sanctuary, Notting Hill Housing, and One Housing Group. Almost all of these

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Keyworkers Condemn One Housing 40% Rent Hike

Keyworkers including teachers and nurses, all residents of One Housing Group (OHG), have condemned the organisation's threat to raise rents by 40%.

 

Many are deeply concerned that they cannot meet such rent increases, particularly a

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Rough sleeper immigration raids and homelessness charities

Homelessness agencies accused of being complicit in coercive deportations

 

Homelessness agencies including St Mungos are identified as complicit in immigration raids and a process that results in some of London’s

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Leeds Housing Crisis Summit!

Leeds 'Hands Off Our Homes' has called a meeing to discuss the local housing crisis and to develop a campaign for affordable solutions:

 

Campaign Planning Day
10.30am – 3.30pm,
Sat 25th March
Oxford C

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Next Workers and Residents Meeting Scheduled!

Monday 6th March 6.30pm

Faraday House, 48 Old Gloucester St London WC1N

 

 

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HA Workers and Residents Meeting

Axe the Act and the Unite Housing Workers Branch have organised a meeting open to all housing association workers and residents to develop a network for greater campaigning strength. As with public services, to defeat the Housing and Planning Act and the austerity agenda, workers and service user

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The Human Reality of Government Housing Policy

Failure to relate abstract policy to peoples' everyday lives

 

The growing mess around the Housing and Planning Act partly results from a failure to relate VIEW

Axe the housing act - new figures illustrate crisis

43% population in substandard housing

 

Homelessness is rising and by any measure Britain’s housing crisis is getting worse.  Today a new report shows that 43% of VIEW

Butterfields tenants win

 

We will not move

 

Tenants on the Butterfields estate in Walthamstow, east London, have secured a victory against the housing crisis. They collectively said 'we will not move' and they will now b

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Housing crisis roadshow

Only Corbyn has put forth a realistic solution to the present shambles

 

A commitment to build one million homes in five years — half of them to be council homes — and control rents in the private rented sect

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Jeremy Corbyn raises housing in Miners Gala speech

#KeepCorbyn #Axethehousingact

 

Jeremy Corbyn speaking today in Durham “People tell me that Labour will be more appealing when it starts talking about these sorts of things and starts talking about something else.

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Housing: the fight will go on - with Corbyn at our side

 

Housing fight will go on with Corbyn at our side

 

Britain faces dangerous times after the EU referendum campaign and Labour plotters trying to oust their leader, but amid it all there’s the

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House building by housing associations down

Just 16.6% completions are for social rent

 

Building by the big housing associations fell from 40000 to 31000 last year.  Just 16.6% of them social rent according to new figures today for the top fifty developing a

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#Axethehousingact

The new housing act will help property developers and landlords make profits but it will do nothing for people who need affordable secure homes.  Some housing associations are currently making deep cuts hitting jobs and services while piling up record surpluses; the act prepares the way for

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Housing Associations: Friend or Foe?

Housing associations have moved far from their roots in Victorian philanthropy and ’60s radicalism, says GLYN ROBBINS


 

BRITISH housing policy is at a crossroads. Now the Housing Bill has limped through Parli

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Housing Bill ping-pong

Peers stand defiant against government plans

 

 

Hajera Blagg, Friday, May 6th, 2016 Unite Live

 

The government is struggling to push through its housing agenda as its Ho

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The Housing Bill has got to be killed

We must restore decent, affordable council housing to the mainstream, return housing associations to their social purpose, control rents and demand secure homes for all, says GLYN ROBBINS


This week my union, Unite, described the

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Health, Homes, Jobs Education! March and Rally

Save the date, book your seat for the march and rally

 

Saturday 16 April 2016 - London

 

March with the People’s Assembly on Saturday 16 April in London. Join us to demand #End

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Butterfields Won't Budge!

"We Won't Budge" is the courageous slogan of a group of tenants who live in Walthamstow, east London and who aim to resist eviction from their homes, and the break up of their community.

 

The properties they live in were previously

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New report: impact of rising rent & deposits

 
 
 
Need 266% pay increase
 
If you are young and think you're going to buy a house any time soon, thi

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Jeremy Corbyn to join housing march Sunday 13th March

Thousands of people from across the country will march

 

Jeremy Corbyn


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Islington campaign against housing bill launched

 

Over 100 people crammed into room 5 of Islington Town Hall and voted unanimously to form a borough-wide campaign to oppose the Housing and Planning Bill. 

 

 

The meeting was organised by Islington Hands Off Our Public Services (IHOOPS

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Housing bill in the news - come to the branch to discuss

‘Pay to stay’ trap will force working families out of council homes

 

 

Today’s from page splash on VIEW

Threat to council housing featured in local press

Branch member Glyn Robbins featured in this article from the Islington Tribune.  Let us know of any press coverage you get in the battle against the houisng bill.

&nbs

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March Against the Housing Bill!

Saturday 30th June

 

Assemble 12 noon, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ (

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Secure tenancies to be scraped


 

 

Nail in the coffin of social housing

 


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Osborne eyes privatisation of stake in social housing

Osborne eyes privatisation of stake in social housing

 

...is the splash headline in today’s Financial Times.  We have warned repeatedly of such a move. Unite housing workers will link with tenants and housin

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Demanding Social Housing Not Social Cleansing!

We joined ASH (Architects for Social Housing) for a protest outside the Royal Institute of British Architects’ annual Stirlin

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Architects Protest Over Social Housing Destruction

A group of architects are set to protest over the destruction of social housing and its replacement by "multi-million-pound luxury apartments and penthouses for nom-domiciled tax exiles and forei

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Think tank raises threat of housing association privatisation

Policy Exchange raise threat of outright privatisation of Housing Associations

 

Privatising housing associations would be “the most obvious” government reaction to £60bn of debt being added to the nati

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New reports show further social cleansing nightmare ahead

Perfect storm in housing: two new reports

 

A new report from Savills (see Inside Housing today) illustrates the mortal threat

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Jeremy Corbyn launches housing policy

Jeremy Corbyn’s plan for council house building

 

Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn MP published his plans to address Britain's housing crisis yesterday and they look very similar to the policies that o

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Genesis manager quits following abandonment of social housing

The move by Genesis Housing Association to pull out of social and affordable housing (reported here) has provoked discussion. Today Inside Housing magazine has produced this letter of resignation from

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Genesis HA ceases social housing and OHG residents protest

This week one association withdrew from developing affordable or social housing and another was censured by residents and a local authority

 

Genesis Housing Association has announced it will stop building either &lsquo

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Pressure the Politicians - A Manifesto for Housing!

We demand that MPs and councillors move to end the housing crisis by way of the measures set out by the Unite Housing worker's Manifesto.

 

Please sign our petition VIEW | DOWNLOAD

In-Work Benefits Under Threat

Universal Credit has been a shambles logistically with no one knowing when different stages and aspects of implementation will happen; even when dates are announced for roll-out it has been partly a reputational exercise for Ian Duncan Smith and less to do with reality. As part of the Unite Commu

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Our manifesto for housing

We work in housing and homelessness organisations so we see the impact of the housing crisis in our working lives.  We have to find places to live ourselves so we are also hit directly by the crisis ourselves.  Click on the download button below to see the short ‘manifesto’

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Unite joins week of action to save council housing

Save council housing from London's mayor

Unite, is backing a week of action across the capital designed to stop the further destruction of London's council housing stock.

 

With housing now the third most important issue for voters in London, yet housi

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Block the Budget: End the Housing Crisis

Mayor Boris Johnson is the most powerful politician in London when it comes to decisions about housing, with control over a £1.8bn budget for delivering new homes and hundreds of hectares of public land. His budget goes to the vote on 23 February and if passed, will mean more sky-high

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Time to Stop the Oligarch Cranes

By London & Eastern Regional Committee Chair, Jim Kelly

 

On Saturday 31 January, on a cold wet windy winter day, another protest march against the madness of London’s housing market took place, building on the protests against the International Housing Fai

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Unite - fighting the housing crisis

Our union’s policies on housing look very different from any of the big parties. There is work to be done.

 

Unite decides policy through a democratic conference; branches like ours submit resolutions and elected delegates vote on them.  The policies cover work

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Stop Housing Association Privatisation

“Housing associations will be set free to roam as private companies. There is no doubt in my mind about this.... This is a juicy steak one millimetre away from a slavering dog’s mouth.  I am of course putting aside the morality.  But money is talking.  And the politicia

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