Burnham’s broader ambition to move towards a “preventative state” – intervening before things reach a crisis point – is the right one. But the real crisis point isn’t rough sleeping. For renters like the St James community, it was the rent hikes and eviction notices served months before that. Change has to come fast; they don’t have time to wait.
Jessica Field has written another great story exploring what’s led to the crisis of the estate. Read the full piece here:
In theory, some of the evicted residents could be placed back into new HMOs on the St James estate, only this time as homeless, with few rights and sharing what was once adequate space with strangers. All this would be at a higher cost to the council.
This is of course speculation, but it would not be the first time a commercial organisation makes a higher profit from homelessness than from the regular rental market. The story – more than one estate’s battle to stay in their homes – is evidence of a broken housing and homelessness system.
In our recent report into the history of temporary accommodation, Lifelines, we expose how temporary housing has often been expected to absorb housing market shocks. This can be extremely costly and compound the exclusion felt by some of the most vulnerable in society.
Four red flags are visible in what’s happening to St James residents, and they should raise alarm bells for tenants and councils everywhere.
First, the homelessness system is being presented as a safety net for the tenants, but it is not fit for purpose. Bates reports that Southwark and other councils have been discharging their statutory homelessness duties into private rentals in the St James since 2011. Faced with eviction notices, those same households are now being funnelled back to Southwark Council to develop Personal Housing Plans in a new round of homelessness.
Jessica Field and Signe Gosmann have written a great examination of the failings of temporary accommodation that have precipitated the crisis on the estate. Read the full piece here:
Tenants on a south London housing estate face either financial ruin or losing their homes, Southwark Council’s leader has said.
Residents on Bermondsey’s St James Estate face Section 21 “no-fault” eviction notices and rent hikes of up to £500 a month following BMR Group’s acquisition of the properties.
In a letter to Freshview, which manages the estate for BMR, councillor James McAsh urged the firm to drop all eviction proceedings and offer “realistic” rental terms before Friday’s deadline leaves residents with “an impossible choice”.
Freshview said rents were previously “substantially below” market value, adding that Section 21 notices were served “as a safeguard”.
The decisions have left long-standing tenants struggling with uncertainty and the threat of displacement.
Read the full piece here:
On the St. James estate in South Bermondsey, 172 households face unaffordable rent rises – de-facto eviction notices. 50 households have received actual Section 21 no-fault eviction notices; most were served at 8.30 pm on the day before no-fault evictions were outlawed.
The reason that residents are being forced out is that converting their homes into Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) would significantly increase the income for the owners. The intensity of the housing crisis means that the demand for temporary accommodation far outstrips supply, with the Home Office, councils and other agencies all competing for scarce temporary accommodations. HMOs are a state-funded cash machine.
Our local councillor Andy Bates has written another great piece about the estate, this time for Compass. Read the whole piece here:
Matthew Desmond’s Pulitzer Prize winning book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City tells the story of eight low-income families and their landlords. He argues that poverty is a billion-pound business. Slum landlords, trailer park owners, bailiffs, and storage companies are all getting rich on money paid to them by the poor themselves or the state on their behalf. They get rich by making the lives of the poor worse and perpetuating poverty.
It is a chilling read, but it has helped me to understand what has happened in South Bermondsey, Southwark, where a group of investors are seeking to displace 182 long term tenants and convert their homes into super-profitable Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs).
One of our local ward councillors, Andy Bates, has written about the underlying mechanisms that have caused the crisis on our estate. Read the full piece here:
Housing Campaigners Demand Council Action as Corporate Landlord BMR Group Targets More Than 100 Families
Tenants on the St James Estate in the London Borough of Southwark are fighting mass evictions and unaffordable rent rises after corporate landlord BMR Group Ltd began trying to force residents from their homes. Campaigners understand that BMR Group plans to convert the estate into unlicensed houses in multiple occupation, increasing rental income for the landlord.
SHAC, the Social Housing Action Campaign, has been supporting us with our dispute. Read their full piece here:
Private renter Asha Garway is “emotionally drained, stressed” and trying to “figure out” her next steps.
On 3 May, two days after no fault evictions were banned under the Government’s flagship Renters’ Rights Act came into force, she received an eviction notice telling her that she would be evicted from her home on the St James’ Place estate in Bermondsey, south London, by the end of June.
Asha has lived at St James for 13 years with her two sons and is one of around 150 tenants who have been hit with rent hikes or eviction notices and now face losing their homes after their estate of affordable privately rented accommodation was sold from one company, Folio, to another, BMR Group.
Read the full article by Vicky Spratt here:
Our first piece of media coverage was from the wonderful Evie Flyn at Southwark News.
Hundreds of families in Bermondsey say they are facing rent increases of up to £600 a month, with some being given Section 21 eviction notices.
Nearly 200 families fear they could lose their homes on what is known as the St James Estate after the freehold of their properties was sold off to a new landlord.
Read the full piece here: