"Booming house prices, the right to buy and estate revamps are behind the council's desperate shortage of housing, which is the worst for 10 years. All 380 hostel places in the borough are full and Hackney Council says the housing crisis has not been this bad for a decade". The story in this week's Hackney Gazette rightly points the finger at Hackney Council for creating a crisis in the borough, but what are the real issues ?

The council claims that "estate revamps" will ease the crisis, but this is hardly likely. Obviously we all want our housing improved but what's really going is a sell-off not a revamp. As the Gazette points out, "since 1993 the number of council homes has dropped from 38,000 to 29,000" and 7,000 homes have been sold to housing associations. Do we really believe that the glossy plans being flashed around by developers in the area mean that we will be able to move straight into brand new homes ? Not likely. What the developers don't tell us is that while "revamps" take place, tenants will be dumped into housing that is as bad , if not worse, than the current stock. And will all council tenants be allowed to return to the same area ? Not if the gentrifiers get their way. As we have pointed out since we started 2 years ago, the people of Shoreditch in particular are sitting on a gold mine with land prices going through the roof, and other areas in Hackney are getting the knock on effect of this. If tenants agree to move out and have blocks and estates demolished it's hardly likely that we'll be welcomed back once the yuppie loft apartments have been built and the area has been "improved".