In the last issue of Hackney Independent we ran an article on anti-social behaviour on our estates. Since then we have discussed the issue with tenants across the South of Hackney. Hackney Independent activists have been canvassing opinions in blocks like Sara Lane Court, Rosalind and Cordelia Houses and Harwood Court to find out what tenants think can be done about the anti-social elements who ruin lives. Since our last newsletter events have come to a head on the Pembury Estate, with tenants taking on their new private landlord in meetings and through the Gazette's letters page. The Gazette ran a front page article headed "Our drug hell" and sub-titled "is this Britain's worst estate?" The report went on to list the muggings, drug deals, vandalism and break-ins that are now common on the Pembury. More recently, tenants in one Shoreditch tower block have told us of a brutal mugging, a murder, and the rape of a girl in the lobby of the block, in broad daylight. We all know that these are not isolated problems; tenants all over the borough have horror stories of their own.

So what can be done about it ? It seems clear that the police don't want to know unless the middle classes are affected, and the council and housing associations are reluctant to spend any money on improved security in problem blocks. One example of what can be achieved is at Sara Lane Court where tenants put sustained pressure on Pinnacle to get entry phones installed. The situation has now improved, with less overt drug use on the stairwells. Would Pinnacle have done anything about it if tenants hadn't taken the initiative ? We doubt it.

In other parts of the country working class activists have put forward their own solutions. In Birmingham, muggings had reached epidemic proportions on one estate and tenants pointed out that the muggers were using poorly lit rat-runs on the estate to escape, so - despite threats from their own council - they bricked up the alleyways themselves. In Oxford, the community organised on another estate to isolate one problem family and make it clear to them their behaviour would not be tolerated. These are practical answers to the problem.

It is obvious that the police and the Council are not solving the problem. We believe that working class communities can lead the way by organising together and taking shared responsibility for our own problems. If tenants identify that anti-social behaviour is the fault of other tenants on the same estate or block then we as a community might have to seriously look at acting ourselves - be this a campaign of naming and shaming local teenagers who are smashing up what few facilities there are on an estate, or taking a more robust stand against tenants who are using their flats to deal hard drugs and attracting all sorts of nutters. The first step could be circulating leaflets to all tenants making it clear that everyone has a responsibility to treat neighbours with respect and to take responsibility for whoever they let into the block.

Part of the problem, especially for older people, is the atmosphere of fear that can be created by small groups of young people. Many older people are too scared to go out onto even their own landings in many blocks, because they are afraid they will be attacked or robbed. It's clear that the lack of youth facilities is one reason kids are hanging around and it doesn't take a genius to know that if our young people had some constructive alternatives to fill their time, the problems would be greatly reduced, but this is no excuse for threatening and destructive behaviour. One possibility which Hackney IWCA (Hackney Independent) has discussed with tenants on some estates is to organise a "presence" in problem areas during certain times; obviously this has to be carefully discussed with tenants and the impetus - and part of the team in the problem area - has to come from the tenants themselves. Let's be clear about this. 
Hackney IWCA (Hackney Independent) has no magic wand to wave; we all have to take responsibility for what happens on our estates. If we are going to make our slogan working class rule in working class areas a reality then taking control of our own estates - and out of the hands of drug dealers and vandals - is the first step. Hackney Independent has held community meetings and discussions - now it's time to act.

Working Class Rule in Working Class Areas - an interview with Peter Sutton of Hackney IWCA (Hackney Independent)

Why do you think that less and less people vote? The middle class are still voting - that's because the big 4 parties in Hackney are representing their interests. In the by-election in Hackney Wick last year only 18% voted - so 82% thought they had nothing to gain from any of the parties. They are right. The big 4 parties aren't offering the working class anything. A lot of people under the age of 30 have never voted, and a lot of older people have given up.

What do you think of the Shoreditch New Deal? I think we were right to come out very strong at the beginning and brand it a "raw deal." Because all the vested interests - the Council, the housing associations, the consultants, the big political parties were all saying it was brilliant, it was important to say "hold on a minute, lets have a look at what it's really about." Remember they have tried pushing privatisation at Shoreditch before and got knocked back.

The New Deal was a clever attempt to suck in all the tenant leaders and persuade them that our housing should be sold off. It nearly worked. They have persuaded some of the New Deal Board, but luckily there have been some good people in there who couldn't be bought off, and we have helped let people across the area know what is going on. As we said in an article that was published in a national magazine "if the New Deal gives up on privatising our housing and concentrates on helping people find jobs, then we'll stop criticising."

But isn't the New Deal led by the community? No. 82% of people in Shoreditch are council or housing association tenants. Why aren't 82% of the Board tenants? At least give us a majority. And the best tenant and leaseholder representatives are always fighting against the pro-privatisation agenda being pushed by the New Deal staff and their consultants.

I think that the row over New Deal Director Michael Pyner's salary was a good example. We announced that he was paid a thousand pounds a week. He denied it, but refused to say how much he was paid. People were getting up at meetings and asking him how much he was paid and he wouldn't tell them. If it was community-led, why can't the community know where our money is going? By the way, since he started Michael Pyner has been paid over a hundred thousand pounds, and that's without his perks and pension.

There have been good things. A lot of little improvements have been done here and there. The New Deal Director is only funding these things because he thinks it will soften us up and make us more willing to listen to his arguments for privatisation - but it hasn't worked. We've taken their money and still said we're not having our homes knocked down or sold off.

I know people outside the New Deal area are probably thinking this has nothing to do with them, but we think that whatever they get away with in Shoreditch, they will try on De Beauvoir or in Haggerston next.

What's the problem with regenerating this area? There's no problem with regeneration - if it's on terms favourable to local people. But that's not on offer - yet. No-one wanted to know about Hoxton for years. Now you blink and there's a new bar or restaurant. I wouldn't mind so much if they employed local people - at least we'd get something out of it. But the prices they charge and the type of place they are make it clear - locals not wanted. You can see crowds of rich young people swarming in from Old Street station. In turn they bring more drugs into the area, and they attract more muggers. The muggers know that there is more money in the area, but they end up mugging our own old people as they are easier targets. We've also got thirteen strip bars in or within five minutes walk of this area. There's no other area like it in London. These are mainly used by City workers, and now there's a problem of them coming out drunk and looking for prostitutes. There's a long standing problem in Commercial Street, but it's on the increase in Shoreditch. We know of a number of cases of local women being hassled by these City workers. One of the best TA chairs in Shoreditch told a Hackney IWCA (Hackney Independent) meeting that if the City of London wants these strip bars they should have them down there. Hackney Independent will oppose any new strip bars coming, and will look to oppose the licenses of the existing ones being renewed in future.

Why does Hackney IWCA spend so much time canvassing our estates? There was a time when you could put a leaflet out and get a hall full of people. Those days have gone. That's why we go to where people are, and ask them about the problems in their block. No-one else does it. I call our councillors the "Olympic councillors." - like the Olympics they only come round every four years! That's when they ask you for your vote and then disappear. In fact now they don't even bother to ask for your vote, they just take it for granted that they'll get enough votes to scrape back in.

We're only going to build a genuine working class organisation by going to where people live, ask what their problems are, and involve them in finding our own solutions. If we haven't knocked on your door, it's only because we aren't big enough yet. But give us a ring, and come round your block with us. Lets get something started and start to change things for the better. 

Hackney IWCA (Hackney Independent as of summer 2004) is considering standing in council elections. What would you offer that would be different to the 4 parties on the council ? We would only be going into the Town Hall to fight for the immediate interests of the working class majority in this area. We wouldn't look to do deals with the middle class parties, or to waste our time being outvoted. We'd spend our time in the community. Whoever stands has to be held accountable - both to the organisation they represent and to the community. Our councillors would pledge to hold an open meeting in their ward every six months to say what they have been doing and hear what people have to say. They would state their programme before the election and pledge that if they go against the programme, or fail to hold the open meetings then they would resign. 

Hackney IWCA (Hackney Independent as of summer 2004) has used the slogan "Working class rule in working class areas". What do you mean by this? We are saying that this is a working class area and that we should be in control of what happens here. If you look at the issues we're covering in this newsletter - from the council cutting our services to the New Deal plans to knock our homes down, from the phone companies putting their masts on our estates to the anti-social elements that are making our lives a misery you can see that we are not in control yet.

Our aim is that we the working class majority should decide what happens on our own estates. We should be able to deal with the anti-social elements, stop the phone masts going up and force the council to spend our rent money on improving our estates. There's no point in planning to take over the Town Hall, the government or the World, we need to be in control of what happens in our own area. Maybe later we can try and take on the Town Hall, but lets have a few wins locally first and build our confidence up. The working class are used to losing. Lets turn that around and make Hackney Council, the housing associations and the developers the ones that are used to losing.

What can people do if they want to help? Everyone can do something to help - even just phoning information through to our answerphone is useful. How much help you can give is up to you - but if you can help deliver newsletters, take a petition round your block or even make the tea at meetings there is a part you can play. And by attending our meetings you can help make decisions on what issues we take up and how we campaign on them.

Bailiffs, The Law and You

We have had some reports about what the council's bailiffs have been up to when people get behind with their council tax. A lot of people are behind with their council tax through no fault of their own. This could be through being messed about by ITNet, having lost your job through sickness, or just being on a low wage and having to prioritise putting food on the table.

If you are behind with your council tax, the council may try to send the bailiffs in. Here are some important things to remember if the bailiffs knock on your door:

1. They will try to lie to you. They may say that they will come back with the police to intimidate you. They may say that if you let them in they will come to an agreement with you if you let them in. They may threaten to break down your door. Whatever you do, DO NOT LET THEM IN.
2. They have no right to enter your home. They cannot get a court order to let them in and the police will not help them to break in.
3. Once you have let them in on one occasion, they have the right to break back in and to seize your property.

We are putting together a report on the bailiffs in a campaign to get the council to call them off.

But it's not just the bailiffs that we've got a problem with. The council is breaking its legal duties all the time - whether in not carrying out repairs, or in not consulting. We are looking to put together a team of people who can begin to use the law to force the council to carry out its responsibilities. This is not because we have faith that the courts will automatically back us, but because we think that there will be times when we can use the law for our benefit. This could be anything from forcing the council to repair individual flats and pay compensation to tenants through to stopping rent rises or other changes when there has not been the legal consultation carried out.

News in Brief

It’s a situation that cannot be resolved without a large input of money from the Government. It needs a basic reinstatement of some of the subsidies that the Government has taken away from us. In the last six years they have slashed £108 million, and each year the Council has to repay £65 million in loans to the banks. If the Government cancelled this debt like they have done to the third world countries then we’d be in a much better position.

The Council’s accounting is so bad that they can't even put a proper figure on their debt. Nine months ago they said it was £10 million, which crept up to £15 million, then £20 million. I challenged the Labour Leader, Jules Pipe on this figure - I said the debt was nearer £40 million and he agreed. When he agreed to this figure I immediately went up to £70 million. Now the Council are admitting to £76 million pounds worth of debt. I think the figure must be nearer £150 million.

The Government has told Hackney Council to put its house in order under the direction of Managing Director, Max Caller. He in turn took over from where Tony ElusIon left off - to dictate to the councillors, because they are, and always have been, incapable of running the Council. I can see it now, Max calls the councillors together and tells them "unless you do as I say, you will be surcharged." This would mean they would lose their property and any assets they might have.

That is why alt these councillors from all parties are so willing to agree to any of Max’s proposals to make cuts to staff, salaries and their terms and conditions. This will obviously result in cuts to services. Whilst Max proposes to increase the cost of these services, to be paid for by the residents of Hackney; the residents and service providers are yet again expected to bear the cost.

The perpetrators of this mess are the councillors and senior officers. The councillors should be surcharged. The senior officers who seriously ill-advised the councillors when decisions were being made should be sacked. Until this Council is brought down, we will be expected to keep bailing them out and bearing the cost. It’s time to tell them "the party’s over". As the old song goes "It’s time to call it a day. So lets burst their pretty balloon, and hope they all go away" The Audit Commission should act now.

It’s impossible to make any more cuts, as they’re not meeting their legal duties now. To prove that point, when I questioned the Director of Housing, SteveTucker, about what repairs they actually do, he referred me to the Tenants’ Handbook. This says that they will only meet their legal obligations and do any other work ordered by the court.

Partly through Government subsidies being withdrawn, as this Government seems to have no social conscience. Partly through officers ill-advising councillors when decisions were being taken. And partly through councillors who are not qualified to make decisions because they do not understand the issues and haven’t got the skills to question the officers.

The Council has been warned by the District Auditor since 1996 that this problem was coming. The District Auditor made It clear that councilors had to take charge and not let officers run the Council. Instead they allowed (former Chief Executive) Tony Elliston and now Max Caller to dictate to them.

Hackney Council was even able to lose money on Parking Enforcement! How can you not make a profit on that? They decided to privatise rubbish collection because they were paying so much more for it than any other Borough. This resulted in a company called Service Team winning the contract. Another company called Cleanaway who were unsuccessful then went ahead and bought Service Team - just two months into their contract. And after all this the Council are now paying £2 million a year more for rubbish collection - when the whole idea was to save money! And everyone knows about the mess they got into when they privatised the housing benefits service.

The Council are required by law under Best Value Guidelines to consult on these changes. The claim that with the rubbish service they consulted the Street Leaders Group. But the Council had already scrapped the Street Leaders Group to save money! That’s Hackney Council’s consultation.

Under the Government’s Best Value guidelines, it clearly states that there should be full consultation in conjunction with tenant participation. The tenant leaders of this Borough are community-spirited volunteers who are giving up their time for free to attend meetings, while council officers are paying lip service to consultation, when they have often already made their decisions before the meeting. The necessary paperwork is not provided until the date of the consultation and we’re not given enough time to read it before the deadline for comments. This happened with both the rent survey and the tenant satisfaction surveys. We got them both the day before they were due back.

It’s about time Hackney Council was accountable and opened up their books for public inspection. The District Auditor has been privy to all this information for years - so what has been done to prevent the financial crisis that Hackney Council is in now? It’s no wonder we find ourselves in this mess, when we find we have another first - the Labour/Tory partnership that now runs the Council. Not that the Lib Dems are any better. They are just making protests about the cuts knowing that it won’t make any difference to the outcome. They are just using it as a cheap way to impress the electorate in order to score some points and win votes. It’s up to us to tell all these councillors that we elected them to represent our best interests and they have failed miserably to do this. If they have any hint of decency they should resign now.

Even though ITNet have finally been sacked by Hackney Council, things look like they will get worse before they get any better. ITNet have made massive profits at the expense of our misery and it has taken the council two years to sit up and take notice of what people on benefits have been going through - not surprising when you consider that the middle class councillors from all parties know nothing about life at the sharp end.

• Read the form carefully and provide everything asked of you.

• The council will want to see original documents (not copies) - but beware of posting them. Try to take them into the office yourself (or ask a friend or neighbour) and always get a receipt detailing everything you have handed in.

• lf you do not have all the information to hand, put your claim in anyway. You are in danger of losing benefit if you delay sending the form, You can provide the rest when you have it, but don’t ignore council letters asking for information. They may withdraw your claim and you will have to start again.

• lf you have claimed through the Benefit Agency (DSS), don’t wait for the council to send you one of their claim forms. Collect one from the office or your local housing office.

• Keep a record of all contact with the benefit office: keep a diary of phone calls and visits, and keep copies of all correspondence.

• Keep a note of the names of everyone you speak to.

• Don’t forget to put the date and your reference number on all letters to the office.

• Copy your letters to the benefit office to your local housing officer so they know you are pursuing a claim.

• If you have co-operated all you can, but the delays are causing high rent or council tax arrears, write and complain to the benefit manager. If they don’t reply within 14 days complain to the council’s complaints service. The next step is to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman. Law centres, CAB and Hackney Independent can help.

• lf you are threatened with eviction contact the housing office and let them know you are waiting for housing benefit. Show them your receipts.

• If you are threatened with court action for non-payment of council tax, contact the council tax office to let them know you are waiting for benefit.

• Don’t ignore bailiff warrants, court summonses or possession orders. Get legal advice from a law centre or CAB. Hackney Independent can put you in touch.

If you know anything about the law or know your rights you could also help out by getting involved in the legal group mentioned on page 2 of this edition