On the Defensive First published in Inside Housing, 11 February 2000 ©Inside Communications 2000

©Inside Communications

Anti-transfer campaigners are looking to tap into the movement against global capitalism. KATRINA FOX reports

The signs of growing civil unrest are clear, with the recent spate of protests against global capitalism, genetically modified foods, the growth of car traffic, and experiments on animals. Could this upsurge in grassroots activism affect the debate on transferring council tenants' homes?

Defend Council Housing hopes so. The anti-transfer campaign has had a patchy record to date. But last week it relaunched in a determined bid to halt the stampede to transfer which the government is not-very-covertly encouraging. Key figures in the campaign are involved with other protest groups, and believe they can draw in support from a huge network of activists.

If they are right, the government and pro-transfer councils should worry. As those on the receiving end of environmental campaigns would argue, a loose coalition of activists is notoriously hard to pin down and counter. DCH's members are drawn largely from tenants' associations and federations. They are furiously opposed to the 'privatisation' of council housing through stock transfers, arguing that this has led to 'increased rents, more public money being siphoned off into consultant and management fees and telephone number salaries and profits for the so-called "partners"'.

It is calling for councils to be allowed to invest in both building homes and renovating those they own. Clawing back money from housing benefit subsidies, and using the £12 billion on offer to cancel the overhanging debt of transfer authorities, would make up the £22 billion repairs backlog, the campaigners claim.

Faced with the prospect of a 'big bang' transfer of 270,000 homes which is set to end council housing (Inside Housing, 21 January), DCH has been kicked into stepping up its campaign to halt the transfer process. Its members are angry that authorities have huge resources to promote the benefits of transfer, while they rely on limited funds and part time volunteers to point out the pitfalls. They are particularly peeved that councils' publicity costs are taken out of the housing revenue account. Other costs, such as consultancy fees, are deducted from the general fund.

'It is costing tenants twice,' Jean Kysow, chair of Federation of Lewisham Tenants and Residents, claims. 'They are paying for the councils' 'yes" vote through their rents and their council tax. Do the rest of the councils' residents know their council tax is being spent on promoting a transfer that has nothing whatsoever to do with them?' Lewisham Council's publicity campaign to transfer three estates amounted to £368,000 from the HRA. Documents seen by Inside Housing show that a further £271,000 was attributed to the general fund. 'That money would have paid for 500 to 600 heating units for a rundown estate,' Ms Kysow says.

Support for the campaign is growing, with construction union UCATT affiliating to it, as well as branches of Unison. Most recently senior figures from Tenants & Residents' Organisations of England have taken an anti-transfer stance. Chair Alf Chandler said in a letter to Inside Housing (4 February): 'lf there are two sides to the issue of stock transfers, equal access should apply in relation to finance and the ability to advance a "no" vote.'
TAROE members are looking at mounting legal challenges to the consultation process, which a leading lawyer believes could be successful. 'Tenants could argue an unreasonable lack of access to resources, Will Rolt, of Wood and Awdry solicitors, explains.

Although the DETR insists that all information given out by councils must be balanced, rumours of 'aggressive yes vote' campaigning by local authorities are rippling through tenants' organisations. One DCH member claims to have been told by a tenant of an unnamed authority that a council worker canvassing for the transfer had said: "If you don't vote yes, your flat will go to refugees"'. Another says his local authority referred to those opposing transfer as 'communists' and 'agitators'.

But it is not just tenants who are opposed to transfer. Wolverhampton Council housing director Russell Borrowman believes that transfers are happening for 'all the wrong reasons'. 'Local authorities are being squeezed by the subsidy issue and that is why there is the drive towards transfers. Metropolitan councils are being forced into it and that is wrong. I've had housing directors say to me: "What else can I do?"' Mr Borrowman thinks the DCH campaign 'could have an impact' on the transfer trend. 'lt is the right way to go. There is a still a great loyalty from tenants to stay with the council, 'he explains. 'The message we are getting in Wolverhampton is that tenants don't want to lose the council service.'

Local authorities may not always be the best landlords, but according to DCH, they are far superior to any of the new registered social landlords set up to take over council stock.
'Housing associations need to be reminded why they were set up,' Ms Kysow says. 'lt was to provide affordable, non-profit making housing for those who can't afford to buy privately. It's about time they looked at their constitution and principles instead of becoming corporate bodies'. She has no time for those organisations that deliver a poor service to tenants. 'The repairs of one particular housing association in Hackney are very poor and tenants are being given second hand equipment.'

Another prominent DCH member, Mark Weeks, says tenants on a transferred estate in east London are having to pay extra for basic repairs. 'This is something you would have got free with the council,' he says. Both TAROE and DCH claim that many housing association tenants are 'clamouring to come back to the council' because of poor service and high rents.

Independent tenants' adviser Marianne Hood believes tenants should have access to financial advisers to look at all the aspects of transfer, which would avoid people falling into a poverty trap. Of the DCH campaign, she warns: 'You have to be careful about what you are defending. The issue should be the quality of homes, the way in which they are managed and the degree to which tenants are involved. Why is a community-based RSL that is accountable to tenants a bad thing?' But Ms Hood notes: 'lt is very important to remind people about what is good about council housing. 'It is not the worst option, but if the problems are not sorted out, it leaves it open to becoming the sector of last resort.'

Over the next few months, DCH will be busy. Mr Weeks says the group will be holding conferences and training days for tenants and trade union representatives in the areas where transfer is being proposed. Demonstrations are also planned, although are 'a little way off' at the moment, he adds. Stock transfer is 'all a part of the move by government to the global economy and giving multinationals a hand in everything, says Ms Kysow, echoing the sort of language used by supporters of other causes.

DCH may not win all the battles and may 'lose some estates', but if it can convince more tenants to vote 'no' it could certainly throw a spanner in the works of the transfer programme.

Inside Housing is the weekly magazine for social housing professionals. This article is the copyright of the publisher, Inside Communications, a division of the Mirror Group and appears here with their permission. For more information on the magazine, visit their website at www.insidehousing.co.uk