(Secretary Cranbrook Estate Residents' Association) describes how they fought and won to defend council housing Council tenants in Tower Hamlets have rejected the council's plans to give their homes away to housing associations. Six estates were balloted in late December. Four of them voted to remain with the council and only two voted for transfer.
This is a real step forward tor anti-privatisation campaigners. What had been a slow trickle of victories has become a wave.
The only way to defeat the housing give-aways is to get organised as soon as you hear your estate is up for transfer. We began organising in late August. A packed meeting in the communitv centre heard speakers from Defend Council Housing (DCH) put the case for staying with the council. From then on we had meetings every week or every fortnight. We varied the days ano une amnes so moat as wide a range of people could attend as possible.
We used a lot of the DCH publicity materials. We also producea our own newsielters, posters and leaflets. The local UNISON branch helped out with the photocopying. The other thing that was very useful was our petition. That allowed us to have discussions with people on their doorsteps about the issues. It also gave us a good idea of who our supporters were. A local film workshop, Four Corners, helped us make a video. This had interviews with residents explaining the anti-transfer case. We had it running constantly and provided tea and biscuits for everyone who came in to see it. There is no substitute for talking to people.
One of the turning points was when George Galloway spoke in community centre. He trounced the leader of the council and won over a lot of residents who had been undecided.
When the vote came we treated it like a general election day. We used the petition to go and "knock up" our supporters. One of our activists, a taxi driver, brought older people in her cab because they were determined to cast their vote against tne council's plans. All the work we had done really paid off.
We won with an almost three to one majority. Our estate, along with the others that rejected transfer, will stay in the council's hands. The tenants will still have their homes re-furbished because the counci is obliged under the Decent Homes Standard and the executives of four housing associations didn't get the Christmas present they had been hoping for.