Housing association tenants demand urgent action on dangerous overcrowding
Five families from Lambeth who are all tenants of Metropolitan Housing Association have written an open letter to their social landlord calling for urgent action on dangerous overcrowding. The five families all live in housing that is so overcrowded that it meets the strict legal definition of ‘statutory overcrowding’ which is an out-of-date definition invented in 1935 to help identify and prevent slum housing.
In their letter to their social landlord, the families describe the difficulties of daily life in such overcrowded housing conditions including the serious impact on their mental and physical health.
They make 3 clear demands to their social landlord to resolve their cases and to help all Londoners living in overcrowded housing.
You can read and share our open letter to Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing Association here.
Pawan, a tenant of Metropolitan Housing Association and a member of this campaign, says: “I live with my husband and 3 children in a one bedroom flat in the Metropolitan Housing Association in Lambeth. The children are aged 8, 6 and 2 and a half. We are overcrowded and this is affecting our health. The overcrowding is causing damp and mould in the flat. We have no history of asthma in our family but because of our living conditions my youngest daughter has developed asthma. The children have no space to play inside or do homework. In the winter when it’s too cold to go outside they get upset. My oldest daughter asks me why she cannot have her own room like her friends.
We have been bidding for a bigger house since 2017, we were in Band C and we could only bid for a 2 bedroom house. We contacted the council to change our band and let us bid for a 3 bedroom house but they ignored us. When we contacted them again they told us we could rent privately or move out of London. We cannot afford private rent in London and we cannot move because my husband’s job is here.
Two years ago I heard about Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL) in my ESOL class. I joined the housing action group organised by HASL and English for Action to get advice for my housing problem. HASL sent an email to Lambeth council and after one month they changed our band to Band B and let us bid for a 3 bedroom house. I was so happy! The council listens to HASL because together we are many people and we have power.
My husband is working all the time and I am learning English so it’s difficult for me to speak on the phone and write emails. HASL helps with this, they help migrant families a lot. I felt unwell before, you can be sick from stress. No one listened to me but HASL understood my situation and they didn’t ignore me, they gave solutions. This group is fighting for family life, for 3, 4, 5 bedroom council homes for families.”
Elizabeth Wyatt, a member of HASL, says: “As a social landlord, Metropolitan housing association must take urgent action on these hazardous, intolerable, severely overcrowded housing conditions that their tenants are enduring. Every day that these families are trapped in this housing is a day too long. Metropolitan housing association must do everything they can to ensure that their tenants are living in high-quality and spacious housing where they can thrive.
Just next door to one of our member’s, Metropolitan are building 30 brand new homes, but none of these are for social rent which are the homes our members and the majority of Londoners desperately need. One of our demands is that Metropolitan make these new homes into social housing and use them to re-house these 5 families who are living in some of the most overcrowded housing in the borough.”
Housing Action Southwark & Lambeth 