Photo: Housing Rebellion

Resisting mould and demolitions

Local housing campaigners have launched a new petition, are holding a free film screening on Wednesday (19 June) and are staging a protest next Sunday (23 June). Gabriel Carlyle reports.

Local members of housing / climate campaign Housing Rebellion are screening the film ‘Mould is political’ at The Pig in Hastings this Wednesday (19 June) at 7pm.

The film will be followed by a discussion with: Antonia Berelson, a local nurse and workplace rep for the Royal College of Nursing; Andrea Cowhig, a Hastings tenant suffering prolonged exposure to mould in a Southern Housing property; and Jordi Botey from MEDACT, a health workers group campaigning on the root causes of our health problems.

The Facebook page for the event notes:

‘Mould and damp are a serious health hazard and the latest research by the Building Research Establishment estimated that poor quality housing costs the NHS £1.4 billion a year. We will be discussing how we can campaign locally, and how we link with other health workers and tenants nationally, to fight for the warm, dry, secure and affordable homes we all need.’

Refurbish, don’t demolish!

Housing Rebellion has also launched a petition, calling on ORBIT housing association to help solve the housing crisis in Hastings by refurbishing their 53 empty flats in Clifton Court, Holmesdale Gardens, just west of Cornwallis Gardens.

The petition notes:

‘Only 189 social homes in Hastings were let last year and there were still 1,547 households on the waiting list at the end of the 2023.

‘So, why is Orbit, a large not-for-profit housing association, sitting on 53 empty social housing flats in Clifton Court in the centre of Hastings? The last secure tenants were moved out in July 2023 and Orbit has been paying council tax for all these boarded up empty flats ever since.

‘Whilst problems with heating and damp were identified prior to residents being moved out, there were no structural problems that would prevent them being refurbished to a high standard. Instead, ORBIT is letting these flats deteriorate and become increasingly difficult to restore.

‘Why are they doing this? Follow the money would be our response. Their plan is to demolish Clifton Court and redevelop this valuable site, where they can then rent out new build flats at 80% of market rate and still call them ‘affordable’, or even sell some of them outright on the private market. This obviously suits their bottom line in this instance.

‘Clearly, in the midst of a climate crisis, refurbishment is the most sustainable option. Orbit has claimed this would cost around £5 million. But surely that would still be a worthwhile investment to retain 53 secure affordable homes and to avoid the huge environmental cost of demolition and rebuilding?

‘If Orbit does not want to spend the money to maintain and retain these valuable social homes, then they should hand it over to the Council or another social housing provider to do it instead.’

Film screening: see here
Petition: see here
Protest: 6pm, 23 June, Clifton Court, Holmesdale Gardens, TN34 1UR. See here for more info.

Also in: Campaigns