Rehousing issue for Grenfell Towers survivors

Just shows that nothing has been learnt about vulnerable people in Kensington.

More homes purchased for Grenfell survivors.

"On 19th July RBKC decided to acquire a long leasehold interest in 4 Hortensia Road SW10 to provide 31 flats as affordable housing for survivors of the fire at Grenfell Tower."

See link: chelseasociety.org.uk/grenfell-tower/

This is in addition to the 60 plus flats at Kensington Row which are now about to be allocated to the survivors, according to RBKC.

They all seem to be nice modern flats, even if Hortensia Road is quite a way from North Kensington, so staying at the same school might be a problem.

I doubt that these flats would have been available to people on the council waiting list if it hadn't been for the terrible fire.

3 miles away, or 46 minutes by public transport.
I was reading about a man who walks with crutches, has three children and a wife recovering from cancer, who is living in two hotel rooms.

I suppose that if lots of others from Grenfell move into the same block, there will be support for all of them in that location. The house they were offered was nowhere near anything, not buses or tube, shops, etc.
I hope these flats all together are useful to the tenants.

The block at Hortensia Road has 31 flats and all 31 have been bought by RBKC for Grenfell homeless. So hopefully it would be a community of Grenfell survivors for support.

I'm hoping that's the idea too. I'm pleased they are low rise as well. I don't have a problem with different options being available, for some people, a smaller community in a 'new' area but close by might be their choice.

justice4grenfell.org/press-release/council-still-no-internal-investigation-into-grenfel/

justice4grenfell.org/press-release/justice-4-grenfell-campaign-response-to-police-announcement-re-corporate-manslaughter/

All those new flats for the survivors are low rise and sound very nice.
Hope they will be happy there.

Has anyone seen this list of "empty home owners" in Kensington and Chelsea? Apparently sent out by mistake to the press???
I don't think these homes would help the Grenfell survivors - it would all take too long - but it is interesting reading!

www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/01/names-of-wealthy-empty-home-owners-in-grenfell-borough-revealed?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

An up-to-date list, mostlyharmless. I like the sort of people who are allowed to own these empty properties.

"In another case, plans to develop a property had been delayed. A lawyer for Firtash confirmed he had bought a £53m property in the area in May 2014, which he intended to develop into multiple flats. But the work had been unable to proceed because the oligarch was detained in Vienna on a US extradition warrant. The lawyer said his client intended to proceed with the development once he was free and able to travel to the UK."

Still only 12 families rehoused.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/02/kensington-empty-homes-ownership-transparent

I agree with the idea of transparency in home ownership.
If that were to happen, perhaps these houses and blocks of flats would not be bought up by foreign conglomerates wanting to just make money out of them. They might even become homes again.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/grenfell-tower-fire-survivors-emergency-accommodation-temporary-homes-kensington-chelsea-council-a7873556.html

www.24housing.co.uk/news/london-mayor-to-seek-new-powers-over-housing/

I hope Sadiq Khan is given the powers he needs.

People buy property either to live in or to make money from

It would be great if we could go back to property being to live in.

Obviously some rental property is needed, but it would be helpful to end buy-to-let mortgages for individuals; in my experience, these people buy properties at the bottom end of the price range - that is, the properties wanted by people starting out as home owners - thereby reducing the properties available and pushing these prices up.

In addition, rented properties tend not to re-appear on the market but instead simply change tenants.

The argument is always that more rental properties are needed, but that is largely because the purchase of these properties has forced young people into renting.

young people have always rented here ,its nothing new.We rented a local authority house for 8 years when me got married at first ,gave us time to build our business and get a deposit for our first flat.Nothing wrong with that.Nothing WRONG with renting full stop.Lots of people bought their concil homes when Thatcher introduced the right to buy,they soon realised that buying was just the beginning..there were maintenance billls ..often LARGE maintenance bills,so some sold and went back to renting..others lost their homes because they couldn't afford the upkeep.Makes sense for young folk to rent,a mortgage can be a millstone round their necks

But quite often the rent is greater than the mortgage would be these days.

yes maybe, but there aren't maintenance bills to be paid ,even plumbing or electrical can cost a fortune and the landlord will deal with them .Have you ever counted exactly how much you've paid to a mortgage company? Its a shocking amount of money

Unfortunately many landlords do not deal with them.
Did you see that series about the landlord coming to stay?

Tenants told their landlords about problems, but didn't like to bother them too much in case the rent was put up or they lost their homes.

Perhaps the Grenfell fire would not have happened if the landlord dealt with problems as they arose.

then those landlords should be penalised ,like everything else London is a different issue where housing is concerned.The Scottish government has built more social housing in the past 10 years than the whole of the rest of the UK and they continue to try to find answers to homeless problems .Maybe you need to take YOUR government to task ...EVEL ...its up to english folk to deal with it

We do try, paddyann. We didn't want EVEL either. We'd much rather have all the support we can get from the other parts of the UK.
But look how that turned out with the DUP.

What's EVEL - sorry for my ignorance. I am interested in the topic but not knowledgeable with regard to housing

English Votes for English Laws.
In parliament the Scottish, Irish and the Welsh are not allowed to vote on laws that only concern the English.

www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/28/pakistani-court-disqualifies-pm-nawaz-sharif-from-office

This man bought houses in his children's names in London. He has been disqualified from being Prime Minister of Pakistan. His brother has been elected as the new one.
I wonder how many houses he will have been found to own.