Tower-Hamlets-Citizens-Report-FINAL-use-this

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A strong community supports each other in everyday tasks and through bigger difficulties. Good neighbourslook out for our kids, help us in from the car with our shopping and support us to take a stand against nuisancegangs and anti-social behaviour. But if we cannot put down roots then how can be build community?UNSURE34%NO43%Yes23%DO YOU THINK YOURCHILDREN WILL BE ABLE TOSTART A FAMILY IN TOWERHAMLETS WHEN THEY GROWUP?‘A stronger community would look out for its members, it would be less lonely’Anonymous Resident,Council Tenant, Stepney, 24.03.14Community Land TrustsBy 2017, Tower Hamlets will be home to the first ever urban Community Land Trust (CLT) in the country, when 23CLT homes are built at the St Clements site in Mile End. A CLT is a non-profit organisation that developspermanently affordable housing for the benefit of the local communityIn London, it is estimated that more than half the cost of a home is the cost of the land it is sitting on. On a CLT thecommunity owns that land. This means that the CLT is able to remove the value of land from the cost of thehousing and sell homes for a much lower price.At St Clements, the cost of the homes will be set according to average wages in Tower Hamlets, meaning that amortgage will be no more than one third of the average local income. This will ensure that local people are nolonger priced out of the neighbourhoods they grew up in and that the homes remain affordable for generations tocome.So, What Do We Propose?To make our community even stronger and allow us to continue to call Tower Hamlets home we propose that: Tower Hamlets Council take measures to ensuring the development of more CLT homes in the borough. Thiscould be done by: Negotiating with developers to ensure that a percentage of the units on all new developments are CLThomes, and making available plots of public land for CLTs to be developed
HIGH RENTSWe asked people if their rent had increased within thelast year and 67% told us that it had, with just 14%saying that it hadn’t. Rents in Tower Hamlets are goingup and people are feeling the pressure. 62% of thepeople we surveyed revealed that they are worriedabout making their next rent payment. Rising rents areleading to rising levels of stress for many families in theborough.The cause of this stress is simple. Rents are going upwhilst wages are staying the same or going down. This isforcing families to cut their spending on everyday itemsto cope. When asked how they have coped with rentincreases, 35% of renters said that they have cut back ontheir food shopping. Parents are buying lower qualityfood; replacing their usual shop with supermarket valueranges and cutting down on meat, fresh fruit &vegetables. Many of our children are going to schoolhungry, or starting their day with an energy drink rather than a proper meal. Parents are facing the stark choiceof paying the rent or feeding their family.Other basics that we are going without include clothes for our children and utility bills. Many of us feel guiltythat we cannot provide for our children and buy them the new clothes that they desperately need. Put simply,we are embarrassed to rely on hand-outs from friends and what we can find in charity shops.We are also embarrassed when our kids complainthat they’re cold when inside. We cannot afford toleave the heating on, so we keep them warm withjumpers, tops and extra socks. We are forevergoing round the house making sure lights areswitched off and sockets are unplugged.On top of these most basic of necessities, peopleare also having to sacrifice simple pleasures. 37%of the community have cut back on days out withtheir children, and 50% say that they cannot go onholiday because of the cost of their rent. Days atthe park may be ‘free’, but parents have got tothink about the cost of the bus, ice creams and anew football- even these are becomingunaffordable.In addition to this, many parents told us that iftheir rent was lower they would spend the extra money on their children’s education, paying for tuition andlaptops. The schools are encouraging our children to spend more time online, meaning these computers are anecessity, not a luxury. But we just can’t afford them at the moment.‘Most people are being priced out of Tower Hamlets. Only singlepeople, without kids, and with a high salary can afford to live herenowadays. I can only see this getting worse in the future’Anonymous,Owner-Occupier, Bow, 23.03.13
Page 1 and 2: TOWERHAMLETSA Report on the Housing
Page 3 and 4: LANDLORDSA large part of our commun
Page 5 and 6: DAMPTower Hamlets is riddled with d
Page 7: UNAFFORDABILITYAlmost two thirds of
Page 11: The lack of storage space in our ho

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