Imagine spending years in a council building with damp-walled apartments, leaking pipes, and malfunctioning heating. The "challenging economic climate" caused the council to abandon its long-standing pledge to revitalize your neighborhood.
Residents of the Fred Wigg social housing tower block in Waltham Forest, east London, are compelled to cope with precisely that
A large portion of social housing in Britain is in despair as a result of councils' refusal to pay attention to tenants.
The Labour-run Waltham Forest council is now refurbishing the block, but it is ignoring its tenants and ploughing ahead with changes that don’t address the issues residents face.
Resident Sam told Socialist Worker about the conditions he’s faced over the last five years. “I couldn’t flush my toilet for a year, and I have no light in the kitchen. I asked the council about it and three times it sent someone.
“But every time they come, make a note, leave and don’t actually fix the issue. I actually had to get solicitors involved.”
Sam pointed to a pipe just outside his flat. “That’s been leaking for two years. You can smell it from in here—it’s attached to the upstairs flat’s toilet. I sent a message to the owner over a year ago, but they just asked me to move the rubbish outside my door. It’s a joke.”
The conditions have a big impact on residents’ health and wellbeing. “I was also told that Waltham Forest council doesn’t clean windows, but I’m on the 13th floor and I actually can’t see out of my windows anymore,” said Sam.
“That’s not good for your mental health. It’s very hard to invite people over here—sometimes people are even worried about entering the block.”
Sam also said there was a huge issue with dust. “It’s difficult to breathe in here. Plus, my bathroom air vent hasn’t been cleaned in years so I had to tape it up to stop the dust coming out of it. I went away for a few days, came back and everything was covered in dust.”
“Now the refurbishment has started, there’s so much dust in here. I can feel it in my mouth.”
The council began this current refurbishment project earlier this year, but it had previously stated it would demolish and regenerate the building. Saria, a resident for over a decade, explained.
“The council wanted to regenerate the building in 2013, but it had to stop because the plans used ACM cladding.” This is the highly flammable cladding that was used on the Grenfell tower block that erupted into flames in 2017, killing 72 people.
“The redesign didn’t go through because one contractor wanted more money. Residents wanted bathrooms, kitchens and outstanding repairs. That’s all we wanted.
“But the council totally disregarded us and wanted to do different work—that involved a new heating system that currently does not work.”
And during Covid, “The council said it had run out of budget so it just didn’t do anything.” Saria continued, “There were loads of questions unanswered about the whole process. There were no meetings to explain what was going on and communication was non-existent.”
Rather than addressing the tenants’ concerns over heating, bathrooms and kitchens, the council made the decision to remove all the cladding from the outer walls over fire safety.
Saria said, “The fire brigade said the council needed to install new alarms. But they aren’t even turned on right now, and the sprinkler system isn’t working. The council just decided to take the panels off.
“Contractors started taking the panels off in March, drilling the hell out of the building from 8am. When we complain, they just say they are allowed to drill at this time.
“Now, the government can say whatever it wants, but we are the ones living in here. Listen to us.”
Amir, who has lived at Fred Wigg for five years, said, “Right now, if I wake up, from 8am to 5pm, there’s just drilling in my ear, which is annoying, but you can’t avoid it.”
Amir also noted how the council has failed to inform residents about its plans. “I don’t really know what they are doing—I just know they are replacing all the walls. They are now putting plasterboards up on our side, but on the other side I don’t know.”
Saria said, “On 14 October they told us they were taking out the balcony walls. But there was nothing in any of the consultations about this.
“Now the walls are taken out, people are getting cold. And the heating system residents are paying for doesn’t work—but the council is just not listening to us. Contractors were meant to send us a booklet to explain why and how, but we didn’t get that until two weeks after they started.”
Saria slammed the council’s attitude towards its tenants. “The majority of people here are people of colour, and the treatment we are getting is, well, I can’t even say the word disrespectful, I can’t even find the word.”
When contractors’ plans included removing the car park, Saria and others had to hold a protest.
“The council and contractors then told residents that the tenants and residents association (TRA) stopped them from putting in new bathrooms and kitchens, which was a lie,” Saria added. It was an excuse so the council didn’t have to fix what tenants wanted.
Saria said, “The council is acting like this to make it so uncomfortable that residents—quite a few who want to stay—will turn around and say ‘I want out’ because of the drilling, the cold, the leaks, all the problems.
“When the next regeneration plans come, people will vote for it and people will move. It’s social cleansing.”
“The council brought us here,” Amir said, “but we were only meant to stay here a year because the building was meant to be knocked down and the council said it would find us a different house. But that never happened.”
Sam argued, “The council put us in this situation and it expects us to just brush it off because we aren’t clued up. It thinks we don’t know what’s going on. And the people that live here either come from a worse place so don’t feel like they can complain, or they are worried they will lose their home.
“I want to change this place a lot. Not everyone wants to do that, but it’s important. In reality, most of the youth just want to get out of here.” (Sourse: Socialistworker)
Fred Wigg is part of a wider crisis in social housing. Councils continue to prioritise new builds, enabling the process of gentrification, instead of looking after social housing.
Again and again councils’ attitude towards tenants in social housing is one of disregard and dismissal. And that, we already know, can lead to disaster.
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