FIRE tragedies in Grenfell Tower and Portugal ignite a primordial fear in all of us, compounded when occurring in the apparent safety of the home.
However, whilst Portugal can be attributed to natural causes with lightning sparking tinder-dry forest, that can’t be said for London. There, whether by sins of commission or omission, human factors are at play. A full public inquiry is essential to understand the causes.
That, though, mustn’t deflect from a criminal investigation. If there’s evidence of criminality, regardless of the form and by whom, prosecutions must follow.
Lives have been lost and corporate crime is as culpable as human offending. It has been a travesty in recent years that larceny which would have seen a citizen prosecuted or a benefit claimant sanctioned was condoned in the financial world. That cannot be allowed to happen in this instance.
It’s not just the actions or inactions of corporations, institutions or individuals. There have been years of political neglect, as both locals and the Mayor of London have stated. The victims were overwhelmingly poor and marginalised, resident in the tower block, not through choice but by circumstance.
It was the only place available to them in the richest part of a hugely wealthy city. However, there’s a wider societal issue involved.
How our society views housing has changed over recent generations. Gone is the commitment to provide homes for people that came about during slum clearance pre and post-war.
It’s been replaced by housing becoming an asset to be traded and a vehicle for profit, like any other commodity. As a consequence, homelessness has returned to haunt us and owning a property has become an unaffordable dream for many.
That’s shown most starkly in Kensington and Chelsea, a London borough unable to provide decent homes for its citizens. Indeed, in more recent years a form of ethnic cleansing has taken place as the poor and marginalised have been removed to make way for the rich and powerful.
The only hope of a council tenancy was an abode in a more northern city far from friends and family or a block like Grenfell Tower.
This hasn’t just affected the poor but the low-paid and public servants. I recall Matt Wrack, the Fire Brigade Union leader, telling me of London firefighters unable to afford to live in the city and who hot bedded when on shift in a bedsit, returning to their families in Middlesbrough when off duty. It’s not just firefighters but police officers, nurses and others who can’t afford to live within the sound of Bow Belles. There’s huge hypocrisy in the lauding by the Tories of the Fire Service. The firefighters deserve all of the praise, albeit it’s not just Tory cuts but also the actions on pay and pensions that harmed the service.
Cities need all sorts, not just the super-rich, otherwise the community is distorted its its viability is undermined. But, rather than providing homes for people, property has become an asset to make grow or accumulate.
That has led to the absurdity of empty properties in a place where there’s a chronic shortage of housing. However, it suits a few to see their property portfolio increase in value, albeit at the expense of the many.
One of the greatest actions of a pre-Second World War Labour Government was the Housing Act brought in by John Wheatley in 1924. It saw council houses built to deliver slum clearance and a drive for decent homes for all.
Even Tory governments post-war continued that drive, whether with new towns or new builds. It was a priority for a decent society. Housing was about homes for people, keeping our society and our economy healthy.
That changed with Margaret Thatcher and right to buy and the situation has worsened since. The wholesale sell-off of council housing stock at a discount was a political decision to develop a middle class and to end what was perceived as council control through low rents. Instead, it has created a shortage of public rentals and the dream of ownership has turned to dust for many, especially the young.
Now buy to let and even AirBnB are fuelling price rises and reducing available stock, whether to rent or buy; hard times for renters and buyers.
London is where this is at its most stark, with the homeless banished and the low paid travelling long journeys from the very fringes to work. Scotland has been less badly affected, though both trends exist in this country.
However, the pressures faced here are less severe than in the south and the actions of the Scottish Government in ending right to buy and building public housing have ameliorated the situation.
Many further changes are needed but the culture, too, must change. Suitable accommodation, regardless of tenure, must be available for our people. Homelessness needs to be tackled and decent accommodation must be a right for all, not just those with means.
It’s time to realise that a house is a home, not an asset in a portfolio.
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