Housing Association Bosses Get Huge Pay Rises

Posted: November 27, 2001 | Filed under: Privatisation / Sell Offs | Comments Off on Housing Association Bosses Get Huge Pay Rises
As the Labour Government pushes more and more for the total abolition of council housing, the bosses of the Housing Associations who are set to benefit, get massive pay awards. The figures below are taken from The Guardian newspaper – we’ve added the local details. Who’s benefiting from this – the tenants or those already earning a ludicrously high wage? Another report in the same paper points the finger at the new levels of bureacracy within many Housing Associations.

Pay rise details for local housing association bosses:

Tony Shoults of Metropolitan Housing Trust – who make up half of Canalside, the developers of Haggerston East and Whitmore gets an 8.1% pay rise taking him to £92855.

Richard McCarthy, who with the Peabody Trust brought us the Glasshouse on Murray Grove (rents now start at £160 per week) and Cremer Street (£200 a week) is on £114022 a week,a 15.2% pay rise.

Michael Morris of the William Sutton Trust gets a 7.8% pay rise taking him to £97,000. Tenants on the Sutton Estate by Old Street will no doubt be interested in seeing if he breaks the £100,000 a year barrier next year.

The average Chief Exec pay in the top 100 housing associations is now £88,000.

Fury over housing bosses’ fat cat salaries

Hackney IWCA Hits Out at Council's Record on Abandoned Cars

Posted: November 2, 2001 | Filed under: Anti-social Behaviour, Hackney Council, Haggerston | Comments Off on Hackney IWCA Hits Out at Council's Record on Abandoned Cars

press release
2nd November 2001

In the week that the government has declared a crackdown on abandoned cars, community activists from Hackney Independent have hit out at the council for its failure to act over dumped cars on the estates of the borough and have launched a “shame the council” web page.

Hackney IWCA (Hackney Independent as of summer 2004) spokesperson Carl Taylor said that “Hackney Council have the power to remove abandoned cars within a week of them being reported but in most cases are failing to act within a month or even longer. On the Kingsland Estate in Haggerston, out of 5 cars reported to the council by Hackney Independent only one has been removed and more are starting to pile up. The council put stickers on two of the cars claiming they would be removed but they are still there 3 weeks later.”

He added that “Abandoned cars are another symptom of the running down of working class areas. As far as the main political parties on the council are concerned, people who live in these areas are second class citizens so their complaints aren’t worth listening to”.

To put pressure on the council, Hackney IWCA have added a page to their website featuring pictures of the dumped cars and details of when the council has been informed about them.

Chair of Kingsland Estate Tenants Association, Anna-Maria Mari backed Hackney Independent’s campaign and added “If this was a middle class area, the council would have sorted the problem out ; these abandoned cars are dangerous and can make the whole area look like a dumping ground. We have reported these cars to the council ourselves but nothing has been done.”

Carl Taylor added “The council doesn’t seem to take any notice of the concerns of working class tenants. If it’s down to us to shame them into acting then so be it”.

Half the Story – Council Rubbishes Hackney IWCA Survey Claims

Posted: November 1, 2001 | Filed under: Hackney Council | Comments Off on Half the Story – Council Rubbishes Hackney IWCA Survey Claims
In response to Hackney IWCA’s (Hackney Independent as of summer 2004) press release on 2nd October (Hackney Independent Slams Council’s MORI poll) Hackney Council has suggested in the Hackney Gazette that our criticisms are “ridiculous” and that they have a statutory responsibility to canvas opinions on how the council is run.
 
Fair enough, but they also have a statutory responsibility to provide repairs to flats and a basic level of services, which they clearly don’t do. So what do the council view as a priority – a PR exercise run by a company set to make thousands of pounds out of a cash-strapped borough or dealing with the day to day problems facing Hackney’s working class majority?