Housing campaigners stormed an Islington Council ceremony last week as they demanded action over disrepair and community safety.
By Josef Steen, Local Democracy Reporter
Housing campaigners stormed an Islington Council ceremony last night as they demanded action over disrepair and community safety.
Councillors, local MPs and others gathered at the Town Hall’s annual general meeting (AGM) last Thursday for the election of the borough’s new civic mayor.
But as those present stood in silence to welcome outgoing mayor, Anjna Khurana, protestors from ACORN renters union interrupted the procession from the chamber gallery, calling on the local authority to address housing issues.
“Islington Council, members have had enough!”, declared one demonstrator.
“Together we demand the directors of housing, property services and community safety, security and resilience to discuss issues around disrepair and safety and come to concrete solutions to government problems,” he said.
“The working people of this borough pay more every year for homes riddled with damp and mould, while children are receiving medical treatment for breathing problems.”
The campaigners added that since 2009, only 38 council homes were built on average per year in Islington, while the borough’s social housing waitlist had grown to 16,500 people.
They added that social housing residents continued to “live in fear” due to substance misuse and unsafe conditions.
The lead protestor asked: “Do your children have to grow up around heroin needles?”
The group left shortly after the statement, but not before Labour councillor Paul Convery shot back: “Come to our surgeries any time. Don’t f**k around like this.”
In a statement given to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), an ACORN spokesperson said: “We are a union of normal working class people and we know how bad things are getting on our estates in Islington, so we’re fighting back by any means.
“We are parents, carers, workers, and council tax payers. We deserve safe housing.”
They added that campaigners were arranging a meeting with senior officers in the coming weeks to demand some “proper changes” in council properties alongside enforcement of standards in the private rented sector.
“Our union has won millions of pounds for ordinary people across the country this way. If that’s ‘f*cking around’ then we will continue to do so.”
The protest group were joined by Mr Jackson Caines, who previously stood as an Independent candidate at November’s Junction by-election, losing to Labour’s James Potts by a narrow margin of 225.
According to Islington Council, between 2009 and the end of January 2024, the Town Hall built 580 “new, high quality, genuinely affordable council homes”.
