Union members will rally outside a property management company tomorrow, to protest against the lack of social housing.

Battersea and Wandsworth TUC (BWTUC) is pushing for a change in the law, which currently sees local authorities such as Wandsworth Council give housing benefit to claimants who must immediately hand it to their to private landlords.

According to figures obtained by the GMB private management companies collected £6,191,462 in housing benefit between 2012/13 within Wandsworth

Southfield’s based Earlsfield Properties, a private property management company, indirectly received £754,298 from Wandsworth Council between 2012/13.

The firm were the second biggest recipient in Wandsworth, behind Battersea-based Investing Solutions Ltd who collected £781,194.

The protest will take place from 10:30am on Merton Road in Southfields, and will last around 20 minutes.

A council spokesman said: “Without the right to buy scheme thousands of low income households from Wandsworth would never have had the opportunity to buy their own homes and invest in their and their families future.

"It has given generations of ordinary working families a leg-up in life and we are proud of our track record in promoting this national scheme supported by successive governments to our community.

“We also believe housing benefit should be available to support households who cannot afford to pay their rent whether they are living in social rent housing or private housing.

"We should give people as much choice as possible over where they live rather than forcing everyone on low incomes into a single housing type.“

 

 


TODAY'S TOP STORIES

 

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK