Edinburgh Anarchists

Old-but disturbing report on the devastating effects of poor housing on children at the Evening News. There can be no solution to social problems that doesn’t deal with economic issues like this. Though it’s 5 years old, this report by Shelter that was the basis of the story is still relevant — perhaps more now that the housing bubble is being propped up by cuts to social provision.

POOR housing and deprivation are helping create a generation of Scottish “buggy babies” crippled and deformed by being left for long periods in pushchairs.

The children have skulls and spines misshapen after being left unsupported in their buggies because the accommodation their family lives in is too cramped or unhygienic to allow the child to crawl about on the floor, according to a new report.

Anyone on the average salary (that’s £25,000, more than most people globally could dream of) knows that buying a home to live in has become virtually impossible. This isn’t the story usually told in newspapers (who have very profitable property supplements), where rises in house prices are prayed for as fervently as visions of the Madonna in Ireland, with just as much basis in reality.

If you had a house before prices went crazy, you have a huge amount of pretend money. If you didn’t, you won’t. Ever. A house no longer costs 3-4 times your salary, it’s 7 or 8.

Now some minor government functionary says: fugged abaht it. You ain’t getting one. Rent forever. Raise kids in a place where you can be turfed out at the whim of one of the Propertied Classes. Don’t decorate. Don’t even put posters up. No you can’t insulate better, pay the ever-increasing heating bill instead.

Which we knew anyway. What’s the solution?

Here’s one. Since there’s a drought of nice, secure council / social housing since the introduction of the Right to Buy in the 1980s, why don’t we level the playing field a bit?

Let’s not abandon the Right to Buy, let’s extend it to privately-owned homes. If I’ve lived in a place for a certain number of years, it is mine, treat it the same as if it were a mortgage. Landlord’s got their money back several times over.

It takes the sound principle of ownership by use, the proven popularity of right-to-buy and it’s a win in terms of increasing equality.

What do you think?

Recently, ECAP held a training session on welfare rights and the notes related to that are now available online.

They cover the following topics:

1. Community Care Grants and the Social Fund
2. Debt (also Electricity and Gas Guide)
3. Disability Living Allowance
4. Employment and Support Allowance (formerly Incapacity Benefit)
5. Local Housing Allowance and Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit
6. Job Seekers Allowance
7. Carers Allowance and To Claim or Not To Claim.
8. Premiums for Income Support and other benefits