chair

What is Phoenix?

* a self-governing, member-run Co-operative
* a registered social landlord, housing single people on low incomes
* an affordable, accessible option for living in an increasingly expensive area
* a growing, diversifying organisation meeting local housing needs
* a community of interesting people who have chosen to live an alternative lifestyle
* a place to learn new skills and make new friends
* the best landlord most of us have ever had

What isn't Phoenix?

* geographic - We exist in an ever-changing collection of properties spread out around Hackney and Tower Hamlets
* static - We also have an ever-changing membership and as an organisation are growing and branching out into new projects
* an easy touch - Long gone are the days when we could afford to carry large amounts of arrears. If you don't pay your rent you will get evicted
* faceless bureaucracy - We have a small office with friendly, helpful and hardworking staff and NO VOICEMAIL

So?

Phoenix is a Co-operative. You get out what you put in. Do nothing and you'll know little about how the co-op runs and get little chance of the flat of your dreams. Put in a few hours here and there - the odd meeting, mail out or a bit of handy work - then the co-op works more smoothly, you get a warm fuzzy feeling of a good deed done AND you get higher priority to transfer into one of the jammier properties when they come up. Add to that the making of some new friends, learning new skills and having a say in the major decisions made by your landlord. Can't go wrong, really.

Penny Quinton, Chair

My name is Penny Quinton and I was elected chair of Phoenix in April of this year, after Lisa Schmidt stood down following seven years of being an excellent chair through a great deal of change and upheaval; changes such as the hand back of the Na.g’s Head estate to Peabody after which it seemed likely that Phoenix would shrink to a 55-unit coop.

However Phoenix was lucky in gaining the Poplar Harca properties at the last hour through the skillful negotiations by Colin Lock and we are now a 350 strong membership.

I joined Phoenix in August 2005 when my private tenancy had come to a natural end and I didn’t have the required deposit for a new privately rented place. I first lived on the Nags’ Head estate in Jellico House off of Columbia Road.

Colin showed myself and a potential flat mate (we had never met before) a scary dark abode with lurid peach fixtures and a bottle green shag carpet; we quailed but in our mutual housing desperation arranged a lunch date to get to know each other and to plan how we could make the flat a great place to live.

We sanded floors and painted and painted and then upon completion partied and partied to celebrate finishing decorating and escaping the threat of homelessness.

Phoenix was a lifesaver.

Soon after joining I became involved in all the co-op’s committees to try to understand what Phoenix was and how it worked. Being involved in the committees led me into a massive learning curve: it was difficult at times, with tough decisions to vote on, but it was exciting and fulfilling to take a proactive role in running my own housing.

Phoenix continues to provide the best housing security I have had as an adult.

I believe strongly in campaigning for the right to housing and in these austere times it seems appropriate to remind ourselves of the fact that the UK is signed up to the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN ESCR). Why? Because Article 11 of the ESCR protects our right to housing and shelter. It says:

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for their self and their family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cescr.htm

The Joint Committee on Human Rights also recommended in its report A Bill of Rights for the UK?

‘… that any British Bill of Rights should protect the right to housing’.

The Northern Ireland Commission on Human Rights advised the UK government that a Bill of Rights for the province should protect a range of economic and social rights, including a right to accommodation.

The right to adequate housing is the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity, requiring: adequate privacy, space, security, lighting and ventilation, as well as adequate infrastructure and location with regard to work and basic facilities - all at a reasonable cost.

Such high and noble- sounding concepts fail – as does so much of the language of international human rights law – to reflect reality here on the ground; the pricy reality of London living for single people on precarious incomes.

So just where is our right to housing?

The facts on the ground are that London rents in the private sector are among the most expensive in the world – and are increasing year on year.

Yet wages have remained frozen in real terms. So the possibility of saving for a mortgage deposit is beyond the reach of many.

Individual debt is increasing – especially with the abolition of free higher education: long-term debt is expected to be aggravated further by the proposed increases in student fees from 2012.

How can it be possible for single people whose backgrounds do not involve inheritances or trust funds to begin saving for a mortgage deposit to build a secure housing future?

At the same time, the future of rented accommodation looks over-crowded. The government has decided that people under 35 should not receive enough in Housing Benefit payments to rent a one-person flat, it is government policy that house-shares should be the only housing option available to people on low incomes.

A new vision for social housing is urgently needed as an answer to this spiraling crisis.

As single people our right to housing is assessed by local authorities as being not quite as statutory as an ‘inalienable’ human right should be – mainly due to the devastating depletion of social housing since prime minister Thatcher introduced the ‘right to buy’ council housing – and made it illegal for councils to spend the proceeds on more social housing stock; an ideological project that blitzed secure and plentiful social housing for all.

Now there is an extreme shortage of social housing This means that only those recognized as being in the most extreme need will be housed rather then as was the original intention of social housing that everyone be housed, as is their right under international law in decent affordable dwellings. Very few single people will be recognized as being in desperate enough need. That is a major reason why Phoenix needs to exist.

Charities that campaign to prevent homelessness have been saying for years that the government must address this lack of decent and affordable housing.

Phoenix also has a role to play in lobbying for more provision of social housing for single people on low incomes and providing it.

Phoenix provides for its members the possibility to live in London, paying a reasonable rent, in a home that we can decorate and furnish to our own taste and budget, free of the constraints of paying huge rent deposits.

That situation is a rarity in the current climate of housing politics and policies. We need to protect it. To do that, we need to protect Phoenix itself as a viable co-op: and that means we all need to pay our rent on time, avoid getting into rent arrears and make sure that empty rooms in shared properties are promptly let.

The few members who consider Phoenix to be ‘soft touch’ or a system to be ‘played’ by withholding rent do more than steal from the rest of us: they damage the co-op’s ability to fund the development of longer-term and secure solutions for permanent Phoenix homes in London.

Voids in shared properties cost the coop over one hundred thousand pounds in the last year. That is the amount of money that we are putting into the Spey Street development project. Because of those voids, we had go to banks (ethical banks to be sure) for loan financing secured on coop owned properties.

If you get into difficulties with your rent please speak to Colin in the Phoenix office as soon as possible to prevent the situation getting out of hand. Those with large arrears face the prospect of eviction.

In the words of former chair Lisa: “Phoenix is a Co-operative. You get out what you put in. If you do nothing you will know little about how the co-op runs – and you will get little chance of the flat of your dreams”.

In conclusion I want to say well done and thank you to Colin for managing to secure more short term properties from a new housing provider, Hackney homes and to wish a warm welcome to all our new members in Shakespeare house and welcome also to Reece Lock who has taken on the role of temporary housing assistant for the duration of the Shakespeare house licences.

The Spey Street development project is part of the Phoenix strategy for acquiring longer-term housing for members. It is an exciting new development, managed by Carlita McKnight who is soon to be supported by two new workers – the volunteer coordinator and site manager.

The project is to take nine studio flats on Spey Street, Poplar, that are currently out of use – and for Phoenix members to refurbish them as homes for Phoenix members for at least seven years.

Volunteers on the project will be able to hone their skills by putting in a few hours here and there, or more if they want. Again in the words of Lisa, ‘this also offers you higher priority for transfer into one of the “jammier” properties when they come up’.

Add to that the making of some new friends, learning of some new skills and having a say in the major decisions made by yourself as part of a collective landlord – you can’t go wrong.

Phoenix needs your skills and talents and looks forward to working with you so we can build the homes we need to have a decent and stable life in London.

Penny Quinton