Meet 5.45 pm this Wed 21 March at Leith Library, 28-30 Ferry Rd, Edinburgh EH6 4AE
To go to Council Leader Adam McVey’s surgery which starts at 6 pm
Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty can now give more details of this Wednesday’s very important solidarity call-out.
Meet 5.45 pm this coming Wednesday at Leith Library to support homeless lone parent D at Council Leader Adam McVey’s surgery. We will be insisting that the Council drop the court action against her. Incredibly CEC are taking her to court to force her to pay 4,100 pounds in supposed rent arrears, all of which should be covered by Housing Benefit.
Because of these false “rent arrears” D and her young son were recently evicted from a Private Sector Leasing flat run by Link group under contract to the Council. The CEC refused to pay Housing Benefit to D despite the fact that she had no income apart from paltry benefits and no significant savings. Not content with making D and her child homeless the Council are now persecuting her via lawyers and the courts. This is an all too common example of the Council’s contempt for working class people, denying rights and acting oppressively.
Are we going to let them away with this?
Edinburgh Claimants / Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty told D’s local councillors about this injustice on 13 February, and have been pursuing the issue since then. We contacted the council leader’s office late last week. Still they refuse to drop the court action. When those in power will not listen to reason, we believe the most effective action is for people to join together and take action, as the North Edinburgh mums have shown in their inspiring actions over the last year.
We demand:
- Cancel the court action against D, to recover supposed rent arrears,
- Pay full Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit to D for the whole period of her Link tenancy,
- Ensure D and her son are allocated safe secure good housing on a permanent basis.
This action will definitely go ahead unless we get a written assurance from the Council that the court action against D is cancelled – watch out for email updates, which we aim to send by Tuesday late afternoon/ early evening at latest.
ECAP sees actions like this as vital in giving solidarity to people at the sharp end of Edinburgh’s housing crisis, and also essential as part of the process of building a movement to assert that a good home is a right for all
No to Austerity – People not Profit
