Islington appeals to housing association to keep commune open

The London Borough of Islington has urged a social landlord not to close one of London’s last remaining housing communes.

Landlord One Housing is trying to take back two joined houses in Islington Park Street from a group that lives there communally, and also from a similar commune in Crescent Road, Kingston-upon-Thames.

The landlord argues that it does not know who is living in either house and needs vacant access to carry out renovations.

Communes developed in the 1970s in the two houses, which were owned by the now-defunct Patchwork Housing. Its properties later passed to One Housing.
Islington passed a full council motion which noted that the houses accommodate residents who “live communally like an extended family of people aged between 19 and 79 years of different genders, sexual orientations, and ethnic backgrounds”.

It urged One Housing to suspend a notice to quit issued to them and asked it to “engage in dialogue with the council about [its] intentions” and to “work with residents to formalise the tenancy agreements, management arrangements, and allocations policy…so that this unique community can continue their way of life”.

The council said One Housing first served a notice to quit in 2009, but entered formal mediation after the intervention of local MP Emily Thornberry, although this broke down in 2010.

One Housing said in a statement that it had served the notice to quit on residents in both houses “to be able to carry out its responsibilities as a landlord and to ensure that the properties remain fit for purpose”.

It said occupants had refused to co-operate with attempts to put sound housing management in place, and “as a result, there are no adequate arrangements in place for managing these properties effectively and the current practice falls foul of many policies, procedures and legislation”.

The landlord said it could not tell who lived in the houses or how their places had been allocated.

Once the notice took effect it would re-house those legitimately entitled to social housing and assist others to find accommodation elsewhere.

The council motion said One Housing might sell the house off at a substantial profit. But the landlord said it had no plans yet for either house until it and been able to assess their condition. It added that if they were sold, any profits would be ploughed back into housing provision.