grenfell tower and new homes

By a Grenfell survivor.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/23/why-did-they-wait-for-people-to-die-grenfell-survivor-anger

www.commonspace.scot/articles/11210/ben-wray-victims-grenfell-deserve-more-resignations-heres-what-we-should-do

I doubt whether people who have lost everything in Grenfell Tower are reading Gransnet or the website of those who set up that petition.

Did you miss the speech marks? Those words are in the article about the petition. Not my words.

POGS, have you not thought that it is because of things like those petitions started on 16th by lawyers that May then made the speech that she did about amnesties?

Downing Street says private landlords will NOT be compelled to test for flammable materials.

Never let someone's death get in the way of a good profit.

Noting your post of 10.20

" We must ask these questions after Grenfell. We must ask them now because they matter now.

If you have options you don’t make your home in Grenfell Tower. You lived there only if you lacked an alternative. If your circumstances forced you to place too low a premium on your safety. People on the margins, sharing high-density, unsafe, sometimes illegally sub-let or over-occupied, spaces. People unable to command a proper wage. People in the UK without proper documents.

What happens to those most vulnerable people now? Homeless, destitute, sick, or worse? Can they reach out for help? Can they access Government monies? Can they ask for some compensation for injury or death? "
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This has been done by the government. ALL of the Grenfell Tower residents , including those who are of an illegal status, are getting the same assistance.

What is your point, I don't understand asking questions that have been answered.

If for example it is proven down the line any illegal immigrants who resided in Grenfell Tower were not given the correct government help as stated I could understand there being a query but they have been asked to come forward to receive the same assistance as everybody else who resided in Grenfell Tower.

I reiterate I take your position in agreeing with the reason why people lived in Grenfell Tower as a slight on the residents from Grenfell Tower.

Are you saying nobody was in employment, looked after their homes , felt at ease with the community. It must be because you are happy to agree with comments such as ' If you have options you don’t make your home in Grenfell Tower. '. 'People on the margins ', 'People unable to command a proper wage. People in the UK without proper documents.'

What do those sort of comments do for residents in Grenfell Tower who are employed, cared for their homes and lived decent, honest lives?. How do you think they feel when reading those comments.

durhamjen

" The petition was set up on 16th, when it was clear that people were too frightened to come forward because they were worried about what the authorities would do."

So what were you trying to achieve by posting a link to the petition on the 23rd ? I don't understand what point you were making.

This problem of presumably 'sub letting' to possible illegal immigrants probably will have been the reason people were reported as sleeping in cars or not making themselves known to the authorities. They feared being made known to the authorities for obvious reasons. Not that that stopped the blame game of some who elected to say it was because they had been abandoned to politicise the tragedy.

So why this need for an amnesty, POGS?

Look at the figures. Compare the number of people accounted for in Grenfell with the number of people moved out of each similar Camden block. Where are they all?

" Whatever they are offered, it will be better than Grenfell Tower.

As a report I read said, nobody lived in Grenfell Tower if they'd been offered somewhere better."
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There are conflicting views , as always.

I saw a couple being interviewed who had escaped the fire. They said they had just got their flat how they wanted it but had no insurance and have lost everything. They liked living there and loved their flat.

I think it is a shame for those who lived in Grenfell Tower to be somehow thought of as 'ALL' living in poverty and squalor which is the picture 'some' like to create.

There will be residents who will have taken a pride in their homes and they must be feeling the world thinks of me in that way?. Well I don't and I just wish the band of people who have no actual knowledge stop castigating the Grenfell Tower residents as Poor and ALL living in virtual rat pits of accommodation.

Haven't they suffered enough without having to listen or read people saying they lived as such!

'We must ask these questions after Grenfell. We must ask them now because they matter now.

If you have options you don’t make your home in Grenfell Tower. You lived there only if you lacked an alternative. If your circumstances forced you to place too low a premium on your safety. People on the margins, sharing high-density, unsafe, sometimes illegally sub-let or over-occupied, spaces. People unable to command a proper wage. People in the UK without proper documents.

What happens to those most vulnerable people now? Homeless, destitute, sick, or worse? Can they reach out for help? Can they access Government monies? Can they ask for some compensation for injury or death?

The truth is this.

Confronted with a threat of deportation, how can anyone ask for help, for justice? Knowing it may be cheaper by far for the Government to expel them? Better perhaps to melt back destitute, physically diminished, into the shadowlands.

But we all have the right to the protection of the law. That’s what the Magna Carta says. In a country like the United Kingdom we are all entitled to sleep safely. That the weakest amongst us should be so woefully let down by authorities – and then denied justice for that betrayal is intolerable. We should not tolerate it.'

From the petition. The Good Law Society is also looking into setting up a trust for the Grenfell people.

The petition was set up on 16th, when it was clear that people were too frightened to come forward because they were worried about what the authorities would do.

durhamjen

Why is there a petition for an amnesty?

I must be missing something.

The PM has stated :-

" And I would also like to reassure people that we will not use this tragic incident as a reason to carry out immigration checks on those involved or on those providing vital information to identify victims or those assisting with the criminal investigation.

We will make sure that all victims, irrespective of their immigration status, will be able to access the services they need, including healthcare and accommodation. ".

I did read something about this just after the fire, but I had forgotten about them. They've done the right thing to protect the reputation of the charity.

What next?

Doesn't the council have to give those?
Kensington gave council tax rebates to the rich who had paid the most. Didn't have any to spare for the fireproof cladding.

Just seen this.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/23/two-shelter-board-members-derek-myers-tony-rice-quit-after-grenfell-tower-fire

This fire is going to have a long reach.

They will though because of the discretionary payments.

Nice. They've relaxed the rules for them, but not the benefit cap or bedroom tax, so they will probably not be able to afford those posh flats.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/23/grenfell-tenants-not-exempt-from-bedroom-tax-or-benefit-cap

What a farce.

Actually, read the news I'm not sure that many of those affected will take up the offer. Some want to move out of the area and London, others are looking at other properties available to them. Even though the properties are low rise, I'm sure some will not want to be in a large block of flats again. Only time will tell and I doubt we'll ever find out. Unfortunately, for some when they remember the tragedy, they'll think about everybody being rehoused in luxury.

Anyway, you'd think they would be pleased to have so many cleaners on site!

If the posh people don't want the others living there, they can always move somewhere else. The Grenfell Tower people don't have much choice.

I wonder if they'll have a vetting committee.

I don't think so dj. This is about the area where they're being rehoused and the quality of the properties. Apparently Kensington Row is in Kensington, but Grenfell Tower is in North Kensington and the two are very different. I'm not sure why people think like this because Kensington Row is part of a huge regeneration project. The development is on basically an old brown field site - the old phone exchange was one of the old buildings knocked down). To me regeneration projects usually mean the place was run down, which doesn't fit the the posh image of Kensington. Perhaps the project was supposed to be partly about integration.

They might change their minds when the results of the inquiry come out.

I saw an interview on TV with a woman who owns one of the luxury flats and she said words along the lines of "...it's not right that those people should be moved in." Now given that a good percentage of the 'affordable housing' was always to be social housing, what could she possibly mean?

Also, watch this short YouTube video from yesterday, uploaded by the Independent. Those who did not agree with the decision refused to be filmed.

Grenfell Tower What do local residents think?

You only have to look at the comments on the DM website to be convinced that a lot of people don't agree with the decision. Comments on articles about the tragedy have gone from outrage and horror, to bigoted and sneering.

I refuse to believe that anyone ,even someone who needs to wait a bit longer for a house,would be angry or jealous of someone from Grenfell getting housed first .I know there are some odd folk around but I do believe the best comes out in people under crisis

Yes - like Hillsborough, Bradford and Kings Cross improved safety at football grounds and on the tube. At least it means all the deaths and suffering improve the greater good as awful as the price others paid is.

It looks like this tragedy might be a watershed moment. It's becoming clear that the scope for further tragedy is far, far wider than tower blocks. On QT last night a member of the audience pointed out that Building Regulations have not been changed for 20 years, but I think there's been continual tinkering as government has been stripping away at so-called red tape. Other posters have mentioned sprinklers and the recent change meaning they're no longer mandatory in new schools. I hope a full review of the Building Regulations will now follow.