Living Rent members have held an anti-eviction protest in support of a local family who is facing eviction.
The Living Rent Govanhill branch held the protest in order to resist the eviction of Steven, a local social tenant, and his family by Govanhill Housing Association.
The attempted eviction is a result of rent arrears accrued because of a shortfall between the benefits the tenant receives and the cost of his rent.
The eviction order was obtained at Glasgow Sheriff Court on May 17 with over 250 of Steven’s neighbours signing a petition opposing the eviction.
The tenant has since then been granted discretionary housing payment which will cover a significant amount of the rent arrears owed.
Living Rent representatives say that their efforts to open a dialogue with Govanhill Housing Association have been stonewalled. They report that when a union delegation visited the landlord’s offices to request a meeting, Govanhill Housing Association responded that they “did not believe a meeting to discuss Mr Murphy’s rent arrears will be productive”.
Tenants union representatives state they will resist the eviction by any means available to them. They report over 50 local residents have volunteered to resist the eviction, with a “phone tree” established in order to respond quickly to any attempt to force Steven’s family from their home.
At noon yesterday, local residents came together in a demonstration of solidarity with Steven’s family.
Steven said: “We’ve been waiting for the hammer to fall every day since the eviction order was granted. It has been torture for our family not knowing when sheriff officers will be at the door. We’re in a much better position now to repay what we owe but Govanhill Housing Association doesn’t want to hear it. They have refused to even meet with us.”
Local resident Maggie added: “Govanhill Housing Association cannot claim to be evicting their tenant as a 'last resort' when they have refused to even meet with them. The Govanhill community stands against this eviction and is prepared to resist it. On Kenmure Street we saw the power a community can have when it makes up its mind. Whether it’s the Home Office, rogue landlords or supposedly ‘social’ landlords, Glasgow’s communities will always defend their own.”
Annie Macfarlane, Govanhill Housing Association Chair, and local resident says: ‘We understand the complex set of pressures on the lives of our tenants and only commence recovery action as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted.
"We try to assist those in difficulty in a variety of ways including offering them assistance from our welfare benefits team. We also encourage those facing difficulties to make contact with us and where tenants do not engage with us immediately, we make various attempts to contact and advise.
"If someone does not engage with us and all attempts at contact fail, we however have no alternative but to begin proceedings against them as it is unfair on all our other tenants when we lose rental income as a result.
"Unfortunately, confidentiality prevents us from discussing the particular circumstances of this case, however we can confirm that we have taken every step to support this tenant, including asking Govan Law Centre to make proactive contact to ensure they are getting independent legal advice.
"We can confirm that as the tenant was present at our office on the 5th of August, we took that opportunity to engage with him and will be meeting with him next week."
