We Can’t Afford LondonStatement in response to COVID-19 crisis.
The Covid-19 crisis is the most severe of our lifetime. The government’s £7 billion “welfare bailout” pales in comparison to the £350 billionn bailout for the bosses. It is clear that profit is being put before lives.
The end of the benefit freeze - while welcome - will put an additional £340/month in the pockets of landlords, while giving benefit claimants only an additional £83/month. The government’s temporary ban on evictions is not being implemented; NHS staff have been evicted; Shelter estimates that 20,000 evictions could take place in the next three months.
One million people - many who work in the private sector - look set to lose their jobs. Many of these people, including agency workers and those self-employed, won’t qualify to access the government’s 80% wage coverage. This will leave thousands of London workers on the breadline, most of whom live pay-cheque to pay-cheque while paying the highest rents in the country.
The Covid-19 crisis has also shown that London needs key workers, but the cost of living and renting means key workers can’t afford London even more drastically. A January 2020 survey found that 57% of nurses have considered moving out of London due to the cost of living. Key workers in London should be getting everything they need to help support them staying and working in London at this time of crisis.
Due to housing costs, London has a poverty rate of 28% - the highest in any region in the country. We see the effects of this in our classrooms, with children going hungry and basic welfare needs not being met. It is now set to get far worse as unemployment soars.
The UK government announced a three-month mortgage holiday for landlords, but with no mention of the millions of people renting. The petition to protect renters submitted on 18th March 2020 was rejected by the government. This contrasts with France and Ireland, who have suspended rents in response to the crisis. New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles in the US have already taken action to ban evictions. Why can’t London do the same?
The Covid-19 crisis has made it very clear: London needs workers, but workers can’t afford London. We are raising the demand for:
● A three-month rent holiday for all London workers.
● A six-month ban on all evictions to me implemented immediately.
Contact: info@wecantaffordlondon.org
We are members of the National Education Union in London who are demanding that London pay matches London costs. Union action on these lines would be the most effective way to force the government to take action to reduce the crippling costs of housing, childcare and transport.
These demands would be popular as they generalise to all workers in London. In the last decade, London housing prices have soared by over 70%, and rents in some areas have risen by over 40%. Both rents and house prices are more than double the national average. The cost of childcare rose seven times faster than wages between 2008-2016. Despite Sadiq Khan’s pledge to “freeze fares”, the cost of a monthly rail card is now the most expensive in the world.
Meanwhile, wages have nowhere near matched the increase in cost of living. 57% of London’s nurses say they intend to leave the capital because they have been priced out. End Child poverty have shown that after housing costs levels of child poverty in London are now the highest in the country.
This campaign seeks to bring together all workers in London who want to be part of the struggle for London pay to be brought in line with the cost of London living
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