In the aftermath of the riots, I’ve been musing over the attitude that people should be grateful for their social housing and that it’s a privilege and that anyone who acts against society should be stripped of that privilege. The notion seems to be that society is giving ‘them’ something and ‘they’ could have no quibbles or complaints with society as a result. Is it possible that a person could receive something and still not be happy? Would it be disrespectful to look a gift-horse in the mouth? Should council tenants be grateful for what they have or could they have a right to be angry?
The allegory
If society gave out free doughnuts to the starving then the starving would be grateful. At first. But, if society continued to hand out only doughnuts then the people reliant on that would become discontent. Man can not live on doughnuts alone. Despite receiving things from society, the needy would have cause for complaint because they would still suffer malnourishment, scurvy, mood swings etc. This is not such a ridiculous example if one considers that one of the most infamous sayings in history is “Let them eat cake“. Despite uncertain origins, that well known phrase represents the well off neither understanding or caring for the problems of the poor.
So what’s my point? Well, during the winter I personally saw people waving signs out of their Wandsworth Council provided homes that declared they were suffering from severe mould within their dwellings. The BBC reported this problem hence the flags and signs being used to attract attention and to shame the council for not acting. The Council’s blanket answer was to turn the heating up and open windows. Having the heating on 24 hours a day is not environmentally friendly nor is it necessarily conducive to pleasant living and having the windows open all day during the middle of winter is not necessarily good for your health – although pneumonia to some may be preferable to the furry growths that the mould causes. This problem was not restricted to Wandsworth, residents of Plymouth Council housing schemes voted for an independent firm to take over management of the estates after the council claimed it didn’t have enough money to fix major damp problems.
Fire safety is a serious issue too. The Lakanal Estate fire in Camberwell killed six people, including three children, on 3 July 2009. Although an investigation is still underway, investigations of another building in the block have shown many ‘botched modifications’ that could lead to the easy spread of fire. It seems highly likely that the deaths were preventable. In a recent Guardian article, it was claimed that three quarters of all social housing blocks could be unsafe in terms of fire risk.
And of course, estates commonly have gang and criminal cultures that make them dangerous and unsafe places to live. The government has been very quick to point this out and to blame the riots on these ‘types’. But there are many people who live on estates, surrounded by gangs and criminals of all sorts, who will feel frightened and possibly angry about it. As Yoda says, “Fear is the path to the darkside. Fear leads to anger”. We know that the looting and rioting included many people who were athletes, teaching assistants and other non-typical gang-bangers. These opportunists were people who live alongside gangs, drug dealers and other criminals, not habitual criminals themselves. Could they have been angry about not being protected from crime?
As Ravi Govindia of Wandsworth Council says, “Having the long-term security of a council flat or house is a privileged position that, as the waiting lists show, many people aspire to.” But, is social housing the hallowed ground that would inspire long waiting lists? Or is it simply that the private sector is so bad that even an unhealthy, firetrap amongst criminals is preferable to the unhealthy firetrap being rented to you someone who ought to be a criminal. According to Shelter, 7.4 million homes in England fail to meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard, 1.4 million children in England live in bad housing and 654,000 households in England are overcrowded. Perhaps social housing is popular because the private sector is so bad.
So, although popular, the reality of council housing can be an unhealthy, unsafe, threatening place where the landlord ignores concerns or fails to act while complaining about costs. If you were worried about being burned alive, freezing to death, catching diseases or being shot on your doorstep and no one was doing anything about it, would you not be angry, disrespectful?
I am not excusing looting or rioting. I am merely addressing the attitude that people should be grateful for society’s cast-off cake, even if what they need is a home cooked meal.
