We shall not,
We shall not be moved,
We shall not,
We shall not be moved,
Just like a tree
That's standing by the waterside,
We shall not be moved
Safe houses
We shall not be moved,
Just like a tree
That's standing by the waterside,
We shall not be moved
The children
Are our future,
We shall not be moved
Just like a tree
That's standing by the waterside,
We shall not be moved
On Thursday morning, June 29th, with its continuous rain of biblical proportions, RIC-Edinburgh members joined with the Edinburgh Campaign Against Poverty, We Are All Daniel Blake, the Scottish Unemployed Workers Network and Dundee Against Austerity to support the delegation of young women addressing a session of City of Edinburgh Council. Messages of support were also sent form Castlemilk Against Austerity and film-maker, Paul Laverty. In 2112, one of RIC-Edinburgh's first actions was to join the widely supported demonstration against the bedroom tax. This time, though, RIC's participation followed the talk given the week before by Lynn McCabe, at the 90 strong RIC-Edinburgh Assembly on Tuesday June 20th.
At this meeting, Lynn explained that the young
women involved in the campaign to stop families being evicted because of the
benefit cap were unable to attend the meeting tonight due to childcare
difficulties. Lynn is a community worker in North Edinburgh and has been
helping to support the campaign, however, she was speaking tonight in a
personal capacity.
The campaign has identified 11
families with 42 children facing eviction from privately rented homes in North
Edinburgh due to the Benefits Cap. Some have already been evicted and
have been forced to live in appalling B & B's and hostels. The
situation has been made worse due to the families being moved outwith
their local community where they have support networks. They are
also having to travel long distances to get children to and from school.
When the families have been evicted from their homes, they must present as
homeless and basically can only take what they can carry. Their
belongings are collected on the day of their eviction and put into storage
until they are allocated permanent accommodation (currently between 12 - 18
months). It costs £60 to access items from the storage containers.
The women have never been involved
in a campaign before but felt they had no choice as their backs were
against the wall. They have been supported by local activists from North Edinburgh
and across the city. Their immediate demand is for Edinburgh Council to pay
full DHP to completely cover rent to prevent any more families from losing
their homes. They are also demanding an end to families being
allocated Bed and Breakfast accommodation and asking for families to
be housed in flats which meet acceptable standards in suitable areas as close
to their former homes as possible. In the longer term they want the
council to build more social housing, which would help to address the current
housing crisis.
The campaign is also directed
at the Scottish Government and Westminster. They want the Scottish
Parliament to allocate sufficient funds to local authorities to cover DHP,
as they were forced to do over the Bedroom Tax and they want Westminster to
scrap the benefit cap.
To date, the women have lobbied
local politicians, occupied their local housing office, held a
demonstration in the city chambers, protested outside Ruth Davidson's
constituency office and are planning a deputation at the Council Chambers on
Thursday 29th June. They are looking for support from activists from across
the city as they know that this issue is not confined to North Edinburgh.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/video-campaigners-stage-protest-in-ruth-davidson-s-office-1-4469283/amp
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