Eviction resistance: Lewisham family and protesters stave off bailiffs
A family and group of protesters sent a team of bailiffs packing when they came to evict them from their council home of two years.
The family, which had three children starting school this week, had been placed in the accommodation in Swallands Road, Bellingham, by Lewisham council.
London Renters Union, an organisation that helps renters with housing problems, organised protesters to resist bailiffs that had come to evict the family.
It said their member was being made “intentionally homeless” by Lewisham council.
Eviction resisted in Bellingham today. Our member – who has lived in his home for two years with his three children – must be suitably rehoused by @LewishamCouncil urgently, instead of being left to the bailiffs again. His children are about to start school. pic.twitter.com/p0rwDnupmz
— London Renters Union – Lewisham Branch (@LRU_Lewisham) September 5, 2022
In a statement on Twitter, London Renters Union said: “Our member and his family were promised that their current home would be the last temporary accommodation (TA) property they would be in before being offered long-term accommodation.
“[The council] told the family they had to move to another TA property. When our member refused, citing the council’s promise, the council responded with an eviction.”
A Lewisham council spokesman said: “We have been liaising with the family and the London Renters Union over the last few months in relation to their housing situation.
“As the family are no longer eligible for social housing, they are required to vacate the current property and make alternative arrangements, as this property is needed to house other families on our housing waiting list.
“The family will be provided with emergency accommodation to ensure they and their children continue to have a safe place to live – it is wrong to suggest that the family would have been made street homeless if the eviction had proceeded.
“We will continue liaising with the family and the London Renters Union to help them make alternative arrangements for the longer term.”
Picture top: Swallands Road, where the family resisted eviction from bailiffs (picture: Google Maps)Â
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