Housing plan could be shabby 25/9/2005. Dear Sir, Richard Osley's article on empty homes (Town Hall backing for plan to grab homes lying empty, CNJ, 8 Sep) makes the council's idea sound reasonable, but this could be a repeat of the short life farce of the early seventies. At that time, Camden rented shabby houses to West Hampstead Housing Association, now Pathmeads, a member of the Genesis Housing Group often for as little as £2 per week. They put in four tenants at rates a little less than Camden's own tenants and did nothing to the houses except very basic fixes and the repair of water heaters. Some properties became so run down and in danger of collapse that, after twenty years of profit taking, the landlord abandoned them as a risk to people walking along the pavement. Genesis make £64,000 profit per day. Since they are a "not for profit" organsiation, they call it a surplus. I wrote to the council's chief executive to ask her to arrange for an inquiry into the runing of the so-called shortlife programme. She refused. We need this inquiry as a matter of urgency if the lessons are to be learned.   Yours sincerely   Peter Rutherford Press Relations, Independent Federation of Genesis Residents http://www.ifgr.org.uk/ Back to the web site