Labour would do well to listen to their tenants 5/1/2006. Dear Sir, So, Cllr Julian Fulbrook wants "the best for tenants and leaseholders", does he? ("Homes boss won't 'slag off' Mr Blair", CNJ Dec 29). Then he should ask them, and asking Alan Walter of Defend Council Housing would be a good start. Perhaps he is afraid of being confronted with a few blindingly obvious truths which he still hasn't noticed: 1. There are reasons why Camden tenants were all offered free new kitchens and bathrooms to vote "Yes" to the Arms Length Management Organisation, and still said "No" overwhelmingly. They know full well what an ALMO is. It is a housing association in thin disguise. 2. They all know many people in housing associations in the borough. Genesis Housing Group, which incorporates Sutherland, Paddington Churches and Pathmeads (previously the bankrupt West Hampstead HA) refuse to recognise or fund their principal tenants association, the Independent Federation of Genesis Residents, run their management board and annual general meetings behind closed doors, run a worthless complaints procedure which culminates in the Housing Ombudsman Service which is funded by the landlords and has failed, in my experience, to achieve any improvement. The story Nurses' fury at being left to freeze (CNJ, Dec 29) is an almost exact carbon copy of an article in Time Out on February 20th 2002 when precisely the same problems were being raised, and about which Genesis, in this case Sutherland HA, appear to have done nothing. How will there be change if the complaints procedure is rubbish, and the Ombudsman is worth less than a chocolate teapot? Of course, Cllr Fulbrook, your tenants want none of this. You accuse Alan Walter of megaphone diplomacy because it is a wonderful metaphor. But it is a million miles from the truth. Mr. Walter is fighting a successful campaign because he has tenants behind him, and the proper arguments in the debate support his case. Alan and his fellow tenants will win, and should he continue to be the Executive Member of Housing, Cllr Fulbrook would do well to do rather more listening and rather less shooting off steam. Yours sincerely, Peter Rutherford Press relations, IFGR.   Back to the IFGR web site Back to the WHHA/Pathmeads web site