The charred remains of Grenfell Tower visible across London are a horrific reminder of the inequalities on our doorstep.  It is now incumbent on us all to collectively step up and effect the necessary change.  As someone who has fundraised for half of my life for many deserving causes I feel compelled beyond measure to do something to galvanise those able to right this wrong – as quickly and as practicably as possible.

Councils are selling off vast swathes of land to greedy developers to mitigate stringent budget cuts. Fair rent officers are a thing of the past and those very front line workers who heroically mop up the fall out of disasters such as this – be they fire fighters or nurses – are unable to afford homes whilst landlords can charge what they want for properties that are simply not up to scratch.

I met a palliative care nurse who told me that two of her friends had perished in the fire.  She lived there herself 10 years ago and said to me that even then there were concerns that safety measures were not addressed despite the efforts of residents to alert RBKC to the dangers.  A friend of mine who is a counsellor went to the site to offer trauma counselling and was unable to find any council representative to speak to.

Whitehall have dragged their feet over the social housing issue for years, or worse, swept it under the carpet.  Whatever the outcome of the enquiry into what happened at Grenfell Tower it is likely that installing sprinklers would have necessitated relocating tenants whilst this work was done and was no doubt deemed to be too expensive.  Cutting costs in this way is criminally negligent and in this case had people living in a tower block that ignited from top to bottom in minutes due to cheap modifications and blatant disregard for the residents’ valid and repeated concerns.

The layers of culpability for this tragedy are becoming apparent.  The Coroner’s recommendations following the inquest into the Lakanal House fire in 2009 were ignored.  This must not be allowed to happen again.

It is all very well to relocate Grenfell Tower residents who have lost their homes but how are they supposed to even modestly equip their new homes when so many already have difficulty putting dinner on the table for their families?  My sister, who lives nearby, has been volunteering to co-ordinate the tsunami of donations that are flooding into the area and no RBKC representatives are anywhere to be seen to help or to arrange storage for the overflow.  The community are rallying and those responsible for this catastrophe are hiding.

The way I see it a Social Housing Refurbishment Fund should be set up immediately and managed independently by experts to ensure that funds are dispersed without political agenda.   The larger grant making organisations can surely collaborate to contribute substantial sums which should be matched by the government so that at the very least tower blocks can be refurbished to meet health and safety standards and not just to look pretty for the neighbours.  The finance sector and large corporations should also now step up to the mark. Not only by digging deep into their profit margins but by coming together and managing this project to demonstrate the true meaning of social responsibility.

@jrfblogs

June 2017