Blog: Tags > Housing
FEBRUARY 09, 2024
Sanctuary housing maintenance workers vote to strike
The London maintenance team at the large housing association, Sanctuary have voted to strike overwhelmingly supported by members who voted 100% in favour of action on a 60% turnout. This impressive vote follows a series of disputes involving housing maintenance workers ... Read more
FEBRUARY 01, 2024
Leeds housing charity refuse to recognise Unite for pay negotiations
Unite blast Leeds housing charity Gipsil for refusing to recognise Unite for pay negotiations and will take them to the Central Arbitration Committee over lack of proper union recognition. Unite, the UK’s leading union, has blasted Leeds housing support charity Gipsil ... Read more
NOVEMBER 08, 2023
Unite signs national recognition agreement with housing and social care provider Mears
Following a long-fought campaign, Unite has secured a recognition agreement with Mears covering thousands of workers at the housing and social care provider. Mears is an outsourced housing solutions provider for construction and local authorities. It predominantly manages maintenance and repairs ... Read more
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023
Pay strikes at Kings Lynn’s largest social housing provider escalate
Freebridge housing workers on poverty pay despite £3.6m surplus and huge executive salaries Strikes at Freebridge Community Housing over poverty pay will intensify this week as Unite members take action over pay and conditions. Many of the workers, who perform a variety ... Read more
AUGUST 04, 2023
West Norfolk’s largest social housing provider hit by pay strikes
Freebridge Community Housing paying poverty wages despite £3.6m surplus Nearly 60 Freebridge Community Housing workers will strike over poverty pay, Unite, the UK’s leading union, said today (Friday). Many of the workers, who perform a variety of roles, including in cleaning and ... Read more
JULY 11, 2023
Strikes by Harlow housing workers end with pay victory
Pay strikes by over 300 staff responsible for Harlow council’s housing stock and the cleaning and maintenance of council grounds and buildings have ended with a pay victory. The workers, who are employed by HTS, which is wholly owned by Harlow district ... Read more
JUNE 28, 2023
St Mungo’s workers stage sit-in outside the charity’s corporate style headquarters
Unite members from St Mungos will be staging a sit-in outside the charity’s corporate style headquarters (St Mungo’s head office in Tower Hill, 3 Thomas More St, E1W 1YW) tomorrow from 12 midday. Workers on indefinite strike at St Mungo’s will ... Read more
JUNE 26, 2023
St Mungo’s workers to begin indefinite strike
From tomorrow (Tuesday 27 June) workers at St Mungo’s will stage an unprecedented indefinite strike accusing management of a shocking dereliction of duty towards the homeless and the charity’s own staff. This momentous decision has been provoked by the ongoing indifference ... Read more
MAY 30, 2023
Month long strike begins at St Mungo's
Workers at the homelessness charity St Mungo’s begin a month-long strike otoday in a dispute over pay. Members of Unite who work at the organisation will mount picket lines outside its head office in Tower Hill in London and in Brighton, Bristol ... Read more
MAY 09, 2023
St Mungos workers reject pay offer
Pitiful new pay offer fails to prevent month long strike at homeless Charity St Mungo’s which will begin on 30 May and end on 26 June. A month long strike by workers at the homeless charity St Mungo’s will go ahead ... Read more
APRIL 20, 2023
Report finds poor social housing is pushing young people into homelessness
A new report from Centrepoint exploring the housing aspirations of young people with experiences of homelessness has found that vulnerable young people are being pushed into homelessness by overcrowding and lack of safety in local authority housing. Centrepoint’s new report, Somewhere to ... Read more
APRIL 19, 2023
St Mungo’s strike suspended following new offer
Strike action due to begin on Monday 24 April has been suspended and a new pay offer will now be put to members. The four-week strike followed a ballot of over 500 workers and returned a 93% vote for strike action. Dedicated ... Read more
APRIL 19, 2023
Harlow council housing repair chaos increases as more pay strikes set
300 low paid outsourced workers employed by council owned firm being ripped off over pay Pay strikes by over 300 low paid staff responsible for Harlow council’s housing stock and the cleaning and maintenance of council grounds and buildings will continue ... Read more
MARCH 06, 2023
Rebellion at St Mungo’s homeless charity by underpaid and fed-up workers!
Dedicated charity workers who are fed up with greed at the top of their homeless charity while they struggle to make ends meet are now being balloted for strike action. With the St Mungo's CEO paid more than £189,000 (according to ... Read more
FEBRUARY 17, 2023
Outsourced Harlow housing repair and grounds workers to strike over pay
Over 300 staff responsible for Harlow council housing stock and cleaning and maintenance of council grounds and buildings will strike over pay in late February. The workers, members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, are employed by HTS, which is a wholly owned subsidiary ... Read more
FEBRUARY 03, 2023
Wirral housing workers to strike over deadly asbestos fears
Workers at social housing landlord Magenta Living are to take extensive strike action over fears that new working practices will expose them to asbestos. The 100 plus workers, who are members Unite, the UK’s leading union, are employed in repairs and ... Read more
JANUARY 12, 2023
Shelter pay dispute ends as workers receive improved offer
The long running pay dispute at housing and homelessness charity Shelter has ended after workers accepted a vastly improved pay offer. Over 600 members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, took strike action last December over pay. During the strike action talks ... Read more
JANUARY 11, 2023
As industrial action by housing workers enters its twenty-third week without resolution, Unite demands Department for Communities intervention Thousands of social housing tenants are left without needed repair and maintenance work as a result of management intransigence. Unite the union has written ... Read more
DECEMBER 13, 2022
Shelter management accused of spreading misinformation as strike at charity enters second week
Workers at Shelter, who are entering the second week of an unprecedented two week strike over pay, have accused the charity's senior management of deliberately spreading misinformation. The 600 of members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, began strike action on ... Read more
DECEMBER 05, 2022
Low pay and workloads force community support workers to strike
Low pay and workloads force community support workers in Hounslow to strike - 1st strike ever in Hestia’s 50 year history Workers employed by Hestia, a referral service which provides adult services in Hounslow in London, will take strike action on 12 and ... Read more
DECEMBER 02, 2022
Shelter workers to begin strike action in pay dispute
Shelter staff work tirelessly to keep roofs over people’s heads. But senior management’s refusal to make a decent pay award means that soon, some Shelter staff will be facing the very real threat of homelessness themselves. Over 600 members of Unite, ... Read more
NOVEMBER 21, 2022
Tenants groups in Belfast and Craigavon challenge NIHE on impact of unresolved strike
Workers enter their fifteen week of strike action for improved pay as LRA-mediated talks are due to commence this week Striking housing workers at NIHE have linked up with tenants associations and residents groups across the three housing regions impacted by ... Read more
NOVEMBER 10, 2022
Shelter workers announce two weeks of strike action in pay dispute
Over 500 workers at the housing charity Shelter will stage a two week strike next month, in response to the organisation’s management attempting to impose a real terms pay cut on its staff. The workers, who are based across the UK, ... Read more
OCTOBER 25, 2022
Hestia Hounslow LIFE workers ballot for strike action
Workers at Hestia Hounslow LIFE are currently voting in a formal ballot for strike action. Previous articles on our website have indicated how these workers have attempted to engage Hestia in discussion over proposed changes for their service, pay and ... Read more
OCTOBER 20, 2022
Shelter workers begin balloting for strike action
Workers at housing charity Shelter have begun balloting for strike action after receiving an “insulting” pay offer. Shelter is imposing its pay offer on its staff and refusing to consider any further permanent increases to salaries, which the Union say is ... Read more
OCTOBER 19, 2022
Walsall Housing Group workers to strike over imposed pay cut
Members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, are stepping up strike action this week after their employer Walsall Housing Group imposed a real-terms pay cut on the workers. The company has imposed a 3.1 per cent increase and an additional £300 one-off ... Read more
AUGUST 01, 2022
Repair workers at Sanctuary Housing Association secure major pay increase
Over 300 workers employed by housing association Sanctuary in its repairs department have secured an additional nine per cent pay increase. The workers who are members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, recently held a demonstration about pay concerns. This followed ... Read more
MAY 17, 2022
Unite calls for 13.5% pay rise at Hestia
Unite have submitted a pay claim to management following discussion among workers asking that staff receive a 13.5% pay rise. It was felt that a 13.5% pay rise would help remedy the years of wage stagnation workers at the organisation ... Read more
APRIL 13, 2022
Workers at Thirteen Housing Group balloted for strike action
Workers at Thirteen Housing Group, which has over 35,000 properties in North East and Yorkshire, are being balloted for strike action in a dispute over an ‘insulting’ pay offer as the chief executive pockets £215,000 a year. Unite the union said that in ... Read more
JANUARY 12, 2022
Workers commence 24-7 work-in occupation of Regina Coeli House in West Belfast
Unite industrial and community members establish a solidarity camp outside the Regina Coeli Workers at Regina Coeli House have commenced a 24-7 ‘work-in’ occupation of the hostel to demand Ministerial intervention to save the facility. The house faces closure at the ... Read more
NOVEMBER 08, 2021
North West housing association workers begin strike ballot over pay
Members of Unite employed by Onward Housing and Hyndburn Homes Repairs Ltd have begun balloting for strike action over pay. The 230 workers at the housing association, who are based at depots in Accrington, Bolton, Manchester, Liverpool, Runcorn and Stockport, primarily undertake ... Read more
OCTOBER 27, 2021
Homeless young people and care leavers hit hard after £20 uplift cut
New research by Centrepoint has found that young people with a history of homelessness and those who have left the care system are going to bed hungry since the government cut the £20 universal credit uplift with vulnerable under 25s ... Read more
AUGUST 03, 2021
A Sky Pool and the ghettoisation of Nine Elms
While the rich splash about in the city's most indulgent swimming pool, those down below are living very different lives. If you’re an affordable housing tenant then the Sky Pool is not for you. Private residents of Nine Elms basked in ... Read more
JULY 15, 2021
St Mungo’s strike ends after independent review into bullying grievances agreed
Maintenance staff at the homelessness charity St Mungo’s have been on strike for twelve weeks in what had become a protracted dispute but the strike was called off today after the management agreed to an independent review into bullying grievances ... Read more
JULY 06, 2021
Closure of government's Everyone In scheme threatens big rise in homelessness
More than one thousand people in London are at risk of returning to the streets as emergency accommodation used to house rough sleepers during the pandemic is wound down, charities have warned. A report in Inside Housing suggests that figures published ... Read more
JULY 02, 2021
Striking St Mungo’s staff protest over bullying at housing charity’s Oxford shelter
Striking maintenance workers at the St Mungo’s housing charity are staging a protest in Oxford today over bullying and anti-union behaviour by the management. When: 12.30pm – 2pm, Friday, 2 July, 2021 Where: Floyds Row, Oxford, OX1 1SS Around a dozen members of Unite, the ... Read more
JUNE 15, 2021
Unite call on St Mungo’s to stop ‘peddling untruths’
Unite has written to St Mungos Chief Executive Steve Douglas today to ask him to stop his organisation from “peddling untruths” to the media about the fact that St Mungos maintenance team have been on indefinite strike since April 22nd. ... Read more
APRIL 08, 2021
Industrial action called at St Mungo's
Maintenance workers at the St Mungo’s housing charity will begin indefinite strike action from Thursday 22 April in response to ‘appalling treatment’ by senior management, Unite, Britain and Ireland’s largest union, said today (Thursday 8 April). The all-out strike follows a warning in March by Unite, which has ... Read more
FEBRUARY 12, 2021
Support the Social Action Housing Campaign
The Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC) is a network of tenants, residents, workers and activists in housing associations and cooperatives and is aligned to the Unite Housing Workers Branch which represents staff in these organisations. It campaigns to improve the ... Read more
JANUARY 21, 2021
Clarion Housing Group presses ahead with routine repairs, despite Covid-19 fears, says Unite Clarion Housing Group, one of the UK’s largest social landlords, is still continuing to insist on pushing ahead with routine repairs at its properties, despite some residents being ... Read more
JANUARY 08, 2021
Unite urges Jenrick to extend ban on evictions for renters
Unite is calling on the government to do ‘the decent thing’ and follow the example of the Scottish Government which has extended the evictions’ ban until 31 March. Millions of people in the UK rent and many have struggled with payments ... Read more
DECEMBER 04, 2020
Housing unaffordable for young people
End Youth Homelessness (EYH) has found that the prohibitive costs associated with private renting are forcing the most vulnerable young people into desperate situations and COVID-19 has pushed even more young people closer to homelessness. According to research conducted by Yorkshire ... Read more
NOVEMBER 06, 2020
Calls on government for action on homelessness
Homelessness charities, human rights groups and politicians are calling on the government to relaunch the ‘everyone in’ strategy to protect thousands of homeless people from the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and to scrap plans to deport foreign rough ... Read more
SEPTEMBER 04, 2020
Call on government to provide £270m for renters to prevent evictions
A coalition of charities and housing trade groups are calling on government to provide an emergency grant and loan package worth up to £270m to support private renters who have fallen into arrears during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shelter, the National Residential ... Read more
AUGUST 13, 2020
Industrial action on the cards at Riverside
The prospect of industrial action is on the cards at the Liverpool-based Riverside Housing Association over detrimental shift pattern changes for 100 customer service staff. Unite has fired a warning shot across the bosses’ bows after its members at the three ... Read more
AUGUST 12, 2020
New domestic violence policy agreed with Peabody
Unite have signed off a new policy on domestic violence with Peabody, a London based housing association, which includes agreement to provide up to seventy hours of paid leave for employees experiencing domestic abuse and to be flexible with annual ... Read more
JUNE 18, 2020
More than a hundred charities, campaign groups, lawyers and local councillors have urged local councils not to evict homeless people with NRPF (Charities and campaigners urge councils to provide sanctuary to homeless people with ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF)) ... Read more
JUNE 16, 2020
Groundbreaking agreement in fight against racism
Unite’s Unity Over Division campaign has been given a big boost after an employer in Nottingham was the first to sign the anti-racism initiative’s charter. Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA) becomes the first employer to sign up to Unite’s Unity over ... Read more
JUNE 04, 2020
Unite homelessness workers warn of rough sleeping disaster
Housing minister Luke Hall has written to local councils asking them to put in place plans to support rough sleepers as the lockdown restrictions are eased. He suggests that people who have been rough sleeping people should be asked to move ... Read more
MARCH 12, 2020
Workers from the homelessness charity St Mungo’s in Bristol, Brighton and London are taking three days of strike action on the 16-18 March 2020. Unite has been warning the charity that its treatment of staff and the attacks on members working ... Read more
MARCH 03, 2020
Workers at the homelessness charity St Mungo’s are gearing up for three days of strike action from March 16 to 18 inclusive, after last ditch talks, under the auspices of the conciliation service, Acas, failed to resolve a row over ... Read more
FEBRUARY 27, 2020
Unite demands a joined-up government response to eradicate rough sleeping
The ‘disgraceful’ number of rough sleepers across the country demands a joined-up government response which has been lacking over a decade of Tory rule which has seen a ‘revolving door’ of housing ministers hinder plans to eradicate rough sleeping. Unite said that the lack ... Read more
FEBRUARY 21, 2020
Employee pension contribution hike for hundreds of workers
The UK’s largest housing association, Clarion Housing Group, has written to members of its Pension Scheme (CHGPS) informing them that from 1 April, employee contributions for some defined benefit pensions could be set at 22.9% of their salaries. This rate will ... Read more
FEBRUARY 19, 2020
Campaigners gathered outside Peabody Head Office on Wednesday 19th February to make the point that cuts to the community and neighbourhood services cost lives, and are counter-productive. Peabody plans to drastically cut its Neighbourhood Managers and has already done away with ... Read more
FEBRUARY 04, 2020
Second time lucky as St Mungo’s staff vote to strike
Unite has balloted over 500 members at the homelessness charity for a second time in less than six months in a dispute over the tearing up of the junior staffing cap agreement, which risks reinstatement of ‘race to the bottom’ terms ... Read more
JANUARY 28, 2020
Appeal to St Mungo’s board to ‘help rebuild trust’ ahead of strike ballot result
Unite has appealed to the St Mungo's board of trustees to ‘help rebuild trust’ by persuading senior management to reconsider its position and join last-ditch talks, ahead of the strike ballot result, which is due next Monday (3 February). Unite is ... Read more
JANUARY 21, 2020
Staff at St Mungos urged to vote YES to defend jobs, skills and quality services
Unite believes that its members deserve to be treated fairly and with respect and are urging members to vote for strike action as it reballots workers at St Mungos. The decision to reballot members has been taken as St Mungos push ahead with changes ... Read more
JANUARY 06, 2020
Email blunder at St Mungo’s exposes shameful anti trade union tactics
Unite has called on Howard Sinclair, CEO of homelessness charity St Mungo’s, to step down immediately after a misdirected email revealed that the charity had been working with a top London PR agency on a strategy to stop people joining ... Read more
DECEMBER 03, 2019
Peabody's CEO leaves staff and residents unimpressed
Businesses "driven by money concerns" Last week’s column by Peabody Chief Executive, Brenden Sarsfield (Inside Housing 29/11/2019) makes the call for change many in the social housing sector would want. But staff and residents are not impressed. Mr Sarsfield writes, “Some say we ... Read more
NOVEMBER 17, 2019
Peabody surplus up – but pressing ahead with brutal cuts
Despite announcing a £14 million rise in it’s surplus in the last six months taking it to £67 million, Peabody Housing are handing down brutal cuts to vital tenant services and impossible workloads are being forced on neighbourhood managers. With no pay rise ... Read more
NOVEMBER 06, 2019
£1 million cuts plan: Peabody workers announce strike ballot
Peabody housing plan £1 million cuts to housing management budgets by March 2020 with potentially devastating consequences to residents and workers. Unite members have voted overwhelmingly to start a formal strike ballot. In the spring management launched a brutal restructure and ... Read more
NOVEMBER 05, 2019
Apology from St Mungo’s after sharing rough sleeper information
St Mungo’s Chief Executive Howard Sinclair has apologised for sharing information about migrant rough sleepers with the Home Office saying, “The executive team takes full responsibility for this and is sorry it happened.” Despite St Mungo’s management being repeatedly warned by ... Read more
OCTOBER 24, 2019
ONS show highest year-on-year increase in homeless deaths
In 2018, there were an estimated 726 deaths of homeless people in England and Wales, 129 (22%) more deaths than in 2017 when there were 597 estimated deaths. The increase is statistically significant and represents the largest year-to-year increase in ... Read more
OCTOBER 23, 2019
Greenwich housing repair workers to strike
About 120 housing repair workers at Greenwich council are set to strike for five days over plans to introduce a new pay structure which will see cuts in pay. Unite said its members voted by 95 per cent for strike action ... Read more
OCTOBER 16, 2019
Employment Tribunal finds that St Mungos victimised female worker
A recent judgement from by an Employment Tribunal found that St Mungos had victimised a staff member following her submission of an equal pay questionnaire. The HR director, Helen Giles, had told the staff member that she would never work in the ... Read more
OCTOBER 02, 2019
Greenwich council housing repair workers vote to strike
About 120 housing repair workers at Greenwich council have overwhelmingly voted to strike as they are disgusted over the way they are being treated, Unite, Britain and Ireland’s largest union, said today. Unite said its members had voted by 95 per ... Read more
SEPTEMBER 10, 2019
Unite at the TUC - Lessons from Grenfell going unheeded
Unite delegate and brother of a fire fighter James Mitchell spoke in support of the FBU motion to TUC , Grenfell Tower - Never Again highlighting the union’s calls for an immediate ban on the use of combustible materials on high rise blocks. In a poignant ... Read more
AUGUST 05, 2019
St Mungo’s balloted amidst victimisation row
Unite is urging Robert Napier, the chair of the board of the homeless charity St Mungo’s, to carry out an immediate investigation into an allegation of victimisation of a lead Unite representative. The call comes in response to emails, obtained under ... Read more
JULY 30, 2019
Talks aimed at resolving a long running dispute between Unite and St Mungo's mediated by Acas have collapsed. It is deeply disappointing that St Mungo's senior management are determined to plough ahead with changes that threaten the very integrity of our ... Read more
MAY 30, 2019
The first episode of a profoundly bleak but necessary two-part Panorama, Crisis in Care (BBC One), highlighted how the adult social care system is on the brink and in dire need of reform after years of austerity. This hard hitting documentary put a human face ... Read more
MAY 28, 2019
Tackling serious violence needs real investment in preventative services!
Unite has submitted its response to the Home Office's draft plans for a new legal duty to support a multi-agency approach to preventing and tackling serious violence. Whilst Unite is supportive in principle with taking a public health approach to tackling serious ... Read more