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Housing tenants deserve better
8/12/2006
I READ with interest Sam Darby's letter in last week's Metro
News about the property developer mentality of non-profit making
housing associations.
As recently as last August, the housing press were reporting that
the non-profit housing association sector makes a surplus, even
after tax, of just under half a billion pounds a year and had
non-earmarked surpluses of over £4bn. That's a heck of a
non-profit. What is so upsetting in all of this is that tenant
representatives less informed than Sam Darby but equally sincere
are being duped by housing officers whom they have come to
trust.
They carry on swallowing the lies, often allowing letters to be
written on their behalf.
One of the biggest lies is that a newly-formed housing association
will somehow keep local services local.
These newly-formed stock transfer associations only benefit their
officers who can then write their own salary cheques, having acted
as both buyers and sellers of the stock. It is a national scandal
that local authorities spend hundreds of thousands on consultants,
project managers and assorted carpetbaggers.
Tenants deserve the decent homes promised to them by this
government.
After all, we have paid for this several times over and shouldn't
be blackmailed into accepting the improvements on a credit card
without even getting to see the interest rate.
Mick Renshaw,
Poynton
Got an opinion you want to share?| Company | Typical APR |
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| AA | 7.9% |
| Sainsbury's Personal Loan | 8.2% |
| Alliance & Leicester | 8.7% |
| Lloyds TSB | 8.9% |
| Abbey Personal Loan | 8.9% |
| Provider | AER* |
|
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4.50% |
|
FIRST DIRECT Everyday e-Saver |
1.75% |
|
SAINSBURYS FINANCE Internet Saver |
2.25% |