Building up Residents Associations

[michele cryer]

Further news from our comrades at Community Action Group:

'Re: Glasgow tenants... great stuff Nick, and Dariush added some useful
thoughts..

Some very quick extra thoughts from me.

I've been involved with 2 or 3 residents' groups that have generally done
OK, despite run-ins with Haringey Council.

The first was my residents association on my estate in North Tottenham
1998-2003. It was the Tower Gardens Residents Network - you could check out
www.towergardens.net - History - for some of the successful activities and
achievements despite Council indifference and opposition. [However I've
just checked it and it seems to be currently unavailable]. We met every 3
weeks for 5 years, building up a membership of over 200 out of 1500 homes,
and getting £1m for traffic calming, helping improve the local park,
holding 2 street parties, loads of other events etc. I left in 2002-ish.
Its pretty dormant at the moment. The Council tried to set up a rival
association, but not one person on the entire estate responded to their
invitation to join! It did demoralise some of the other active people, and
after I left it slowly declined in activity. Its a long story, but I'm too
knackered to go into some of the details today. There's also a good
constitution on that site which others can steal bits of (or all of it)...

I'm now in South Tottenham, and my local residents assoc. is going pretty
well. Only been going 2 yrs. Meets monthly, about 8 - 15 people. 105
members out of 280 homes. All members get minutes every month. All homes in
the area get a flyer each month too. Its not a Council estate, but I'm
still a Council tenant. We've successfully got some traffic calming, new
street trees, regeneration of a delapidated alleyway and had our first
street party. The Council supported the setting up of the group, but wanted
some bureaucratic set up with a founding AGM and committee. As soon as we
decided at the second meeting 'to just get on with it', they dropped the
group like a stone. Since then we've just got on with it!

A similar thing happened with the founding of the Haringey Federation of
Residents Associations. Once it decided to be independent of the Council,
they treated us as the enemy within (particularly me!). However we've kept
our eye on the ball (the real issues affecting our communities) and refused
to get dragged into a public power struggle - and have gradually built up
an impressive presence and activity throughout the borough. We're fortunate
that there are a lot of residents assocs (130), and a core of fairly strong
and long-lasting ones that are prepared to work with the Council but on
their own terms. We've worked hard to be inclusive of all RAs of all kinds,
spread positive news about any local successes, and take up key
borough-wide issues (including planning & development; green spaces,
traffic calming...). More details on www.haringeyresidents.org (including
our constitution).

I've found that:

- 90% of the battle when
it comes to local authorities (of any kinds)
- ensuring that you have active involvement of at least a core of people,
and general support from almost everyone in your area
- do regular, accessible, widely-distributed reports of meetings to
members, and welcoming flyers to all... be outgoing and friendly.. dont be
cliquey

- take up basic issues important to local people. I think its best to
concentrate on those issues in which there's a good consensus, especially
at first, and avoid ones where people are split or unsure. This is
especially true it the Council is hoping to undermine, or divide-and-rule
you..
- avoid political ideology and party politics, but build awareness of the
basic political ideas of co-operation and communication, solidarity, mutual
aid and self-help, vision of a better area, high expectations, all for one
and one for all etc etc.
- its usually better to avoid any head on clashes with the Council or any
other hostile forces, and just concentrate on being constructive and
positive, and focused on the issues. Once you get into a slanging match it
can easily put off your own members and neighbours.
- however many members you get, and however established and successful you
are, its all a bit fragile - especially if the Council or another outside
body is trying to undermine you (either by trying to destroy you or take
you over).
- try to be influential as an individual, but not indispensible
- you have to work fucking hard and long if you want to achieve anything
substantial and make a real difference in your neighbourhood

In solidarity,

Dave





At 15:30 14/10/2005 -0400, you wrote:
I think this raises some interesting issues about TA organising and stock
transfer landlords.

Don't know how thinsg used to be in glasgow, but I've never come across a
council in uk before that insisted on having their people at tenant
meetings. I would be surprised if glasgow council did before the transfer.

My experience in islington was that councillors always tried to get in with
new TAs and attend to meetings - they hated it when we banned them from
general meetings on our estate, to the point that one councillor got on the
front page of a local rag personally attacking two of us. But there wasn't
much they could do about it. We used to invite council officers to meetings
sometimes on our terms, to explain a policy or something they were doing.
They on the contrary hated coming to our meetings, because they usually got
a lot of abuse from tenants. Also, we began insisting on taping meetings
with council officers, which made them very nervous.

I would think the TA in glasgow could make a very good press campaign out
of this - banners outside the the meeting hall, or occupying it if they
will go that far. Praps they've been doing this already - would be
inreseted to know more. Don't know much about glasgow but it's the kind of
thing the local press would have picked up on in my area - and i found the
local press was often our best weapon, tho other times it cut the other
way. Also, if this represents a change in policy from the council with GHA
trying to exert tighter control on TAs that might even make a story for
national housing press (and in any case worth sharing with people fighting
future stock transfers). There's few things these landlords hate more than
bad national press - embarasses them in front of their landlord pals. I
could get contacts for hsing journalists if they're interested.


There's maybe other issues here about what's in the constitution GHA wants
them to sign. Personally I never had a problem recommending TAs in
islington to use the council's standard constitution - at least formally.
It may not be ideal, but don't think it caused any genuine problems and you
can still organise as you wish in practice. Other people - maybe Dave? -
might have different views on this issue. Again, if GHA has changed the
model that would be interesting.'

Hope some of the above helps if we are ever to get involved with building Residents Associations locally...

[michele cryer]

Perhaps this article, written by Dave, who was the author of the above post from the Community action group, should have appeared first, but never mind...it's still spot on, very informative:

SETTING UP A LOCAL RESIDENTS GROUP:

'RESIDENTS TAKE OVER!
imagine strong and lively communities, and control over our own lives and
neighbourhoods…


The world is in a terrible mess because we’re not running our own lives,
directly controlling the resources and decision-making for the benefit of
all. Currently governments and big-business boss everyone around for their
own benefit. So what can people do to get back control? Obviously we can’t
expect someone to jet in and liberate us, or wait for some cataclysmic
‘collapse’ of the system in some way off future. By patiently building up
grass roots solidarity and mutual aid, we can sow and grow the seeds of the
new society within the shell of the old. We have to act for ourselves, in
the here and now.

Here and now? We need to focus on where there is a real need, and a real
untapped potential to fight back, where people can empower each other and
spread alternative ideas. This means here - within our local communities,
and now on a day to day basis in our everyday lives.

I’m involved in Haringey Solidarity Group, an open
anarchist/libertarian/socialist collective which grew out of the huge and
successful anti-poll tax campaign 13 years ago. We produce leaflets and
newsletters, and support a whole range of activities going on in the
borough. But in the last few years I’ve put most of my efforts into being
involved in street level activity in my local neighbourhood.


Street Level

The front line of politics is outside your door. And also in workplaces
but that’s another matter. If we base our political activity around where
people actually are, we can achieve a lot. That doesn’t mean we can’t get
involved in other things, but at the end of the day we have to have a
strategy to actually change the world, for people to take over all the
decision-making themselves. After all, everyone is an expert about their
own lives and their own street.

People have concerns which may be surprisingly similar to those of other
people in their neighbourhoods they want more control over their lives, to
be part of a safe and friendly community, in a decent environment with good
local services and facilities etc. The ruling system only wants obedient
consumers and workers, where all the decisions are made from on high in
their own selfish and greedy interests. People are not encouraged to feel
that they can band together and make changes themselves. There’s always
someone else claiming to ‘represent’ people or act for them politicians,
Council officers, the media, professional NGO’s that pay people to organise
campaigns and publicity… even direct action groups can be seen to be a
specialist lifestyle choice that most people can’t relate to or take part
in. All of which takes the power away from the people that really count
the majority, in particular working class people and other oppressed
sections of the population.


The real challenge is how does this translate to action on a street level
that can be taken up by millions of people? For me, the answer is to try
and build up grassroots action groups and associations that are open and
relevant to everybody in the community. It may not always be easy, but
unfortunately no-one’s yet found any successful short cuts from here to the
revolution.


The proof of the pudding

Residents groups have often been seen as linked to the council, or as just
complaining bodies with limited concerns, or with only a couple of people
running the show. But they can also be solidarity organisations in which
people support each other and take up a range of local issues important to
improving the conditions and quality of life in the neighbourhood. The
potential is definitely there for all kinds of street level residents’
action groups, associations and networks.

For about five years I was involved in a residents network where we built
up a membership of 250 on an estate of about 1500 homes. We organised
regular meetings, usually in each other’s homes every three weeks, covering
a huge range of issues. They were always minuted and all the members got
these minutes so you are building up a network of people that are well
informed and encouraged to take part in any way they want to. We succeeded
in getting a million pounds for traffic calming, a youth club, and helped
get environmental improvements to a local park. We organised an annual
‘Home Is Where The Art Is’ exhibition of residents’ creativity, a local
history day and various public meetings. It really brought people together,
especially the 20 or so who were most involved.

In 2003 I moved to another part of Tottenham and helped set up a residents
association which now has 80 members out of 230 homes. We meet every 3
weeks, and leaflet every house in the area every six weeks encouraging
people to come along. There are about 8-10 regulars. We also have an
internal email list. We’ve got the Council to agree to plant more trees in
the streets, we monitor street lighting and rubbish dumping, and are about
to get traffic calming measures put in. We campaigned to save the local pub
from being demolished for yet another block of flats, and mounted a strong
campaign to try to save the local sub-Post Office - including holding a
100-strong march round our local streets. Both campaigns failed to win, but
were successful in helping to galvanise people into action. The council
recently tried to quadruple the rent of a popular café in the local park,
but as a result of protests and pressure they’ve backed down.

In May this year, we and other nearby residents groups helped organise our
second annual community festival in the local park it was bloody
fantastic, and attended by about three thousand people. About 20-30 of us
worked together on quite libertarian lines, organising it collectively with
people volunteering to take on different responsibilities. I helped set up
a ‘speakers forum’ tent, and there were stalls, music, crafts, treasure
hunts, sports and a carnival-ish procession.


Its not all positive. Anti-social behaviour can also be a big problem in
some neighbourhoods. It needs to be addressed because if we can’t come up
with solutions that we can do ourselves, people are going to say we need
more police, we need more CCTV etc. It’s good to support anyone harassed,
and to campaign for more youth facilities etc - but sometimes groups of
people that are causing the problem may need to be challenged.


Digging in for the duration

If you’re going to start something new its good to concentrate on positive
stuff, things that can build up community strength and empower people. Then
you can try and tackle the difficult stuff that takes a long time to make
progress on. If you just focus on that at first it can demoralise people
and that’s when you might become just a moaning group. There can be
different ways of doing similar things, some of it is empowering and some
of it is frustrating, so patience and persistence are real virtues. After
all, its your neighbourhood so get stuck in!

Every area is different differing size neighbourhoods (from a single block
of flats to a whole ‘ward’), differing geography and populations, and
differing issues that are relevant. Build up a list of contacts/members.
Try to make every meeting open to everybody, with open agendas, minutes
circulated etc. That way your activities are accountable to your community,
and its more likely the group will be strongly supported and become a real
influence.


Don’t moan - organise

The fundamental challenge for any residents’ group is to be active and
well-supported, but to not get sucked into the way the authorities would
like it to be. They want you to have low expectations, limit your agenda,
leave it to ‘professionals and experts’, and think that politics is about
voting in elections and talking to Councillors. What I like about people
involved in residents groups is, if you say to them: ‘we should be
independent, build up community spirit, support each other and co-operate,
we are all equals, we should make all the decisions about our area
together, with the decisions based on our community’s real needs’, nearly
everybody would agree its all common sense! In fact, such common sense
ideas are actually a radical basis for alternative politics, for a real
counter-power and a new society if acknowledged and built on. Yet if you
were to ask the same people what their ideological or political beliefs
were, they would cover the whole range of parties, beliefs and religions
etc. Somewhere along the line we’ve allowed our common sense to be
suppressed, or hijacked.

Throughout this whole process, the most important thing is local people
coming together as equals with a common interest in the local
neighbourhood, meeting in each others houses, getting to know each other,
spreading a positive atmosphere because a lot of people are very
demoralised and think they can’t change anything. But when they come
together, they start bringing out their own experiences, their own skills,
time and resources, their own views, and they start feeling that there are
ways of changing the world and supporting each other based on different
principles from profits and power. Working together, face to face, and
respecting each other generally works because as neighbours you have common
interest with people of all ages, all backgrounds, all colours in a crazy,
unjust and alienating world.



A movement of millions?

In Haringey alone there are 120 residents associations, 20 ‘friends’ groups
of local park users, as well as local action groups campaigning for traffic
calming measures or against various urban and commercial developments,
mobile phone masts etc. This involves a membership of thousands, and annual
distribution of tens of thousands of leaflets and newsletters. Across the
whole country this amounts to a self-organised and independent movement of
millions of people speaking and acting for themselves and their
communities. In this way people are able to directly challenge, influence
and potentially eventually make all the decisions which affect them and
their communities. Anarchists should be fully involved. At the same time as
building up people’s self-confidence, solidarity and mutual aid, we should
be encouraging people to demand not just a few crumbs off the table, or
even the whole cake, but the entire bakery.

DIY COMMUNITY ACTION…

In almost any community a whole range of positive, practical things can be
organised and encouraged which bring people together, build up community
spirit and improve our local neighbourhoods.

Some examples of things you could do that are already going on in local
areas around the country:

· encourage lots of informal discussion and communication on the street and
in each others’ homes
· do local door-to-door leaflets and newsletters
· hold public meetings on topical issues
· organise street parties and other events
· set up skills and resources sharing schemes
· campaign for youth facilities and activities
· demand traffic calming
· set up housing solidarity and action groups
· resist obnoxious development schemes
· defend useful facilities threatened with closure
· promote recycling projects
· develop informal gathering places (in or around local shops, parks etc)
· organise picnics and other activities in local parks
· set up parents’ groups in schools and playcentres
· do residents’ opinion surveys
· organise local art and creativity exhibitions
· plan community murals
· set up local clubs/interest groups (gardening, music, sports etc)

The possibilities are endless…

Kicking off

The trick is to get organised and active! By encouraging neighbours to get
involved, being as friendly as possible with everyone, and avoiding getting
bogged down with bureaucracy or politicians of any stripe, it is amazing
what people can achieve.

Why not get together with a couple of neighbours you know and start meeting
regularly in each other’s homes or in a friendly local neighbourhood
centre? Give yourselves a name. Discuss what people feel are the important
issues, and things you can start to do together - post reports of these
discussions to all interested neighbours. Encourage initiative. Gradually
build up a list of more and more contacts. Organise public meetings and
events, local campaigns and so on. Leaflet door-to-door. Most importantly,
stick at it…

In this way we can patiently build up a strong and vibrant grass-roots
movement in every neighbourhood.'

[Mitch]

Hi, thanks for this, it's a superb article.

Much of the advice I'd say the collective around the Burnley Voice in the 1970s were doing - there is a history to this way of organising.

Hey ho, we are taking a little of this advice are we not.

tara Mitch x ;D

[michele cryer]

Yeah..it is great Mitch, and good to know that somebody round here was doing the same back then...yeah, we are taking the advice too!