Housing and Gordon Brown

Argus title : Shortage of housing is desperate

The Guardian newspaper recently reported that a “major building programme designed to increase the supply of affordable homes is expected to be a centre-piece of Gordon Brown’s agenda”.

This is perhaps fortunate for him. When he speaks at the Dome tomorrow in the Brighton Festival he will be lobbied by protesters from “Priced Out” the campaign for affordable house prices.
The housing minister, Yvette Cooper, one of Brown’s inner circle, has repeatedly warned that demand for houses is outstripping supply and that unless more homes are built, 70% of first time buyers will not be able to afford a home.

George Cooper and the Fight for Council Housing

Argus title : Make your voice heard as a tribute

George Cooper died in Brighton on 8th February 1994, aged 84. He was a labour activist, a trade unionist and above all a tenants’ organiser. It’s still hard to believe he isn’t around.

I first met George at a party. I was intrigued by this extraordinary man – in his late 70s, wearing saggy blue jeans, arguing, dancing and drinking pints like a youngster. He was passionate about politics, but he also had an almost child-like capacity for joy.

The son of a railwayman, George left school at 14 to work as a draughtsman in a Brighton factory. The 1926 General Strike was his defining political experience.

Phoenix

Argus title : A place for hope and achievement

The Phoenix was a mythical bird, believed to live in the deserts of Arabia. When the time came for it to die it would build its own funeral pyre. Out of the ashes a new Phoenix would rise.

It is a powerful image of the triumph of life and hope over suffering and death. It suggests the possibility of transformation.

Brighton Housing Trust’s First Base Day Centre is a place of transformation. The use of the building itself is radically different from what it once was, for in Regency times it was a ballroom.