Victory For Village Residents
Years of agitating by the residents of the greater Village area of south Belfast finally paid off last Tuesday (February 26) when it was announced that £100 million (€131 million) would be made available for the regeneration of the area.
For years, residents of the Village have been forced to live in squalid conditions, with many of their homes lacking central heating, electricity and indoor toilets. Last winter, an elderly man was found dead by neighbours, his oven left on as his only source of heat. Many other pensioners in the area have been dealing with similar circumstances.
Margaret Couchman, secretary of the Greater Village Housing Focus Group, said:
“After all these years of fighting and protesting and trying to get a decent standard of living for the people here we just can't believe something is finally happening.
“It’s just such fantastic news and I can’t wait to go to the homes of these elderly people who are living in a house with no heating in this freezing weather to tell them that they don’t have long to wait.”
The Six County assembly had been under serious pressure to act on the housing crisis facing many people since it was reinstated last year. Along with the sub-standard housing in the Village area, there are still 38,000 households on the housing waiting list, a figure that looks set to remain unchanged for the time being.
The residents of the Village may also have to wait for some time before progress is made. £7 million (€9.1 million) has been made available so far, with the rest of the money to come when the area is declared an Urban Renewal Area. Only then will the Victorian-era houses be demolished and new homes built. This is all dependant on the way in which the Stormont administration juggles its British-allocated budget.
However, residents and campaigners have won a major battle in their campaign for acceptable living conditions.
In the rest of Belfast the campaign for proper housing continues. In the north of city, thousands of nationalists remain on housing waiting lists due to the unwillingness of the relevant authorities to provide them accommodation in predominately unionist areas. In west Belfast housing conditions, and waiting lists, are at a criminal standard.
Éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson commended the residents of the Village for their initiatives in the face of British and Six County assembly inaction.
“Their resolute action is an example to other communities in similar struggles, and the support and solidarity they gave to, and were given by, residents in west Belfast has been an example of the potential for cooperation between grass roots campaigning groups,” he said.
“What remains to be done is for the people of the Village to keep up the pressure to ensure that the political class at Stormont does not back out of their promises which, as we have all experienced, they are fond of doing.
Brian concluded:
“The fledging residents organisations and campaigning groups in west Belfast and elsewhere have a lot to learn from each other and everything to gain by nurturing alliances like those between the Village and west Belfast. Long may it continue and we wish them every success in their worthwhile and just campaigns.”
