The Conservative rent cap is being blamed for forcing people out of Newham, but is is all just part of our great Olympic legacy
The shameful news that Newham Council in London are attempting to push 500 families out of the borough into homes 150 miles away in Stoke should come as no surprise.
The Labour controlled Council is one of the poorest areas in London, and is also the home to the 500 acre Olympic Park.
The governments benefit cap is being blamed for the move, but the origins of the story can be traced back years before the Conservatives came into power.
It is all part of the great Olympic legacy that was supposed to benefit the area, but was never actually going to. The following is an extract from an article on the BBC news website from over 5 years ago:
“There are fears that this first burst of regeneration will not benefit the people actually living in Newham.
Areas around the Olympic site are already becoming hot property for developers, and the yuppies are moving in; buying up cheap housing and hoping for a housing windfall as gentrification drives up property prices.
The 'real' residents are being pushed to the peripheries of the borough, and into next-door Barking and Dagenham.
Consequently, wherever you live in the Thames Gateway, if you are poor, the Olympics could mean you do not even get out of the starting blocks. It is a pretty raw deal.”
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