London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 15, 2025

Peabody Trust accused of failing to offer tenants suitable alternative homes

Peabody Trust accused of failing to offer tenants suitable alternative homes

Nineteen tenants living in south London estate that is being demolished say homes offered to them are unaffordable and too far away

The Peabody Trust, one of the UK’s oldest and best known housing associations, has been accused of failing to rehouse 19 tenants it plans to evict to make way for a new development.

Their plight highlights an acute shortage of affordable homes for low-wage key workers amid concern that too much new building is being targeted at more lucrative markets.

The tenants in five households, including 12 children and three NHS nurses, were all given what were supposed to be temporary housing on Peabody’s St John’s Hill estate in Clapham, south-west London, which is being demolished and replaced. Their rents were discounted to reflect the poor conditions of the homes, but are still more than twice the amount paid by their social housing neighbours.

Three of the families have lived in damp and overcrowded conditions on the 1930s estate for between seven and 13 years.

As they are tenants on short lets, Peabody has no legal duty to rehouse them in social housing, unlike their social housing neighbours who have been offered homes on the redeveloped estate.

Valeria Jemwa, a senior respiratory staff nurse and single mother with four children, is facing eviction from her Peabody flat.


One of the threatened tenants, Valeria Jemwa, a senior respiratory nurse and single mother with four children, said: “I have been in my flat for 13 years and they [Peabody] are making me homeless. They should feel a moral responsibility to help us, even if they don’t have a legal one.”

She asked: “Why am I being treated like a second-class citizen? Why don’t I deserve a replacement home on the new estate like the others? It just feels that nobody really cares.”

Speaking to the Guardian during a break from a shift at the Royal Brompton hospital, Jemwa said she and her children have been told to move out of their two-bedroom flat by 19 July. “I will wait until the bailiffs come to kick us out because we don’t have anywhere else to go,” she said.

Like the other four households also facing eviction, two as soon as next week, Jemwa has been offered other homes by Peabody but only on unaffordable rents and in areas several miles from her children’s schools. Despite qualifying for housing benefit and child tax credit she already struggles to pay her existing rent on her part-time salary.

Rent of £985 a month for one of the homes she was offered would leave Jemwa with just £552 from her net monthly salary.

“Peabody want to push me into somewhere they know I can’t afford,” she said.

Under Peabody’s own published policy, applicants for its market rent homes “must be able to afford the rent without further assistance”.

Jemwa and the other tenants are being advised by retired housing consultant Tony Bird, who has written good practice guides on “decanting” tenants on estates earmarked for demolition and previously trained Peabody staff on the issue. He asked: “Do Peabody really want to evict such wonderful public servants?”

The trust’s chair, Sir Bob Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, has been repeatedly asked by Bird to intervene, but each time Kerslake has referred the issue to their local council, Wandsworth, which has nominations rights for all new social housing in the borough.

Wandsworth’s new Labour cabinet member for housing, Aydin Dikerdem, urged Peabody to take responsibility for the families.

He said: “My priority is to work with Peabody to find suitable accommodation for these families so they can live where they need to be for work and their children. The housing allocation system has to be fair to the thousands of homeless families on our waiting list. But housing associations are allowed to use their discretion to solve emergency issues. Some of these tenants have been in Peabody accommodation for years and are precisely the kind of people in need that Peabody was set up to house.”

Dikerdem said the redeveloped estate included too many small homes for shared ownership and market rent. “Any regeneration that makes families like these homeless is not doing what it should be. Building market rate and shared ownership should not be made at the expense of homes for residents like these.”

In a statement Peabody said: “In an ideal world, all keyworkers and people on low incomes would have access to social housing. However, the 10 highest priority households on our internal rehousing lists include domestic abuse survivors, people fleeing hate crime, and people with severe medical disabilities. We could not prioritise intermediate rent tenants ahead of people with the highest level of need. To do so would be deeply unfair and a breach of our obligations to our social housing tenants.

“We are using discretion by offering alternative affordable homes to families and residents who do not have social rented tenancies. We’re also offering payments of almost £10,000 as well as other support and advice. They have all been offered homes that are significantly below market rent levels as close to the estate as possible. We’ll keep working with the council to try and find a solution that supports the families.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
×