Share
The biggest tribute that I can think of to Alan Walter is that the campaign that he chaired and worked for so tirelessly may need a new name.
In the days when most of the housing and political establishment seemed united in the belief that council housing was a thing of the past and that the future lay with stock transfer and housing associations, the name Defend Council Housing (DCH) summed up the message precisely.
Walter, who has died at the age of just 51, was determined to work against that consensus. The odds must have seemed overwhelming at the beginning. Once the Labour government had abandoned its early rhetoric about reviving council housing and come out against any change in the public borrowing rules, the stage seemed set for council after council to transfer their stock. Even where local politicians and tenants were instinctively against the idea the pragmatic choice appeared to be to vote in favour of extra resources to do up their homes.
DCH convinced the unions and increasing numbers of backbench Labour MPs with its arguments for a fourth option for council housing. Three years running the Labour conference voted for it too, only to be ignored by ministers. But DCH kept up the pressure and arcane aspects of local authority finance were turned into popular campaigning issues.
The tide turned in council housing’s favour tentatively after Tony Blair gave way to Gordon Brown and then decisively after the credit crunch turned the housing market boom to bust and revealed how reliant housing associations were on property sales. Suddenly local authorities were cast as the saviours of affordable housing rather than as relics of the municipalist past.
Back in the early noughties, when many pundits were predicting the death of council housing, you’d have got pretty long odds on the prime minister making a speech pledging to remove all barriers to local authorities building homes once again or the head of its main housing agency telling councils to prepare for the public borrowing rules to be changed. Yet both happened only a few weeks ago.
As DCH said yesterday: ‘It has been a collective effort of many, and Alan played down his individual selfless efforts, but he inspired and led in a way that contributed the binding glue of this collective.’
The debate is no longer just about defending council housing but creating it too. Alan Walter deserves much of the credit for that - even though I think he would be the first to say that the campaign has not won yet.
Have your say
You must sign in to make a comment
Readers' comments (4)
Chris McCabe | 10/03/2009 9:55 pm
Alan's death is a great loss.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Phil Doran | 12/03/2009 0:25 am
Alan Walter's contribution to the class struggle was immense. I for one thought DCH were on a hiding to nothing. Respect comrade.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Paul Burnham | 12/03/2009 0:43 am
Thank you Jules, for this very moving article. I knew Alan well, worked with him closely, and talked, planned and argued with him until the day before his tragic death. People should know about the horrible back pain that Alan had to overcome: he often had to crouch against the wall to speak in meetings. And his sheer guts and determination, and his provocativeness, and his willingness to disagree. When you argued with Alan, whether or not you agreed with him at the end of the day, you always thought differently about that subject afterwards, and you always remembered what he had said. He was a big man, and a serious role model for tenants, and for many other people. The pride and confidence that he had in the best traditions of council housing remain with us, as an inspiration and as a challenge.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Clive Kiley | 12/03/2009 9:44 pm
Council Tenant Champion who inspired so many
Alan Walters tenant activist and chairman of Defend Council Housing, passed away at just 51 years of age. A Camden tenant from Peckwater estate North London. Who was a colossal pillar of support and inspiration to council tenants across the country. Who as chairman saw himself as a column in a colonnade of individuals within the defend council housing organisation. A gentle giant in the social council housing spectrum, stimulating debate and resolute in his resolve to protect and enhance the lives of millions in the rented sector.
His sudden death a shock to those who knew and admired him, at such times words seem so inadequate. His giant footsteps will be hard to fill, such was his dedication to his beliefs, shared by so many. Few can comprehend the tireless hard work that goes into running a campaign, organising conferences, workshops, editing newspapers and returning endless calls on his time with respect and unfailing politeness. Succeeding in uniting tenants from across the political spectrum from all parties in a united cause the “Forth Option”.
Respected and admired by so many, the loss to his partner and son, one can only imagine, but who will hold precious good memories of a person so many look up to and admired.
Few make a mark on life, Alan left a world a better place for others to live in and his partner Anne Drinkell and mother of his son Joe, Candy Udwin, all must be proud of Alan who touched positively on so many lives.
Deepest sympathy and sadness from tenant groups in Waverley.
Clive.kiley1@ntlworld.com
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment