London     The ACORN United Kingdom organizing staff did me a favor and moved the second meeting to a university in far western London about a 40-minute bus ride from Heathrow, since I was finally heading to the ACORN Canada Year End / Year Begin Meeting, and then home.  ACORN Scotland couldn’t make it because of the giant rent control and security of tenure action and all of the last minute details, but where we had boots hard set on the ground in Bristol, Newcastle, and London it was a mini-UK YE/YB in its own right.

In such a short time,  the reports going around the room made it clear we were making huge progress. There were good solid reports on street-level issues in the new neighborhood groups around street crossings, traffic signals, and rubbish collection, but perhaps the most significant breakthroughs continued to be in the escalating campaigns around the broad range of tenants’ issues that are exploding in the cities where we are organizing in the UK.

Besides the Living Rent effort, the campaign originally begun with the founding of ACORN in Easton in Bristol to win improvements of conditions of private tenants and security of tenure form letting agencies has attracted wide support and expanded across the whole range of tenant issues and services. At one level organizers reported they have been surprised to get caught in a servicing and mediation role between some landlords and tenants with some leasing agencies, surprisingly, referring disputes to ACORN to mediate and resolve. Nick Ballard, the organizer at the point in the campaign, noted importantly that no tenant whom we have met in that capacity or to handle issues with their landlords have not joined ACORN, which was spot on! He also said that some tenants are reporting that just saying they are with ACORN and showing the button is winning them some fights.

The campaign has expanded to create a Tenants’ Charter of Rights in Bristol including longer leases, inspections, reasonable rents and other issues. Groups are not only joining us in supporting this newly emerging charter in Bristol but some city councilors are also coming on board. Winning compliance with the demands unfortunately is going to be a slog from target to target since the Council has no authority with all the powers in such matters residing in Westminster with the national government. We will be forced to win voluntary compliance, but we’re on our way.

Meeting earlier in the week with Professor Jane Wills who directs a masters’ program at Queen Mary University in community organization as part of their geography department, she speculated that perhaps the biggest contribution ACORN might be able to make in the UK was in organizing tenants and estates. She may be right. Furthermore, we may be already doing so from all of the reports at the organizers’ meeting and listening to their plans for the coming year.