Moment 12-year-old girl gives list of demands to Mayor over Barton House

Bristol City Council has clarified that it will help Barton House residents who don't want to return to the evacuated tower block, but they won't be given priority to be rehoused.

This was the moment a 12-year-old resident from Barton House read out a list of demands from angry tenants to the Mayor of Bristol, and was asked ‘you wrote that?’.

Young Aalliyah Farah, who was evacuated from her home back in November, handed over the statement and a list of requests, which has been signed by church and mosque leaders in Barton Hill, calling for residents who don’t want to return to be prioritised for alternative housing.

The meeting happened when Marvin Rees visited the Holiday Inn, where Barton House residents have been staying since the tower block was evacuated back in November. On Monday (January 15) the city council confirmed to Bristol Live that, although the residents won’t be given extra priority, those that do not want to return to the tower block will be helped in applying for rehousing by council housing officers.

Read next: Traumatised Barton House residents told they could be homeless if they refuse to return

Read more: Four banned from City Hall after council meeting disruption

The visit on Sunday came after tenants union ACORN claimed they had won a partial victory from Bristol City Council ’s leaders, in getting council housing chiefs to finally agree to talk to the union’s resident reps from Barton House. Since the week of the evacuation on November 14, there has been tension between the council and ACORN, with council staff and city leaders refusing to engage with ACORN and saying they prefer to speak directly with residents themselves.

On Sunday, Mayor Marvin Rees visited the Holiday Inn and Aalliyah Farah, the 12-year-old daughter of Fadumo Farah, a Barton House resident who is ACORN’s rep for the building, read out a letter from residents, that has also been signed by the leaders of two mosques and the local Baptist church, asking the council for more help for the residents.

As well as asking for compensation for evacuation costs, specific mental health support, an independent investigation, the open letter Aalliyah read out mainly addressed the most immediate issue - what will happen to residents who do not want to return.

Fadumo Farah told Bristol Live that her daughter has been upset by the evacuation, and doesn’t feel listened to. “She wanted to do that, but she was nervous - her hands were shaking,” she said. “She wanted to read out what we are all asking for to him directly - it’s an open letter that the mosques and the church have signed too. He listened and then asked if she wrote it, and then asked for it to be emailed to him,” she added.

Ms Farah said there are now as many as 45 households, mainly families, that are reluctant to return to Barton House when the all-clear is given on February 23. On Wednesday last week, council housing bosses warned them that they could be deemed to be intentionally homeless and end up receiving no support from the council at all, if they refuse to return to their homes when the tower block is ready.

Bristol Live understands the council does not accept it has agreed to negotiate with ACORN, as the tenants union claimed at the weekend, and reiterated the position that residents of Barton House won’t be given any extra priority, given that there are more than a thousand people in temporary accommodation across Bristol already, waiting for council homes.

In a statement clarifying the council’s position, a spokesperson said the HomeChoice system would still be the only way for someone to be housed or rehoused in social housing, and Barton House residents would still have to go through that process. They, along with everyone else in the city, will have to apply and be given a priority banding.

“Following the evacuation of Barton House, individual households with tenancies at that block are being offered the opportunity to meet directly with officers to ensure their HomeChoice Bristol applications are accurate,” the spokesperson said. “This is to ensure that all of their circumstances are considered and that our understanding of their need, and therefore their banding, is correct. This is being offered directly by the council to residents.

“It is of course important that we balance the needs of all 22,000 households on the housing waiting list, so that nobody is disadvantaged in applying for social housing,” he added.