Eco-Village Offers Off-the-Grid Refuge From London Housing Crisis
Eco-Village Offers Off-the-Grid Refuge From London Housing Crisis
Saturday, 25 July 2015 00:00
By Cristina Brooks,
Truthout | Report
Faced with London's shortage of decent accommodation, with five renters chasing every London rental property, some young people prefer living in an eco-village.
Hannah Cordon, a 25-year-old receptionist from Slough, was living in a sublet flat in Peckham, South London, with no electricity, no hot water and swarms of clothes-eating moths.
[font size="1"]The eco-villagers use only the mechanical energy of a bicycle to make the washing machine spin. (Photo: Cristina Brooks)[/font]
"The place I lived in didn't have hot water because my landlord was a stingy bastard. I couldn't flick on the hot water and have a shower. I'd get up in the morning, and I couldn't have a cup of tea because there was no money on the electric key."
She did not complain, she says, because, "Tenants have no rights. Landlords can revenge evict you."
Hannah moved seven times in four years due to problems with sublets, a type of cheaper tenancy offered by a lease-holder rather than a landlord, as she was priced out of rental housing. ..................(more)
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31942-eco-village-offers-off-the-grid-refuge-from-london-housing-crisis