星空传媒

Trisha Shirt started working for Notting Hill Housing Trust in October 1973. It then owned just 1541 homes and employed 70 people to buy and refurbish slums owned by private landlords before letting them to the poor and homeless of west London.

Over three decades, she鈥檚 seen the trust go from a fundraising stall in Portobello market to a 19,000-unit behemoth with more than 700 staff.

鈥淚t was very much a case of 鈥榮uck it and see鈥� 30 years ago; you didn鈥檛 have manuals or procedures or protocols, whereas nowadays you鈥檙e more professional,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here was more freedom then: you鈥檇 go out and try and do something and if it worked, it worked.

鈥淵ou鈥檇 see a gap, and fill it,鈥� she says, referring to Notting Hill鈥檚 first foray into shared ownership in 1979 with community leaseholds.

Shirt got interested in housing when she did a week鈥檚 work experience at Sheffield council鈥檚 housing department while she was at university. She joined Notting Hill as a housing assistant on 拢1500 a year and worked in development and research before settling in supported housing in 1987.

鈥淥ne of the first shocks when I came to the trust was the standard of the homes 鈥� I鈥檇 never seen slum housing before. We bought houses that had gas lighting, that didn鈥檛 have electricity.

鈥淚t was staggering the way people lived, making the best they could out of it.鈥�

Shirt鈥檚 first duty was collecting rent over the local housing office counter and, once a week, from six elderly tenants in their homes.

鈥淭hat was very nice. You went round and had a cup of tea with each tenant.鈥�

Shirt鈥檚 next job was in the development department, where from 1976 to 1982 she experienced the trust鈥檚 rapid expansion from the front line of North Kensington.

鈥淲e were churning out more than 700 units a year 鈥� at times it felt like a sausage machine. It was mostly about refurbing street properties, rather than estates. In those days, that was how development happened 鈥� there were very few new-build schemes.鈥�

Without the vast resources it has today, Notting Hill鈥檚 development staff had a very different challenges.

鈥淲e used to rely a lot on volunteers,鈥� Shirt recalls. 鈥淥nce, I sweet-talked my boss into letting a couple go into a flat over a weekend to decorate; I came in on Monday to find they鈥檇 left me a message saying the ceiling had collapsed 鈥� I didn鈥檛 dare tell the boss for a week!鈥�

Shirt also remembers the social workers in the trust鈥檚 welfare department, set up in 1972. 鈥淲e used to do things like having curtains made for tenants and getting them put up, and arrange for removal vans 鈥� we don鈥檛 do that these days.

鈥淎t one point, the trust was accused of patronising its tenants, but we did provide a service that a lot of people benefited from. Over the years, how we deliver that service has changed. We鈥檝e made people part of it. You didn鈥檛 have concepts like that in 1973.鈥�

Eileen Gordon, NHHT tenant since 1972

鈥淚 almost jumped out of my shoes 鈥� I was so eager to say yes,鈥� says Eileen Gordon, remembering the day in 1972 when she was first asked whether she would be happy for Notting Hill Housing Trust to take over her home.

One of the trust鈥檚 first housing officers, Sam Hood, had knocked on her door and explained that the trust was thinking of buying the block of flats in which she lived in 鈥� it was then owned by notorious slum landlord Peter Rachman.

The trust buying my home from Peter Rachman was the best thing that happened since I came to this country

Eileen Gordon

鈥淚t was the best thing that has happened to me since I came over from the Caribbean. When he went out through the gate, I shouted after him 鈥榤ake sure you buy this property!鈥欌��

Gordon, her husband and their four children were sharing a flat in Colville Gardens, Ladbroke Grove, with two rooms, a kitchen with a bath in it and no heating.

She had lived in some appalling places since she came to west London from Jamaica in the 1950s.

鈥淭hings were very hard for people like us: most landlords didn鈥檛 want West Indians.

鈥淲e鈥檇 heard about Notting Hill Housing Trust but it seemed like it was only privileged people who were getting housed by the council,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut then I started seeing people like me being rehoused in places that were just so much better than mine so it started to seem more real 鈥� and that was magnificent.鈥�

As with all of the 1500-odd slum properties it had bought from private landlords since it was set up, Notting Hill began to refurbish the block.

鈥淚 had to move away temporarily because it was in a very bad state.

鈥淭hey put me in a flat in Westbourne Park and I stayed there for eight months 鈥� each day I used to visit the house to see how it was getting on.鈥�

The family moved back into a much larger flat on the ground floor and basement. For less rent 鈥� 拢2.20 a week 鈥� they had four bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, a washroom and coal heating.

Coal was a common feature of the trust鈥檚 earliest refurbishments, and one of the least popular. 鈥淲hen I came home in the evening, there鈥檇 be smoke all over the place because you had to stoke it up before you went to work to keep it going through the day,鈥� recalls Gordon. 鈥淥ne day I heard they were changing them, but the trust said it couldn鈥檛 afford it to do mine.

鈥淪o I said: 鈥楽uppose you lend me the money, let me have a heating change-over and I pay you back?鈥�. They said yes.鈥�

Gordon also remembers the trust stepping in in the mid-1970s when she was finding it hard to pay the household bills.

鈥淭hings were pretty bad: my husband had had a heart attack and I wasn鈥檛 earning a lot. I had a gas bill for 拢27 and an electricity bill for 拢4.20 and the trust paid them both for me. 鈥淭hey weren鈥檛 very big bills, but at that time it was an awful lot for me.鈥�

Being a housing association tenant had other benefits, particularly with the introduction of secure tenancies. 鈥淟iving in a housing trust property is like living in your own place. There鈥檚 no one to bother you.

鈥淲hen I lived in a Rachman flat, they had a man who would come in once a month. They wanted to see what the place was like but there was nothing to see 鈥� they didn鈥檛 give us any furniture, there was nothing in the place. We had to even find our own bed and bath.

鈥淲ith the housing trust you have a nice bath, a basin, a toilet and it鈥檚 for you and your family alone. It鈥檚 private. When you find yourself in a sticky place and someone gets you out, it鈥檚 good.鈥�