The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has allowed 28 Pentonville prison warden flats to remain empty for over 10 years.

They had promised to lease the 3 & 4 bed flats to Islington council. But they reneged on this to prioritise higher offers from private developers for private flats.

Islington Council has declined planning permission for the private developers’ planning application. This gives us a fighting chance to vigorously campaign for the MoJ to honour their original agreement and hand the flats back to Islington Council.

There is far more at stake here than just the 28 flats or 28 families that will justly benefit from pushing back against MoJ and the reign of private developers.

People and households are being forced to live in unaffordable, overcrowded, insecure and temporary accommodation.

The resources are there!

Shamefully, Michael Gove and the government would rather hand back billions of housing funds to the Treasury when there is no immediate opportunity to profit from its use. Time to stop the rot and put housing at the top of the political agenda.