Residents living in the shadow of Grenfell Tower may get more time after opposing a deadline for people who fled three blocks surrounding the wreck to return home or relinquish their tenancies.
Locals packed the Kensington & Chelsea Council Grenfell Policy Scrutiny Committee meeting on Tuesday ahead of a leadership meeting the following evening, which will vote on whether to impose a September deadline.
Tensions were high at the meeting, which focused on the future of residents of the Walkways, Treadgold House and Bramley House, who were evacuated from their homes in the shadow of the tower following the fire.
Many moved out of the Walkways after the hot water, heating and gas failed in the block.
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Residents who spoke at the committee told how people felt pressured to make a decision.
One Walkways resident said: “Why is it we feel like we are being forced to move on?”
About two-thirds of the 338 affected council tenants had returned home to the three blocks within two weeks of the fire, a report to the council showed.
A total of 73 households remain in temporary accommodation more than a year on from the tragedy, 12 are in hotels and serviced apartments or staying with friends and family. Five of those 12 have told the council they wish to return home.
Another 44 have already returned home. One household has accepted a permanent home.
The residents of the three blocks are continuing to pay their rent, while staying in accommodation paid for by the council.
The council was planning to end the temporary accommodation in June, but sent a letter to residents in July extended it until September 30, and asking them to decide on whether to return home or walk away from their tenancies by that date.
The letter said if a decision has not been made, they will need to be located to alternative social housing, or begin paying for their temporary accommodation.
The report said while the homes remained unoccupied but tied to existing tenancies, they could not be let to new families.
The council has told residents it cannot sustain the cost of the temporary accommodation, estimating a bill of more than £8 million over the next two years while tenants waited to be rehoused.
The report recommended that the council end the temporary accommodation, and instead spend nearly £2.4m between 2018-2021 rehousing those who wished to relinquish their tenancies.
The report said the waiting time for social housing for the residents was likely to range from one year for a one-bedroom, to three years for larger properties.
Anyone holding an historic lifetime tenancy who chose to move on would retain it in their new social housing tenancy, but relinquish it if the property they accept is classed as affordable rent, the council's report said.
Any of the 77 households that held a secure tenancy but chose to move to new housing would relinquish it.
A petition, started by long-time resident Isis Amlak, said the pressure to make a decision by September 30 was causing stress to already traumatised people, and showed the council putting "profit before people."
Among the suggestions from the petition included that if the council was cash-strapped, it should ask support from the Government to purchase more accommodation.
Notting Dale ward councillor Judith Blakeman questioned how Walkways residents could be expected to make a decision when they did not know what the future held for the eventual demolition of Grenfell Tower, and whether they would need to move again when works were carried out.
Labour leader Cllr Robert Atkinson said the wording of the report did not "do justice" to the efforts the council was making.
He sought an amendment to ask the leadership to give residents tenancy advice ahead of the decision, and ease the September 30 deadline.
“I think putting in a deadline is making it hard for people to pay attention to anything else that you’re doing,” he said.
Cllr Atkinson's amendment was passed unanimously and a decision is scheduled to be made by the council's leadership team on Wednesday evening (July 25).
