Pensioner, 93, fears losing home - The Jewish Chronicle

A Jewish pensioner fears she will lose the East End home where she has lived for 55 years, accusing the local authority of “social cleansing”.

Sophie Spielman, 93, says she will not leave her flat in Whitechapel, east London even if the council plans to bulldoze the block.

Residents of Treves House, say they have been told by Tower Hamlets that, because of the spiralling cost of repairs needed to upgrade the flats, demolition is the best option.

But Mrs Spielman said: “They just want to build expensive flats because we are getting the Crossrail station upgrade. It is becoming very trendy round here and what the council want to do is social cleansing.”

She has teamed up with other residents in the block to form a campaign group and has hosted meetings in her living room.

Tower Hamlets has said it has withdrawn the plan to demolish Treves, and a second block, Lister House, but Mrs Spielman’s daughter, Gloria, said residents doubt the council’s word.

Mrs Spielman — whose late husband Nathan fought against the Oswald Mosley’s fascist Blackshirts at the battle of Cable Street, not far from her home — said the proposed cost of repairs has jumped from £22,000 per flat to £120,000 per flat.

The pensioner, who as a leaseholder would be responsible for meeting the repair bill, said she does not believe her flat needs £100,000 spent on it.

“There is nothing wrong with it really — it just needs a bit of a clean-up.”

A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets said no decision had yet been taken on the future of Treves and Lister Houses.

The spokesperson said: “We completely understand the concerns of residents and, as a result, Mayor John Biggs instructed council officers to withdraw their proposal to demolish Lister and Treves.

“We are committed to talking about the different options but we are aware that the scale of the problems and the amount of work required to refurbish these properties could be unaffordable for many of the leaseholders who have purchased their flat.”

Residents would be consulted on any future proposals, the council said.

Whatever the outcome, Mrs Spielman says she will not be forced out.

She moved to the area in 1962 when there was still a thriving Jewish community.

She said: “I would go to shul and to the Jewish shops. The Jewish life was everywhere and now the Jews have left I’m the only one.

“My neighbours are Bengali, Muslim, white, and Irish and I get on with them fine. They call me ‘Aunty Sophie’ and they make me food.

“I don’t want to go, my life is here.”

Ms Spielman said that until recently she attended Bevis Marks Synagogue and once a week she visits the Stepney Jewish Community Centre.

“I would be sad if I had to leave,” she said, “but they are not going to make me. It is everything I know.”