Boris Johnson has ruled out banning poor doors

Tory minister Boris Johnson has rejected calls to introduce a law which would effectively ban class-based apartheid in social homes.

What am I referring to? I am referring to the common practice in the UK whereby in newbuild housing developments poorer residents are obligated to use separate entrances to those with more money.

These ‘poor doors’ are predominantly based in newbuild blocks that have affordable homes in addition to apartments sold at much higher open-market prices.

Housing associations have introduced them because it enables them to avoid the high service charges paid for plush communal areas.

Although Boris Johnson claims that he doesn’t like the idea of them, he added: “The difficulty is, and this is what the developers will say, is that the high charges, the concierge charges, the charges for all the services in the building, cannot always be met in a uniform way by all the tenants, and that’s why they make this case for dual access.”

David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham said that poor doors  belong “more in a Dickens novel than in a 21st-century global city”.

He said: “This is a case of Londoners living side by side, but completely divided by bricks, mortar and money. We cannot allow London to become a city of haves and have nots. The capital’s sweeping economic success must benefit all Londoners, not just those who can afford to pay for luxury living.”

These separate entrances were also in place in New York although the mayor of that city Bill de Blasio, has committed to banning them.

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