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Spanish housing movement forces rent control, beats back racist housing policy, stops evictions

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Homes for All heard from Tarek Cheriha Dkik, a housing and anti-racist activist speaking from Girona, northeast Catalonia.

The housing rights movement is led by the Tenants’ Union (Sindicat de Llogateres i Llogaters). The Union calls for protecting renters and fighting for the de-commodification of housing including rent control, increasing public housing stock, and stopping evictions. 
The main demands of the movement in a massive demo in November were:

  • 50% reduction in rental prices
  • indefinite rental contracts 
  • recovery of vacant and tourist-use homes for residential use
  • a ban on real estate speculation.

Then on 5 April 5 2025, there was another demo in over 40 cities across Spain, including Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Seville, Málaga, and others. Both Madrid and Barcelona saw over 100,000 protesters.

In a stunning victory, left-wing parties in the parliament of Catalonia responded to the massive movement by reaching an agreement to regulate seasonal and room rents, establish a sanctioning regime for housing violations, and build 50,000 rent controlled housing units.

Activists from the city of Salt’s anti-racist network formed a committee to identify and stop migrant families being evicted from their homes, which later became the Salt Housing Union. They also successfully lobbied to remove a discriminatory condition excluding migrants from public housing, and exposed the racism in the private rental market.

It is clear that a huge movement can challenge the political business as usual, and demands which seemed impossible before can take on a life of their own.

Thank you to Tarek for taking the time to explain how to fight for people and housing!


YouTube Video for Tarek’s presentation (including summary of his comments)

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Housing campaigners take the fight to Labour, link up the struggles – stop cuts to disabled people’s benefits now!

homes for all demo banners

Homes for All wishes to thank everyone who joined the housing lobby on Wednesday outside parliament.

Speakers representing 13 housing & planning campaigns and also Fuel Poverty Action, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) and Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) spoke in anger about the scale of the housing and planning emergency and the urgency to keep fighting – demanding radical solutions to address decades of neglect.

The Labour Party plan for “£2 billion new investment to support biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation” will not.

But the day was rightfully DPAC’s with disabled people facing inhumane cuts to benefits and their mass demo from Downing St to the rally was just brilliant.

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A post shared by Homes 4 All UK (@homes4alluk)

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Call out to the housing movement – Lobby parliament 26 March

📢 Homes for People Not for Profit 📢

Come and join housing and other campaigners 26 March, from 11am to the lobby of parliament as Rachel Reeves makes the government’s financial statement.

Homes 4 All protest outside parliament
Opposite Old Palace Yard
11am, Wednesday 26 March

We are demanding urgent action by the government to recognise the nature and scale of the housing emergency.

After 14 years of disastrous housing policies and increasing poverty, all indications are that we will see no fundamental changes to the housing regime unless we step up the pressure.

🚩 Bring your banners and placards, and make some noise!

MAP HERE

Homes 4 All lobby of parliament 26 March A5 2ppDownload

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Over 600 people join Southwark housing and planning emergency demonstration

Homes for All joined and spoke the demonstration called by SHAPE – Southwark Housing and Planning Emergency

Over 600 marched for council housing and for justice for Southwark’s diverse communities. Speakers stressed that the community in Peckham will not submit to the rule of developers. A large range of groups came to express solidarity with the people of Southwark including: Aylesham Community Action; Peckham Vision; Latin Elephant; Southwark Group of Tenants Organisation; Southwark Defend Council Housing; South London Stand Up to Racism; Southwark UNITE; Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL); Southwark Notes; Plush SE16 No price on culture; London Renters Union (Lewisham Branch) ; Southwark Acorn and many more.

The demonstration united people of all ages and backgrounds in an angry but carnival-like procession. Highlights included the local drummers, a choir and a massive boost to the demo when HASL’s 60 to 80 members joined at Burgess Park, chanting “3,4,5” which is the number of bedrooms they are fighting for Southwark to rehouse them in.

Speakers included Local Labour Councillor David Parton who expressed his strong opposition to Berkeley Homes’ Aylesham Centre proposal – which is now due to provide an insulting 12% so called-affordable homes in a scheme of 877 flats. Local Lib Dem group Leader on Southwark Council, who is a ward Councillor where the Borough Triangle overdevelopment is proposed, also spoke and brought along other Councillors. Speakers from Stand Up to Racism and others talked about the threat of the far right and the importance of standing in solidarity with migrants and refugees. Migrants didn’t cause the housing crisis!

The demonstration was featured on TV on both BBC London News and ITV London News, and in various publications.

See Instagram post (more pics)

See South London Press

See SHAPE linktree

SHAPE have called their next protest and will be taking the arguments direct to the council.

We urge all Homes for All supporters to join them.

SHAPE Protest!
Wednesday 19 March, Tooley Street Council Offices, SE1 2HZ, 6pm.

Homes for People – Not for Profit!
Stop the megadevelopments!

SHAPE has also agreed to support the lobby of parliament called by Homes for All on Wednesday 26 March at 11am.

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Homes for All backs Southwark Housing and Planning Emergency (SHAPE coalition)

Homes for All heard from the SHAPE Coalition on Saturday. They are planning a demonstration on 1 March and are seeking support from housing campaigners in the capital and further afield. SHAPE say the developments approved and planned in Southwark, and Peckham in particular, have major implications for the housing crisis elsewhere.

Berkeley Homes is proposing just 12% so-called affordable housing on the Aylesham Centre Peckham development – a proposal that includes 16 massive buildings, up to 20 storeys high in the centre of Peckham’s shopping street and beyond. There will be 877 new homes but only 77 will be “affordable”. If this development is approved, either by the Council or on appeal, this will send a message to developers everywhere – ‘Build whatever you like, your profits come first‘ This is a national issue and it requires a radical challenge to this government.

SHAPE Linktree

URGENT!!! Aylesham Community Action are calling a demo to oppose the Aylesham Centre development – 3pm, Saturday 8 February, Peckham Square.

We regard this offer as a deep insult to the people of Peckham and Southwark…we… seek to defeat this proposal and others, like Borough Triangle, which aim to increase the number of luxury flats and displace the local traders, much like the already approved development at Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre… We do not believe developer profits should be prioritised. That’s why our slogan is “Stop overdevelopment, homes for people, not for profit”.

From SHAPE Open Letter to Rye Lane Councillors, 13 January 2025

SHAPE OPEN LETTER to Rye Lane Cllrs 13 Jan 2025Download

This is a call-out to all housing groups, trade unionists and people who are affected by the lack of genuinely affordable housing. We have to fight for council housing. It is the only answer to the housing emergency, and we expect our political leaders to back us and get out of bed with the developers.

SHAPE’s demands

1. No to overdevelopment – Is it too high or too dense? NO!
2. 50% council housing on private land. 100% council housing on council land
3. No more fake consultations. We want genuine tenant, resident and local peoples’ involvement in the plans
4. Stop unsafe and poorly built development
5. Stop the demolition and sell-off of council housing – Refurbishment not demolition
6. Requisition or acquire empty homes
7. Protect and improve our estates, community facilities and town centres
8. Employ direct labour – give workers the power to challenge unsafe building work
9. Act on the Climate Emergency now. No unsustainable building, no loss of green space
10. Stop displacement of traders for unaffordable housing

If you agree, come to the demos, promote and support – and think about setting up a Housing and Planning Coalition in your own area.

Siobhan McCarthy, Aylesham Community Action said:

Private developers have come to Southwark and destroyed communities in order to make profit, without providing anywhere near enough social housing.  We are fighting this battle right now in Peckham.  

Tanya Murat, Southwark Defend Council Housing said

Emergency action is required. Instead of letting developers continue to get away with destroying council housing and building more and more luxury flats, Southwark Council should refuse unsustainable luxury developments, fight for council housing and protect our local communities.

SHAPE Linktree

Want to get involved? Contact Shape Coalition on shapesouthwark@gmail.com

SHAPE-A5-leaflet-2pp-#1-ONLINEDownload

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Homes for All supports renters’ call for rent control

Hundreds joined the London Renters Union in central London on Saturday for a rally which then marched to Foxtons Estate agents and piled dozens of empty boxes in front of their window to demonstrate the impact of soaring rents and how it damages peoples lives.

Speeches, chants and singing made clear that the fight against rising rents, rogue landlords and Section 21 evictions will continue.

The Guardian carried a short article on the protest: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/dec/14/hundreds-gather-in-london-to-protest-against-capitals-soaring-rents

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Homes for All hosted Peter Apps on the Grenfell Inquiry

Grenfell community campaigner Moyra Samuels introduces Peter Apps at Homes for All meeting, 12 October 2024.

Peter Apps is a Contributing Editor of Inside Housing and author of the Orwell Prize -winning book, Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen.

In the meeting Peter discusses the findings and impact of the Grenfell Inquiry following the Phase 2 report, getting to the core of who was responsible, and takes questions from housing activists.

The murderous failings revealed in the aftermath of the Grenfell fire, laid bare everything that is rotten with the financialisation of housing and the resulting damage and disregard to peoples lives.

Watch on YouTube
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We’ll be marching against racism on 26 October – join us!

Saturday 26 October
Assemble 11.30am
Piccadilly – Regent Street St. James’s, SW1Y, London (Piccadilly Circus)

Tommy Robinson is coming to London with a hate march to spread his racism and Islamophobia. Robinson is a fascist who founded the English Defence League. In July, he marched with 20,000 others, chanting Islamophobic and racist chants. The following week saw far right riots across the country.

Stand Up to Racism has called a unity demonstration against Robinson to show that we will not let the far right take over our streets. Our message is clear: stop the far right, unity over division. We’re asking every housing campaign, anti-racist and the thousands who pushed back the far right in August to join us.

Our message is “Migrants and refugees don’t cause the housing crisis”. Don’t let the far right gain from the misery caused by years of attacks on council housing, and a market that is fully out of control.

We can fight for the homes we need and we can push back the racists.

We are the many, they are the few. Together we can stop the far right.