Join this Empty Homes poster campaign to help highlight the scandal of empty homes and up pressure on the government to requisition and acquire empty properties.
The government has brought in new powers for Local Authorities to take back empty homes under Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) for up to 7 years, the ownership remains with the property owner, and temporary accommodation remains at the cost of Local Authorities.
Join the Empty Homes Poster Campaign and let’s have a visual protest across our towns, cities and rural areas.
Download the posters and build a campaign in your area to highlight the number of empty estates/homes in your area.
March against austerity: Assemble 6pm, Tuesday 27 October, Victoria Embankment to Trafalgar Square and Downing Street
Homes for All calls on housing campaigns to join the housing bloc on the march against austerity on the day before the Budget.
Despite positive announcements from Andy Burnham, the indications suggest that the market will continue to dominate government policy on housing which results in closing essential community services and being replaced by the drive for profit. The market rips apart people’s lives and contemptuously disregards the erosion of working class communities.
The obscenity of the market and the ability to organise and fightback has been shown in Spain, when a real estate landlord evicted an 87 year old woman unable to afford the 250% rent rise! A mass protest was mobilised by the Spanish tenants union and the protests continue and now include anti-fascist demands after the far-right attempted to move into the housing camp.
Report in the Guardian quotes a housing campaigner:
“The power of the people has ushered in a new era,” said Alicia del Río, of the Madrid Tenants’ Union, as she floated plans for a general strike in November.
Stop Social cleansing! Demonstration Saturday 25 April March down Old Kent Road! Assemble 12pm, Michael Faraday Memorial (opp. Elephant & Castle Tube, Northern Line entrance)
Save Old Kent Road and SHAPE Coalition helped to organise the planning bloc on the successful National Housing Demonstration on 18 April and they are planning the Save Old Kent Road demonstration on 25 April. Homes for All urges all housing and planning campaigners to join them. They are on the frontline of the developer-led destruction of communities, and they have a record of holding local politicians to account.
Bus down Old Kent Road SHAPE and Save OKR hired an old London Bus to tour Old Kent Road demanding Southwark Council alter the Old Kent Road Area Action Plan and increase the amount of social rented housing and protect local businesses and traders. They are urging Councillors to support changes to benefit local people before the plan goes to Examination in Public in June.
The current plan amounts to social cleansing – with 20,000 new homes, but only 5,000 social rented, maximum. The second half of the 20,000 homes is dependent on the Bakerloo Line Extension, but the funding for that is not yet secured. There is no commitment on the number of new council homes and a dozen towers of over 20 storeys are going to be mostly not affordable, with an unlimited amount of student housing.
Campaigners are also concerned about the lack of protection for well-loved cultural spaces and the removal of industrial land and traders – to be replaced by flats.
The plan could end up pushing more working-class people out of the area.
Save Old Kent Road said: “In 2021, Southwark Council themselves found that 93% of people in Southwark require either social or affordable housing. Since then, things have only got worse. There are now over 22,000 households on Southwark Council’s social housing waiting list and over 10,000 people in Southwark Council temporary accommodation. The need for genuinely affordable council housing around the Old Kent Road is extreme, but all Southwark Council have done is hand over a cheque to developers and asked them to fill in the number. The Old Kent Road ward is the most ethnically diverse in Southwark. Instead of investing into the health of our communities, Southwark Council wants to force us out and bring in full-scale gentrification.”
SHAPE Coalition said: We believe Southwark Council can do better. It is time to start challenging the rule of developers, as they were forced to do with the Aylesham Centre Peckham planning application, which they refused because it only proposed 12% so-called affordable housing. We have to stand together against overdevelopment of homes local people can’t afford. We are demanding homes for people, not for profit, and protection for vital local traders and cultural spaces.”
Joint demands include: • Homes for people not for profit • Council housing, not luxury flats • Stop overdevelopment • Protect local traders and cultural spaces
National Housing Demonstration – Assemble 1pm, Saturday 18 April, Soho Square Gardens, London W1D 3QP
Homes for All is backing the protest in Central London on Saturday 18 April.
Over 60 trade unions, tenants’ groups and politicians have backed the demo demanding urgent rent controls and a new generation of accessible council homes. We are also fighting for a planning system that delivers for local communities and the environment not developer profit, and safe, secure homes so the Grenfell disaster can never happen again.
Asking rents for private tenants have risen by 44 per cent since the pandemic, while social rents and service charges continue to climb. About one in three renters now struggles to afford essentials like food and heating, and 330,000 households are currently facing homelessness.
“Politicians have forgotten the housing crisis, but people haven’t. Housing is right at the heart of the real struggles faced by so many communities around the UK. Join this demo to remind them that we need genuine answers – not just more measures to boost private profits or scapegoating immigrants.” Peter Apps, Author and Journalist
Martin Wicks of Defend Council Housing said:“The government’s strategy of planning liberalisation and reliance on the large volume private builders is doomed to fail. Social rent council housing is the key to resolving the housing crisis.”
Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn, who is supporting the action, said: “We must continue to campaign for a mass social housing programme and for private rent controls. More than 250,000 people are homeless in the UK, which is a national scandal. Housing should be a right for everyone – let’s reclaim housing as a public good for everyone.”
Government should use genuine ‘brownfield’ sites and empty homes for new housing not green spaces or green belt.
Communities must be central to local decision-making in planning.
We have to stop unaffordable housing in unsustainable developments, ruining established neighbourhoods, communities, heritage, local businesses and green spaces.
Homes for All has produced an updated Five Point Plan. It is available online and hard copy. Please contact us if you would like some copies to give out.
Southwark Council rejects Aylesham Centre proposal following SHAPE Anti-Berkeley Party, 15 July
PECKHAM SAID NO!
Up to 50 people came to the Anti-Berkeley Party followed by a packed out planning committee meeting which went on for more than 5 hours.
💥Decision on Aylesham Centre site – REFUSED ⭐️Planning committee refused the application with three reasons – Heritage, affordable housing, retail space. The business relocation strategy is to return to committee if the Inspector approves the scheme. ⭐️Developers have already gone to appeal to the Planning Inspector, inquiry scheduled for October. ⭐️ACA will be crowd funding for legal representation.
There is no doubt whatsoever that the application was refused because of the strength of the campaign – ACA has been fighting for five years. And in the last year the SHAPE Coalition has called three lobbies of the Council, a 100 strong public meeting two demonstrations – the one in March was 600 people – and a party!
👏Thank you everyone who made this result possible.
We prevented the Council from setting a dangerous precedent by approving a scheme with 12% ‘affordable’ housing.
But the system is stacked against us. We need a planning and housing revolution!
What is the next stage? Berkeley has appealed to the Planning Inspector, so the government will now decide what’s best for Peckham. The undemocratic planning regime has decreed that we can’t decide for ourselves. This is why we are fighting not just for Peckham, but for a revolution in housing and planning policy where people, not profit, come first.
Homes for People – Not for Profit! Housing is a human right! Stop the megadevelopments! ✅ 50% Council housing on private land ✅ 100% Council housing on council land
The excitement was building as SHAPE supporters hit the streets on Saturday. 11 supporters were mass leafleting and the mood was high to to stop the Berkeley Homes development.
SHAPE also met up with Peter Apps this week, author of “Show Me the Bodies“, to talk about the campaign and what the proposed development means for Peckham. The Berkeley Aylesham Centre proposal, at 12% so-called affordable housing, was heading for refusal at planning committee. That’s why the developer decided to take its chances with the Planning Inspector instead. A big F.U. to the local Councillors and local people. Let’s keep up the pressure, on the council the developer and the government!
📣📣 It’s the PEOPLE vs The DEVELOPERS🤡🤡 ✊️✊️ Peckham Takeover – Saturday 31 May, 1pm @ Peckham Square
Route and timings Peckham Takeover, 31 May 2025 ⭕Circular route around Peckham 📍 1pm Assemble Peckham Square ⏱ 3.30pm Arrive back Peckham Square End around 4:15pm
♿ Accessible March Anybody who wants to participate but maybe feels a long walk will be difficult, can join the disability group: Rye Lane Chapel, SE15 5EX ⏱ 2.30pm The main march will be passing here at around 2:45pm to 3:15pm
SHAPE demands ❌STOP overdevelopment ✅ 50% Council housing on private land ✅ 100% Council housing on council land Homes for people, not for profit Council homes not luxury flats
Homes for All joined the SHAPE demonstration on 1 March 2025
Public meeting in Peckham on 15 May calls for developments with 50% council housing
Campaigners in Southwark are calling on the housing movement to support their public meeting on 15 May and their ‘Peckham Takeover on 31 May.
This follows their 600-strong demonstration in March against overdevelopment and for council housing. Now SHAPE are pledged to take over the centre of Peckham at the end of May.
Developer Berkeley Homes has put in an appeal to the Planning Inspector. Their Aylesham Centre proposal was waiting for local planning approval, but the appeal (on the grounds of ‘non-determination’) means the proposal will be decided by the Secretary of State or the Planning Inspector, rather than the local planning committee.
Campaigners were demanding refusal from the committee, which will still take place in June. Southwark Housing and Planning Emergency (SHAPE) was disappointed that local people have been bypassed by the developer and has pledged to fight on. Southwark Defend Council Housing described the developer’s move as “Arrogant, anti-democratic and aggressive.”
Arrogant, anti-democratic and aggressive
Southwark DCH
The public meeting will hear from Zoe Garbett Green AM, Andreea Vasilcin, Aylesham Community Action, Neil Tasker, Southwark UNITE and Carmen and Michael, SE16 No Price on Culture with Councillor David Parton, Rye Lane Ward.
All three Labour Councillors in the ward affected by the scheme have urged residents to object to it, and Peckham MP Miatta Fahnbulleh stated she would stand with the community against the proposal if the amount of affordable housing remained at 12%.
The proposal by Berkeley Homes promises just 12% ‘affordable’ housing in a development that residents say is not meant for them. Sixteen tall towers, up to 20 storeys high, with little consideration for the heritage of the area, local independent traders or the environment.
SHAPE Public Meeting
Thursday 15 May, 7pm
Rye Lane Chapel, 59A, Rye Lane, SE15 5EX
It’s The People vs The Developers! Peckham takeover!
Saturday 31 May, Assemble 1pm
Peckham Square SE15 5RS
For a demo through Peckham ending at Peckham Square for a happening with speeches and entertainment
SHAPE said:
‘We are living through a housing emergency. Despite huge developments across the borough, we have more people on the council housing waiting list than we had twenty years ago. Berkeley Homes are only offering an insulting 12% ‘affordable’ housing on the new Aylesham Centre – that’s just 77 ‘affordable’ homes out of nearly nine hundred and they might not even be social rent!’
We are also losing valuable small businesses and cultural amenities. We have already seen the damage done to independent traders at the Elephant and Castle and the Borough Triangle scheme puts the future of the traders at Mercato market into doubt. PlushSE16 was a great cultural and social hub in Rotherhithe, but it’s been lost too, to make way for a 48-storey tower with only 25% social rented homes.’
It’s time to end developments which take so much from us, and don’t even give us homes we can afford to live in.’
Siobhan McCarthy, Aylesham Community Action (ACA), said
‘The displacement of local communities and traders, huge mega developments placed in an area with no thought towards what exists already, creating a them and us feel to the community – this is all too high a price to pay (especially in Peckham with the planned Aylesham development). And for what? A disgustingly low amount of social housing, and ‘affordable housing’, and huge amount of developer profit. We need to demand change and now.’
Tanya Murat, Southwark Defend Council Housing (SDCH), said
‘Now is the time for a different kind of housing policy. The market cannot deliver the homes we need, only council housing can do that. We have to send a message to this government, and to Southwark Council, that we won’t accept any more crumbs off the table. Stop submitting to the rule of developers. Their profits are not more important than people’s homes’.
Jerry Flynn, 35% Campaign, said:
‘The Aylesham is right at the heart of Peckham and its redevelopment will shape the whole area for decades to come. Southwark Council must make it clear to Berkeley Homes that its derisory 12% so called affordable housing offer will be rejected. Southwark has a target of 50% affordable housing and that is what should from Berkeley Homes. This should be all council housing if we are ever to reduce our huge council housing waiting list.’
SHAPE’s demands
SHAPE’s main demands are an end to overdevelopment and more council housing – 50% for developments on private land and 100% on council land. It also wants an end to estate demolition and the sale of council homes and an end to the displacement of local traders for developments of unaffordable housing.
SHAPE (Southwark Housing And Planning Emergency) is an umbrella group of housing campaigns and activists from across Southwark. SHAPE is supported by Southwark Defend Council Housing, Aylesham Community Action, Save Borough Triangle, Peckham Vision, Latin Elephant, Up the Elephant, 35% Campaign, Yes to Fair Redevelopment, Southwark Notes , Fight for Aylesbury, PlushSE16 No Price on Culture, Glengall Wharf Garden, Southwark TUC, Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth and Southwark Group of Tenants Organisation, Southwark GMB, Southwark UNITE, PCS SELLS Branch.
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.
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.
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
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.
