Homes for All supporters lobby Labour Councillors at Warwick University, Coventry on Saturday 10 February 2024
Housing campaigners traveled to Coventry on Saturday 10 February to leaflet and lobby the Labour Party local government conference and to encourage Councillors to support the 5 Point Plan for council housing. The broad-based action was supported by SHAC, Homes for Us (NEF) and others.
Whilst we were met with a generally positive response to the campaign with Councillors wanting to see housing prioritised for their constituents – concerns were raised around the Labour leadership’s failure to announce any strategy to tackle the housing crisis.
What is clear though, is that campaigners are committed to building from this action and ensuring that housing is pushed up the political agenda in the forthcoming general election. We know that the past 14 years has resulted in an acute housing crisis which is unsustainable and requires a radical change in housing policy. We need to keep on building a united housing movement and fight for decent, safe and secure housing for all.
The housing crisis is out of control. As the General Election approaches, campaigners are coming together to demand radical changes in housing policy. Some of the campaigns will involve calling on the Labour Party to break from 12 years of the government’s failed housing policies and offer a radical change.
Homes for All has called for a lobby of the Labour Party’s Local Government Conference in Coventry at Warwick University on Saturday 10 February 2024. It is supported by groups within Homes for All such as DCH, SHAC, Unite Community and others, and also by The New Economic Foundation (Homes for Us) who are funding the travel from London to Coventry and back.
Join Islington Homes for All on Friday 20 October at 3pm outside the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to hand in petition signatures calling on the MoJ to lease 28 empty 3 and 4-bed ex-prison flats to Islington Council for families in need – as had been originally agreed!
We will then have a sleep-out to highlight the scale of homelessness and increase in stress for people being forced to live in unaffordable, overcrowded, insecure and temporary accommodation.
Meet at MoJ, 102 Petty France, London SW1H 9AJ at 3pm, Friday 20 October
Bring your sleeping bags – and/or join later for the Sleep-Out.
We are seeing the return to the slum, overcrowded, insecure living conditions of the 19th century that drove the mass council housing movement in the first place.
Whether you are in housing need yourself, horrified that millions are, or deeply concerned for future generations, join the movement for urgent action to address the housing crisis.
DCH and H4A is a broad coalition of tenants and residents – uniting over issues such as: Refurbish don’t demolish; Campaign against empty homes; Fire safety justice; Justice for Grenfell; End ‘no fault evictions’.
Support our 5 Point Plan which aims to provide concrete proposals to help solve the housing crisis.
1. Government investment in a mass council housing building programme, including requisitioning of empty homes and abolition of ‘right to buy’ 2. Rent controls and secure tenancies in the private rental sector. Robust regulation of housing associations 3. New funding to repair and refurbish existing council housing – do not demolish 4. Adequate funding for accessibility, fire safety, and for retrofitting and thermal insulation 5. Planning for the people and the planet, and not for developers’ profits
More information on the APPG Inquiry
Read the report of the launch of the Inquiry and the interim report by academics. Read the Interim Report with contributions from: Prof Danny Dorling, Oxford; Dr Richard Goulding, Univ of Sheffield; Dr Neil Gray, Glasgow; Dr Stuart Hodkinson, Univ of Leeds, Dr Joe Penny, Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, UCL; Dr Glyn Robbins, London; Prof Stewart Smyth, University College Cork; Prof Paul Watt, LSE
Article in Morning Star about the Inquiry:
The future of council housing: it’s time to speak up EILEEN SHORT, of Defend Council Housing, and Dr GLYN ROBBINS report on a crucial all-party parliamentary group inquiry into council housing that’s currently seeking members of the public to have their say
Homes for All joined the St Mungo’s demo with other campaigners who were also invited to speak in support of the strike and wider issues. We called for proper funding and resources for homeless services, and decent, safe, secure housing for clients and workers.
Homes for All urges supporters to join our banner on Saturday in solidarity with the St Mungo’s strikers.
St Johns Church, Waterloo Road, SE1 8TY, at 11.30, Saturday 2 September
The strikers should hold their heads high as they return to work. The St Mungo’s strikers have been an inspiration to the trade union movement and so much more. It is unfortunate that they did not resolve all their demands but they can return to a more united workplace. They have helped highlight the scale of homelessness and a housing sector that is now in crisis and exposed the disproportionate salaries of senior managers and the prestigious trustee jobs while low paid staff have been striking to save services for clients.
Housing campaigners and Housing Rebellion climate campaigners took over empty Ministry of Justice flats on Saturday as part of the weekend of housing action workshops. A block of flats owned by the Ministry of Justice in Islington, that has been lying empty for ten years, was taken over by protesters. Supporters included Islington Homes for All, who have been campaigning for years to get the MoJ to allow Islington Council to take them over.
The Islington Citizen noted ‘Campaigners said it was a “disgrace” that the government has paid £600k for homes sitting empty near Pentonville prison for years, despite calls for them to be used to house families in need. The Ministry of Justice has paid £604,355 on council tax for the three- and four-bedroom former prison officers’ homes off Roman Way since 2016. Islington Council wants to see families living there and is calling on the government to sit down and talk about the flats’ future.’
Architects Journal also covered the protest, and included these words from Homes for All Coordinator Morag:
‘Islington Council has a waiting list of more than 15,000 households needing to access social housing.’ The flats ‘could be renovated, retrofitted, and [used to] get local families off the waiting list back into the local community. We don’t want private developers coming in. That will just gentrify the area or push working-class people out of the area, which is already happening through temporary accommodation because there is no council housing. We want everybody to have access to council housing.’
The BBC covered the occupation with an article on their website ‘Activists occupy homes left empty for a decade’
London Live interview (on Facebook) with Islington Homes for All on the 28 Empty, ex prison warden flats
Homes for All will join Housing Rebellion this bank holiday weekend to help with hosting housing action workshops. Housing Rebellion will bring activists together, share experiences and learn new skills and information. Housing Rebellion is bringing together housing and climate campaigners to fight for everyone to have a secure home on a liveable planet.
On 8th of July we took part in a national day of action on ‘Housing for Need Not Greed’, which included working with residents on estates facing demolition, residents fighting to stop development on vital green spaces, and protesters against empty homes.
On Saturday and Monday the workshops will be in the House of Annetta, 25 Princelet St in Brick Lane and on Sunday in the Girdlestone community centre, 151 Salisbury Walk in Archway.
On Saturday 26 August, 1pm to 3pm Homes for All will be hosting a workshop The case for Council Housing – Solutions to the Housing Crisis
All-Party Parliamentary Group for Council Housing: Launch of Inquiry, 10 July 2023. Photo Credit @EllieEmberson
Tenants reps from across Britain joined Councillors, trade unions and Defend Council Housing campaigners for the launch of a new Inquiry into what Council Housing needs.
The Inquiry by the All-Party Council Housing Group of MPs (APPG), is inviting evidence from all who live and work or represent council housing, or wish they did. Greater Manchester Tenants Union volunteered to host a follow up session, along with others, and the Unison trade union is giving national support. The Local Government Association is circulating the call for evidence too.
Defend Council Housing and Homes for All agreed to team up to call for a Five Point Plan to provide concrete proposals to help solve the housing crisis.
Read the Interim Report with contributions from: Prof Danny Dorling, Oxford; Dr Richard Goulding, Univ of Sheffield; Dr Neil Gray, Glasgow; Dr Stuart Hodkinson, Univ of Leeds, Dr Joe Penny, Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, UCL; Dr Glyn Robbins, London; Prof Stewart Smyth, University College Cork; Prof Paul Watt, LSE
Supporters of Islington Homes for All demand former prison guards’ flats be sold to Islington Council rather than developed for luxury flats
Around 100 people marched in Southwark and people took part in demonstrations and protests in different locations as part of the Housing Day of Action called by Housing Rebellion, bringing together demands for safe affordable housing and action on the climate catastrophe. The main slogan was Housing for need not greed, and campaigners talked about the need for refurbishment not demolition, safe homes for all and saving our green spaces.
Morning Star covered Abbey Wood (Bexley) protest and occupation
Inside Housing covered Abbey Wood (Bexley) protest and occupation
Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL) on the Southwark demo Abbey Wood tower blockFocus E15 in NewhamSave Toland Square in WandsworthHarlow DCH and Harlow TUC banner drop at Terminus HouseMilton Keynes protest
