Category Archives: News

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Homes for All hosted campaigners to discuss “housing and planning revolution”

Housing and planning campaigners headed to the culture tent at Marxism 2025 on Sunday to discuss ‘why we need a housing and planning revolution’.

Over 80 people attended, with contributions from Just Space, Living Rent Scotland and ACORN. Another participant in the meeting raised how impressed they were with how H4A raised broader political issues in their campaigns such as anti-racism and asked for advice on how to get their campaign to do the same.

The meeting, hosted by Morag Gillie from Homes For All was an opportunity to consider the kind of change we need, and how to fight for it. Morag said “There were too many people waiting to speak and as usual we ran out of time.”
After the meeting people formed two long queues for getting involved and taking away leaflets. 14 people signed up to the H4A WhatsApp group and we ran out of leaflets on both tables!

Destructive

Eileen Conn from Peckham Vision spoke about her personal story as a grassroots campaigner for 50 years with much of it about neighbourhood planning issues. She gave a snapshot of the current 5-year campaign against Berkeley’s plans for the overdevelopment of the Aylesham site in Rye Lane which locals view as destructive to Peckham as a place, to the town centre and its diverse vibrant local economy.

“This phenomenon is happening all over London and other places across the country and why we need to bring grassroots housing campaigners together with planning campaigners. This is to mobilise local people everywhere onto the streets for a total change in the national housing policies and planning policies” Eileen Conn, Peckham Vision

Struggles

Paul Burnham from Defend Council Housing spoke about UK housing policy since 1914, pointing out how struggles from below had driven high priority council house building campaigns in the past. There had also been other successes from campaigning over a long series of issues and struggles. Paul pointed out that Angela Rayner’s latest promise of £39 billion of social and affordable housebuilding, including 180,000 social rent homes over ten years, must be examined alongside the government’s tenure-blind target for 1.5 million new homes over five years.

“When all these schemes are up and running, there would be 300,000 new homes a year, of which 18,000, that is, only 6%, would be at social rent. That is not going to cut it.” Paul Burnham, Defend Council Housing

Developers

Tanya Murat from SHAPE Coalition said solving the housing emergency would mean a new generation of council housing – for all, wherever you were born. She outlined the need to struggle on many fronts. We have to call for the requisitioning of empty homes; we must break the power of landlords and fight for a nationally enforced system of rent control now. The government must end the building safety scandal, and we need Justice for Grenfell. We have to stand up to developers.We must demand – Refurbish don’t demolish. We have to support campaigners who are fighting to stop their councils demolishing structurally sound housing.

“Expecting developers to solve the housing emergency is like expecting fossil fuel companies to solve the climate emergency” Tanya Murat, SHAPE (Southwark Housing and Planning Emergency)

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Why we need a housing and planning revolution

Homes for All is hosting a housing and planning meeting at Marxism Festival 2025.

When? 2pm, Sunday 6 July

Where? Marxism Festival, Culture Tent, Shoreditch, London

With Morag Gillie (Chair), Homes4All and speakers

Eileen Conn, Peckham Vision and community planning campaigner

Tanya Murat, Homes4All and SHAPE Coalition

Paul Burnham, Defend Council Housing

The panel will discuss the political decisions that led to the transformation of housing provision and planning policy, how we build a grassroots coalition and why we need to fight for council housing and overturn the current developer-led system.

Marxism Festival is happening between Thursday 3 July and Sunday 6 July.

Book tickets here

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Loud and lively Housing and Planning Bloc on the Peoples Assembly demonstration!

The Homes for All Housing and Planning Bloc on the Peoples Assembly demo against austerity was a real pleasure to support.

Homes for All, supported by Defend Council Housing, SHAPE, SHAC and many others had fantastic Housing and Planning Bloc, and we even got to speak on the platform to promote the movement’s demands for council housing and a challenge to the rule of developers. We called for a revolution in housing and planning.
High energy all the way!
More than 60 housing and planning campaigners joined us. We brought the noise all the way from Portland Place to Whitehall.

More pics here INSTA

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Join the Housing and Planning bloc on the Peoples Assembly demo, 7 June

We have a Housing and Planning bloc on the People’s Assembly demo, 7 June.

We are seeking support both from housing campaigns, and planning campaigns. We know the housing emergency will not be solved without a massive overhaul in planning policy. Without doubt the national and local planning regime has turned into a developers’ charter, putting ‘viability’ (read ‘developer profit’) at the centre, and reducing the role of council housing to a bit part. This has to change if we are to get the homes people desperately need.

Of course the only solution to the housing emergency is for the government to build or acquire council housing on a mass scale, and that requires proper funding. We want anyone who agrees with us to join us on 7 June!

  • Are you a planner?
  • Are you a housing officer?
  • Are you active in the planning world?
  • Are you part of the housing movement?

The Homes 4 All Housing and planning bloc is for you! Get in touch if you want to help build it! If you want your logo on the graphic, please email Homes for All.

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

The current image has no alternative text. The file name is: Tarek-at-H4A-meeting-26-April-2025.png

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.

          View this post on Instagram                      

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 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