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.
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!
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.
Action for Fire Safety Justice protesting at Skypool, Nine Elms, Vauxhall, 2021
Media Release 27/08/2024 – Immediate Release
We were shocked to hear of the fire that engulfed a block of flats in Dagenham, East London in the early hours of Monday morning, 26 August 2024. This must have been such a traumatising experience for all the residents and the surrounding community, with thoughts of Grenfell too frightening to consider.
Thanks to the action of residents supporting each other and to the London Fire Brigade’s rapid response, an even worse outcome was averted.
It is shocking that seven years after the Grenfell fire, non-compliant cladding was still in place, and that the blocks “had a number of fire safety issues”.
“We were saddened but unfortunately not surprised to hear of the residential block fire in Dagenham. Anyone familiar with the building safety crisis knows that it’s another tragedy waiting to happen. The slow pace not only of remediation but also of regulation changes is absolutely unacceptable.”
The government needs to fund the immediate removal of combustible cladding across all housing, and draw up an emergency plan to address fire safety issues that put our lives at risk.
The residents and community in Grenfell were neglected and abandoned by those in power. Lessons must be learned, and this time, urgent support and care must be provided for the people of Dagenham.
Homes for All UK
ENDS
Notes for Editors
Homes For All is a broad based coalition of housing campaigners and organisations, tenants and the labour and trade union movement. We are currently involved in a joint initiative with Defend Council Housing for council housing as the only solution to the housing crisis. 5 Point PLan for Council Housing
Register now for the action and film screening. Wednesday 13 March, 6:30pm – 8:30pm Homes for All be joining NEF, Homes For Us, Medact, Inclusion London and many more, to show the government that our homes must be safe.
Up to 100 people joined Fuel Poverty Action on 6 March. Homes for All and activists from Unite Community, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), Greenpeace and many more turned up outside Parliament for the Unite 4 Energy For All protest to highlight the number of people suffering due to cold and damp homes.
The Spring Budget will continue government’s policies which actively contributed to hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths.
Speakers called for radical change in the interests of working class people and an end to the drive for profits and protecting private companies.
Tenants and residents gather in Lancaster for anti-demolition meeting
In the latest feedback sessions local residents and councillors met in Southwark and Lancaster.
The Lancaster meeting highlighted more demolition and sell off threats to a local estate.
We have since learned of a decision to demolish six blocks in Leeds, and emergency evacuation of a Bristol estate block.
Further Inquiry sessions are planned, including the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) and also in Manchester, Luton, Reading and Bristol .
The deadline for responses has been extended. There is still time to organise a feedback session in your area.
The deadline for email and written submissions is 5th January 2024. You can respond in as much detail as you like.
