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
Homes for All joined up to 5,000 survivors, residents and others on the Grenfell Silent Walk, Wednesday 14 June 2023.
Six years on from the fire, it is now 72 months since 72 people lost their lives.
All those present vowed to continue the fight for justice and accountability.
As the walk moved off behind the United For Grenfell banner, marchers held placards proclaiming “This much evidence, still no charges”.
The mood was sombre. Many of the marchers, and many more local residents, wore green to symbolise determination to see justice for Grenfell. Firefighters formed an honour guard for the walk.
Speakers at the rally afterwards spelled out the culpability of the suppliers of the dangerous materials used at Grenfell; and the culpability of the local authority which allowed them to be used. There must be jail time, for justice to be done.
The government has already broken its pledge to implement the recommendations of the Grenfell Public Inquiry, because the owners and managers of high rise buildings have not been required to provide Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) for all disabled residents.
Survivors spoke to the rally about their loved ones who died in the fire. Marcia Rigg from the United Friends and Families Campaign also spoke powerfully, linking Grenfell with the campaigns of those whose family members have died at the hands of the police.
Across the UK people are challenging the madness and the unfairness of the housing market. At the forefront of this fight are residents on social housing estates trying to stop demolition of their homes and stop regeneration schemes that are destroying the environment and causing blatant social cleansing.
We are coming together for a national Day of Action to demand
Housing for need not greed
and
Refurbish Don’t Demolish!
The day of action will involve a variety of actions in local areas where residents are fighting demolition including Lambeth, Southwark, Camden, Bexley and Glasgow, as well as areas where residents are fighting against luxury developments that won’t provide the affordable housing that is desperately needed including Haringey, Islington and Harlow.
A range of campaign groups are supporting the day, such as the Radical Housing Network, Refurbish Don’t Demolish, Housing Rebellion, Homes for All, Social Housing Action Campaign and Defend Council Housing, as well as estate based campaigns, and we will be highlighting all aspects of housing injustice from high rents, to homelessness to disrepair and over-development. We will also be shining a spotlight on the environmental impact of profit-driven development and the fight to save green spaces.
The local actions will range from an exhibition of alternative regeneration plans, to protest rallies and NVDA stunts (non-violent direct action). Every action will aim to bring together local supporters and we will also be linked together in an online rally, live streaming campaigners from each area and reaching a wider national audience.
We want to involve pensioners and students, private renters and temporary housing tenants, trade unionists and climate campaigners and everyone and anyone who cares about everyone having a decent home on a habitable planet!
We invite you to add your group’s name to the list of supporters of the day of action.
If you are able to get involved please send us your organisation’s logo and let us know if you want to organise your own action or if you would like to support a group of residents taking action in a particular area or on a particular issue (eg. anti-demolition, high rents etc,).
We would also love to hear from you if your organisation can provide a speaker or if you can help us with promotion and publicity for the event.
Over 50 people attended Peter Apps’ talk about ‘Show Me the Bodies’ book at Bookmarks Bookshop and many others attended online
Thanks to everyone who came along and also joined us online to listen and discuss with Peter Apps his book on how and why the Grenfell Fire happened. The meeting contributed to the debate around the need for radical changes to housing policy.
A short video of housing activists who came together to join XR Housing and Radical Housing Network as part of Extinction Rebellion’s week long campaign to highlight the climate emergency and what needs to be done to save the planet.
A snapshot of the six speakers who joined the demand for radical change and action to bring about housing justice for all.
Radical Housing Network are proposing a national housing Day of Action in July and are inviting all groups to be part of it. Homes 4 All has agreed to join.
Peter Apps will be signing books at Bookmarks Bookshop on 23 May
Come and join Peter Apps, Deputy Editor of Inside Housing as he discusses his acclaimed book
Peter Apps reported on fire safety before Grenfell and afterwards. He helped to unpick the lie that flammable cladding had been banned, and so the government had a case to answer about why such materials were on the tower.
Peter reported on the harrowing evidence presented at the public inquiry, detailing every shift and evasion of civil servants and by the manufacturers about how the disaster was allowed to happen.
The chapters in Peter’s book alternate between a sympathetic account of the experience of those inside the tower who were exposed to the horrors of the fire, combined with a detailed examination of how our housing, economic and political systems facilitated the tragedy.
The book is essential reading for all those who are campaigning for justice for the 72 people who died, and to ensure that this never happens again.
Peter will be speaking in person at Bookmarks Bookshop and the event will also be live streamed.
Tuesday 23 May, 6:30pm at Bookmarks, 1 Bloomsbury Street London WC1B 3QE
UNITE article about St Mungo’s strike April / May 2023
Homes for All were pleased to welcome Zak, a St Mungo’s worker, to our national organising meeting on Saturday 15 April to tell us of their forthcoming strike.
Zak is a member of Unite and an outreach worker who along with around 600 other members voted overwhelmingly to reject a one off pay offer of £600 and following an imposed pay increase of 1.7% in 2021.
Like many Public Sector workers, Zak and his colleagues worked throughout Covid providing support and care to an often ignored section of society by the state. He spoke of the impact of homelessness on the client group they work with, but also how the cost of living crisis and lack of housing is now affecting his colleagues. As directors’ wages go up, front-line staff face financial hardship and increasing workloads whilst trying to provide a quality of service that their clients deserve.
Zak said the wave of strikes across the UK has given confidence to St Mungo’s workers and that they voted for the maximum strike days of 4 weeks. He talked about the importance of linking up with organisations like Homes for All. We sent solidarity greetings to the strikers and will encourage members to join the picket line.
After the successful round of protests on 14 March Housing Rebellion, led by Refurbish Don’t Demolish, will make its voice heard at the Extinction Rebellion days of protest 21 to 24 April. The XR BIG ONE is four days of mass protest in London focusing on climate justice.
Homes for All has agreed to be a part of it, and send a speaker. We urge all our supporters to attend with their banners, placards and noise!
Radical Housing Network, which is helping to co-ordinate the housing protests said
“Reducing the environmental impact of buildings and construction, while also dealing with the housing crisis, is crucially about addressing the glaring inequality in access to land and housing. Why are some people allowed to own multiple energy-guzzling homes while others are forced to live in overcrowded, or cold, damp and overpriced housing? Why is social housing being demolished to make way for luxury new developments when we know that retrofitting and installing renewable energy would not just be more sustainable for the environment but would also safeguard truly affordable social housing for the next generation? Protesters will be discussing the problems, the solutions and how we work together to get results.”
The protests will take place at the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) on Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF
There will be a Housing Rebellion stall at the DLUHC showcasing information from all the various housing campaigns on Friday 21 April from 10am to 6pm and again on Monday the 24 April from 10am to 5pm.
On Friday 21 April at 1pm there will be a street theatre performance about a retrofit house.
On Monday 24 April at 4pm there will be a Housing Rally at Marsham Streetbefore joining thousands of other campaigners to surround parliament at 5pm. A range of speakers will outline the key demands for housing and climate justice, including resident campaigners fighting for refurbishment and against demolition of their homes, architects pushing for sustainable buildings, and politicians who are supporting ‘retrofit first’ and truly affordable housing policies.
