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
Defend Council Housing activist, Paul Burnham explains what’s behind Michael Gove’s new plans for housing.
Paul speaking at a Haringey anti-demolition meeting in 2016
Leveling Up Secretary Michael Gove has unveiled a ‘long-term plan for housing’ based on ten principles – but his principles do NOT include providing a decent, secure and affordable home for everyone.
Instead, there will be additional subsidies to support the demolition of existing estates. We need to push back, and refurbish rather than demolish.
Gove wants to build garden villages such as ‘the outstanding Welborne development’ at Fareham in Hampshire, ‘championed by my colleague Suella Braverman’. There could be as little as 7.3% affordable housing in this 6,000-home scheme. Fareham Council’s own housing service even made a formal objection to the low level of affordable housing provision.
Building unaffordable housing is part of the problem.
Full article here – Michael Gove speech and estate demolitions 06/09/2023
