social housing

Sisterhood and Squatting in the 1970s: Feminism, Housing and Urban Change in Hackney

Squat houses, Broughton Road, Hackney, 1983

A detailed look at squatting in 1970s Hackney, East London. Using oral history to recall how women squatting in the 1970s carved out a space for themselves to self organise in a decaying London, neglected by municipal structures. The article argues that by creating a physical space for themselves women in Hackney were able to shape and create the kind of feminist movement they wanted, which in turn helped them to create better places to live in.

The hidden history of housing

A grassroots history of housing, by Colin Ward.

The Monopoly board of the city: Grenfell Tower - where was the HCA, government housing regulator??

Person trapped in Grenfell Tower

The Homes & Community Agency(HCA) is the UK state regulatory body for social housing; its job is to monitor the performance, finances and provision of services of landlords. Missing from the media coverage of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster so far is any discussion of what relation the HCA has to this horror story of corporate murder. Given the years of complaints from Grenfell tenants(1) about their landlord the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation(KCTMO)(2), we can reasonably ask why the HCA never stepped in to investigate the terrible tenant-landlord relationship and the many fire safety complaints tenants had flagged up repeatedly before the fire broke out.

Smothered by regeneration: the Grenfell Tower fire

Grenfell Tower fire

Tenants at Grenfell Tower repeatedly warned the council and its management organisation about fire safety risks before a deadly blaze engulfed the 24-storey residential tower block.

Rent strike: St Pancras 1960

A crowd defends Kennistoun House, 1960

A detailed history and analysis of the militant St Pancras rent strike of 1960 against council rent increases written in 1972.

Fight for the City Part 3: The City is Ours!

Part three of an analysis of what is happening to cities

Fight for the City :Part Two- No Place to Run: Control of Space by Capital and State

Second part of analysis of what is happening in the cities

Fight For The City: Part One- Social Cleansing, Social Warfare

First part of a three part series on what is happening to cuities under capitalism

The decimation of the English working class

The Decimation of the English Working Class

A history of working class housing and some bleak speculations about a future that is coming unless we can change its course.

The squatters of 1946 - Paul Burnham

Aircraft workers demonstrate their support for London squatters, September 19

A short history of the mass squatting movement in the UK, primarily organised by soldiers returning from World War II.