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Nick Bano is a lawyer and campaigner specialising in homelessness and tenants’ rights.
The decimation of legal aid doesn’t just leave lawyers earning below minimum wage, it rigs the justice system in the interests of the wealthy and powerful – that’s why criminal barristers are on strike.
Rent reforms proposed by the government last week give tenants in England cause for some cautious optimism. But what’s most important is that they could galvanise the fight for real rent controls and council housing, to truly bring this crisis to an end.
Left-wing lawfare is a growing phenomenon – but legal challenges simply can’t replace the power of organised labour.
The government is passing a string of laws that make state actors immune from prosecution and insulated from protest. Now, it wants to free itself from oversight by the courts as well.
Everywhere you look, the housing market is producing smaller spaces for higher prices. According to the PR machine, this isn’t profiteering – it’s the latest form of luxury.
In recent weeks, Labour has confirmed its rightward drift on housing by emphasising home ownership instead of social housing and renters’ rights – but embracing the market will do nothing to solve the housing crisis.
The newly rebranded Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is inheriting a host of crises – and with a history at the heart of the Tory machine, Gove is unlikely to solve them.
Lloyds Bank’s plan to buy 50,000 homes in the next 10 years – making it one of the country’s biggest landlords – is a symbol of everything that’s wrong with our housing system.
115 MPs – 90 of them Tories – are landlords making thousands per year from privately-rented properties. The housing crisis won’t be solved until that changes.
One quarter of all privately-rented homes in England fail to meet basic health standards. The problem can’t be solved by piecemeal reforms – only grassroots tenant organising can fight landlord neglect.
A year of being stuck inside has exposed Britain’s housing nightmare – Europe’s smallest average home sizes, sky-high costs and dismally low standards. If we want better, we’re going to have to fight the landlord class.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to extend the stamp duty holiday in Wednesday’s Budget, propping up an economy that relies on ballooning property prices – and locking in the housing crisis for years to come.
The rallying cry to ‘build more housing’ has gained momentum across the political spectrum – but solving the housing crisis is about affordability and access, not supply. We need housing for public good, not private profit.
The Covid-19 pandemic is causing chaos in the housing market – but whether it leads to a property crash, a deepening crisis for renters, or even a respite in rising costs remains contested.