(en) UK Britain, HOUSING: WEALTH FOR THE RICH, A BURDEN FOR THE
WORKING CLASS by afed
A place to live is a one of the most basic human needs. Unfortunately, housing has now
become a source of income for those who can afford to ‘buy to let’ or ‘buy to sit’ (buy
and leave empty). Using housing as a way to make money has meant that rents and house
prices are ever increasing, spiralling out of control in places like London. ----
Therefore, for the most of us, paying for housing has become increasingly difficult. In
London people spend on average more than 50% of their income on rent or mortgage payments.
Together with low wages and benefit cuts, cost of housing is yet another attack on the
working class, as the government, banks and corporations make us pay for their crisis.
Roots of the Problem
Government policy that encourages people to want to buy their own home, eg right to buy,
low interest rates. They do this because if people feel that they own a home they will be
more likely to spend money on credit, thus keeping the economy going. The problem is that
they don’t own their own homes, the banks do.
Government encouragement to foreign property speculators. Governments have been unwilling
to spend money on housing. A way to get homes built is to get in foreign money. Developers
know that they can sell their properties to these rich buyers, so are more likely to
invest in housing. But, the vast majority of these are out of reach of the average renter
or buyer. People are forced into overcrowded accommodation in order to afford the high prices.
Consequences
Apart from generally making people suffer financial hardship, struggling to make ends
meet, the consequences are very far-reaching, affecting the very character of urban areas.
As the money is to be made in the centres of cities, people are being forced further and
further out in order to find rents/prices they can afford. Those on benefit find
themselves forced to relocate to cheaper areas, far from friends and families. This is
happening a lot in London because it is not just the centre that is the target for
developers but most of the city. This means that many people are being sent out of London
all together.
The other consequence is that the whole economy is very precarious; too much depends on
the housing prices continuing to rise. It doesn’t have to take much for a few people to
lose confidence, for foreign borrowers to panic and the whole house of cards could come
tumbling down, just like it did in the last crisis.
The Growing Resistance
In many cities, the housing crisis has given rise to a host of campaigns that are
challenging the current situation. These campaigns were already well-underway before the
election and they knew that they would have to carry on fighting no matter what political
party got in. Some campaigns focus on anti-eviction work, for example the E15 mothers who
successfully stopped the relocation of the young mothers out of London. They continue to
campaign against individual evictions and against social cleansing. Others are fighting
the demolition of whole estates as housing associations and councils sell of their
properties to private developers.
Resistance has been militant, with a number of occupations, such as the one on Aylesbury
Estate in south London. The Boleyn Ground 100 campaign is an ambitious one. Realising that
the main source of the problem is a lack of social housing, they are demanding 100% social
housing to be built on the grounds of the West Ham stadium when the team is relocated.
What is particularly significant about what is happening is that the various campaigns are
gradually linking up. This process is helped by the formation of the Radical Housing
Network which is made up of grass roots campaigns from all over London. This is helping to
create a full-blown housing movement rather than just a number of isolated campaigns. And
it is not just a movement of political activists, but one made up of people from the local
communities fighting to save their homes from demolition or struggling against rent
increases and evictions.
And there have been victories! The New Era Estate in Hackney defeated an American company
and won the right to stay on social rents. We can all be encouraged by this determination
to fight back and win, showing what we can do if we build resilient communities.
https://afed.org.uk/housing-wealth-for-the-rich-a-burden-for-the-working-class/
