Tenant groups and unions are organising a large-scale national housing demonstration in central London next month to call for urgent rent controls and a new generation of accessible council homes.

Billed as the largest coming-together of housing campaigners in a decade, at least 50 organisations including the Green Party, London Renters Union, Action on Empty Homes, the Fire Brigades Union and Generation Rent have joined forces and expect thousands of people to join the demo against “profiteering landlords and developers”.

A spokesperson tells LandlordZONE that tenant unions and housing groups in Sheffield, Manchester and elsewhere in England are already booking coaches.

“It’s not surprising that the government is seeing much of its progressive base flock to other parties like the Greens who back rent controls and other cost-of-living measures,” she adds. “With elections coming up in May, Labour will be on the backfoot. Whether it’s a change of leadership or simply a change of direction, tackling high rents is a political opportunity the government would be foolish to miss.”

Event

It is calling on supporters to sign up and join the event on Saturday 18^th April and publicity explains: “Keir Starmer was elected on a promise to ‘make housing affordable’’, but his government is super-charging the developer-landlord system. They expect us to believe developers and landlords will fix the housing crisis when these are the people who profit from it most.

“When we had rent controls, tenants spent much less of our income on rent. When we built council housing at scale, working class people could access affordable and secure housing.” It adds: “Let’s unite and fight for rent controls and council housing, standing together against our real enemy, profiteering landlords and developers, not migrants.”

Social

However, the campaign also directs its ire at social landlords, explaining: “Disabled renters face discrimination and can’t secure accessible homes, while institutionally racist housing associations and council landlords neglect and mismanage estates, damaging our health and letting children such as Awaab Ishak die.”

Although London Mayor Sadiq Khan is a supporter of rent controls, the government has repeatedly refused to introduce them. However, other councils around the country are lending support, such as Worcester which recently sent a letter to Housing Secretary Steve Reed asking for the right to introduce them in the city.

Photo: London Renters Union

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