By Lily Gordon-Brown (@lilygbrown) There is little doubt that we are in the midst of a housing emergency. However, it is not only housing which has been subjected to commodification and financialization in recent decades, but also the land that sits underneath it. Land has become a site of speculation and regarded as an …
By GM Tenants Union and GM Housing Action A new report raises concerns about the proliferation of Airbnb and other short-term letting platforms (STLs) in the city and its effects on local residents. The report, written by academics, journalists and members of Greater Manchester Tenants Union and Greater Manchester Housing Action, finds …
By Isis Barei-Guyot What is a PSPO? As we approach a time of year that is extremely challenging for those rough-sleeping in the UK, particularly due to harsh weather conditions, it is concerning to see that a banner for a City Centre Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) has been erected in Manchester’s Piccadilly …
By Isaac Levin-Schtulberg As the months since July’s ‘freedom day’ roll forward, those residing in the UK have been reacquainted with a lifestyle that they once considered a stable normality. The daily slog of COVID briefings, statistics and superfluous analysis about COVID-19’s radically transformative long term impacts have become resigned to what many want …
By Jaime Jover (@JaimeJover) Few people that had heard about Airbnb in southern Europe 10 years ago. The San Francisco-based holiday rentals company had just started its expansion in the continent. During the first years of the 2010s, short-term leases’ growth was still slow in a context where the World –particularly southern European economies– …
By Richard Goulding (@richmg_) With Richard Leese retiring, Manchester City Council announced plans to provide affordable homes in the gentrifying neighbourhood of Ancoats, reported as the first council housing in the city since the 1980s. However closer inspection of those plans reveals a more complex picture. The development will be taken forward by …
By Members of Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen (@dwenteignen) On September 26th Berliners will head to the polls to vote in a referendum, the result of which may have seismic implications for the right-to-housing movement everywhere. The issue at hand is a proposal that the government seize and take into public ownership more than 200,000 …
By Helen C As community activists, ACORN are used to being met with responses like “it’s a middle class concern” when campaigning for the value of public spaces. In reality, safe and free access to quality public space is vitally important to the working class and an issue we will always fight for. …
By Sean Benstead On July 16th, reports began circulating on social media that a group of travellers had set up an unauthorised transit pitch on Hough End Fields. By the 27th, Section 77 notices had been issued and plans for eviction by police-supported bailiffs were underway. This article aims to address local resident hostilities …
Interview with Gordon Maloney of Living Rent Last week, announced as part of the power-sharing arrangement between the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Greens were proposals to introduce rent controls in Scotland. If implemented, this would be the first time rent controls were in place in Britain since the 1970s. Yet this …
