Section: Housing Provision

Thousands Protest Against Lack of Affordable Housing in London

Posted 09.02.15

Thousands of people gathered on Saturday (7th February) in a march to demand that Mayor Boris Johnson urgently tackles the lack of affordable housing in the Capital.

An estimated 5,000 people joined the protest, which called for more council housing and control over spiralling private rents.

Many protesters argued that the current trends, which see social housing continuing to disappear while rents increase, will lead to London being handed to the super-rich.

Organisers of the protest hope that the March for Homes, the first of its type to unify campaigners, tenants and trade unionists on the inequality caused by housing policies, will lead to a widespread 'political' rethink.

They also hope the demonstration will draw attention to developers increasingly targeting wealthy foreign investors with luxury apartments.

The march itself was split into two legs, one starting in south London (Elephant and Castle) and the other in east London (Shoreditch).

The marchers from Shoreditch included members of the pressure group New Era, named after the estate that was recently subject of a widely reported victory when residents forced a US investor to abandon plans to evict families and triple rents.

However, that was just one victory and many fear that wealthy international investors are increasingly targeting the Capital's housing stock at the expense of affordable homes.