Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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Staring into the housing abyss
After decades of disinvestment and denigration, the tide is finally turning back towards council housing as the only viable alternative to the unacceptable status quo, writes GLYN ROBBINS
QUALITY LIVING:The Whittington (Council) Estate in Highgate New Town (1972-79) designed by Peter Tabori of the London Borough of Camden Architects Department
[Julian Osley/Creative Commons]
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
IN MARCH 2020, Leilani Farha, a former United Nations special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, said “Housing has become the front-line defence against the coronavirus. Home has rarely been more of a life-or-death situation.”
Everything that’s happened since has proved her right. The correlation between bad housing and poor health has been known for many years, likewise that these issues disproportionately affect people from ethnic minorities. But as with other features of our unequal, racist society, they’ve been magnified by Covid.
Despite being a blind spot for Establishment politicians, including the new leadership of the Labour Party, housing has come to increasingly dominate and damage the lives of many working-class people and communities.
The constant struggle to find and keep a roof over your head is forcing millions into financial hardship and creating living conditions that belong in the 19th century. Successive governments have deliberately allowed this situation to develop by bowing down to the global property industry, personified by the likes of Donald Trump. Again, the pandemic has proved that the private market cannot and will not provide the homes we need.
As we wrestle with how society should change in response to Covid, our approach to housing should be at the forefront.
The urgency of this could come into sharp focus in the coming months. It’s estimated a quarter of a million households with private landlords are now at risk of homelessness because, through no fault of their own, they’ve fallen into rent arrears.
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Building is the solution for much of our housing crisis – and will also help to address poverty, ill health, and even anti-social behaviour and alienation, writes KENNY MacASKILL
Our housing crisis isn’t an accident – it’s class war, trapping millions in poverty while landlords and billionaires profit. To solve it, we need comprehensive transformation, not mere tokenistic reform, writes BECK ROBERTSON
