Housing march to protest against lack of affordable homes in London
Source: The Guardian
Friday 23 January 2015 19.21 GMT
Tenants, trade unionists and housing campaigners plan to march on City Hall in London, calling on Boris Johnson and councils to build thousands of council homes, control private rents and stop the threatened demolition of homes on more than 50 estates.
The March for Homes on 31 January, bringing together campaigners from all over London, seeks to put pressure on politicians to address the lack of affordable homes in the capital while developers target foreign investors with luxury apartments.
“Developers are having a field day in London and politicians are paving the way for them,” said Eileen Short, chair of Defend Council Housing and a co-organiser of the march. “We need affordable and secure housing and that should be the starting point – not how many unaffordable rabbit hutches to build to boost council revenues. Political decisions are allowing this to happen and this needs to change.”
Supporters of the march include the Labour MPs Diane Abbott, John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn and Ken Loach, the film director, who made the 1966 TV play Cathy Come Home, about a family who lose their home and face a life of poverty. Campaigners say more than 344,000 people are on council waiting lists with the average house price 16 times the average Londoner’s salary, leaving expensive, insecure and often poor quality private renting as the only option for a quarter of Londoners. Marchers are to assemble at St Mary’s Churchyard at Elephant and Castle or Shoreditch Church at midday and then proceed to City Hall.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/23/housing-march-lack-affordable-homes-london
