Bringing Home the Housing Crisis: Politics, Precarity and Domicide in Austerity London

Often portrayed as an apolitical space, this book demonstrates that home is in fact a highly political concept, with a range of groups in society excluded from a ‘right to home’ under current UK policies. Drawing on resident interviews and analysis of political and media attitudes across three case studies – the criminalisation of squatting, the bedroom tax, and family homelessness – it explores the ways in which legislative and policy changes dismantle people’s rights to secure, decent and affordable housing by framing them as undeserving. The book includes practical lessons for housing academics, activists and policymakers. Front Cover Bringing Home The Housing Crisis: Politics, Precarity and Domicide in Austerity London Copyright information Dedication Table of contents Acknowledgements Introduction Distinguishing housing from home Legitimising domicide: enter the ‘age of austerity’ Project research methods Research location: focusing on London Overview of the book 1 The politicisation of home ‘Moving past the front stoop’: critical geographies of home Bringing housing studies home Destroying the home: domicide and home unmaking Domicide Agents of domicide: stigma and precarity in housing policy Lineages of home in neoliberal political rhetoric New Labour, urban decay and the ‘underclass’ Unravelling home in the Cameron era Continuing the legacy of the moralised home: from Brexit to COVID-19 2 The bedroom tax and diminishing rights to home Contextualising the bedroom tax: a brief history of social tenancy in the UK Introducing the bedroom tax From controversy to apathy: initial responses to the bedroom tax Slow violences: the fear of eviction Destroying a sense of home Impacts on health, wellbeing and family life Homeownership schemes: welfare for the middle classes? Internalising domicide 3 Temporary is the new permanent: temporary accommodation policy and the rise of family homelessness The rise of the private rented sector The rise of family homelessness and temporary accommodation Enter PLACE/Ladywell Life in PLACE/Ladywell “It’s not for us”: anxiety and the internalisation of housing precarity Temporary as the new permanent From purpose-built to the purposes of profit: temporary accommodation as big business 4 The criminalisation of home: section 144 and its impact on London’s squatters The road to criminalisation: a brief history of squatting in the UK Anti-squatter sentiment and the path to section 144 Eviction as the new normal Making home in the face of forced eviction: Grow Heathrow Forced eviction and securitisation Section 144, mental health and wellbeing The ‘good squatter’ Normalising precarity, appropriating squatting: the rise of property guardianships 5 Fighting for home: activism and resistance in precarious times Using law and policy as tools of resistance Legally challenging the bedroom tax Virtual legal spaces: the role of social media in legally challenging the bedroom tax Finding other means: Discretionary Housing Payments and legal loopholes Unionising the unregulated: legal challenges in the private rented sector Legally challenging section 144 Invisible resistance “I see myself as more of an occupier”: reappropriation as resistance Forced eviction as a method of resistance: the case of Focus E15 Making home in temporary accommodation: ‘banal’ resistance through material objects Conclusion Academic and policy contributions The current landscape When crisis becomes the norm Final thoughts Notes References Index Often portrayed as an apolitical space, this book demonstrates that home is in fact a highly political concept, with a range of groups in society excluded from a ‘right to home’ under current UK policies. Drawing on resident interviews and analysis of political and media attitudes across three case studies - the criminalisation of squatting, the bedroom tax and family homelessness - the book explores the ways in which legislative and policy changes dismantle people’s rights to secure, decent and affordable housing by framing them as undeserving.Often portrayed as an apolitical space, this book demonstrates that home is in fact a highly political concept, with a range of groups in society excluded from a ‘right to home’ under current UK policies. Drawing on resident interviews and analysis of political and media attitudes across three case studies - the criminalisation of squatting, the bedroom tax and family homelessness - the book explores the ways in which legislative and policy changes dismantle people’s rights to secure, decent and affordable housing by framing them as undeserving Often portrayed as an apolitical space, this book demonstrates that home is in fact a highly political concept. This book explores the legislative changes dismantling vulnerable groups’ rights to decent and affordable housing.