Housing history: public, private rent, tenant activism @SaveOurHomeLS26. First book EVICTION out w/ @VersoBooks. Also humanitarian history + policy
United Kingdom
Joined March 2009
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My book Eviction was published a year ago today and a lot has changed since then: the end of Section 21 no fault evictions, end of fixed term tenancies, longer notice periods. Crucial gains, long overdue. BUT the system still allows landlords to force tenants out.
And Eviction is out in paperback today! versobooks.com/en-gb/product…
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Very chuffed to see an excerpt from my book Eviction (with @VersoBooks) featured in @thenation today. The excerpted parts focus on mum and our shared exhaustion as a housing insecure family - speaking to daily battles faced by renting families everywhere thenation.com/article/archiv…
Eviction is out in paperback next week!! You can get it here: versobooks.com/en-gb/product…
Jessica Field retweeted
Residents of St James Estate are faced with rent increases of up to £600!
It's clear that the Renters' Rights Act does little to protect us against eye-watering rent hikes.
Instead, we need real solutions to the cost of living crisis. We need rent caps.
zeteo.uk/p/the-renters-right…
Jessica Field retweeted
John Grindrod writes about Aylesbury's brutalist county hall: 'The Tower of Power' (photo Simon Phipps)
substack.com/home/post/p-211…
Jessica Field retweeted
Outrageous. Landlords now inciting "inverse bidding wars" to dodge Renters' Rights Act. They advertise rents far higher than they expect anyone to pay and let tenants outbid each other under the asking price.
No more tinkering at the edges. We need real rent control.
Join us! Until then, sign the St James community’s petition to stay in their homes and boot the landlord out of their community instead: stjamestenants.org.uk/suppor…
Join us on Tuesday 15 September (7pm-8pm) for ‘Priced out and forced out – the St James estate offers a warning for renters everywhere’ @DrJ_Field
labourhousing.org/lhg_events…
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Section 21s abolished - evictions aren’t. Court possession claims up 16% on the year, evidence of huge Section 13 rent hikes - evictions by the back door. I write about the Renters Rights Act and the St James mass eviction case in Bermondsey @zeteouk open.substack.com/pub/zeteou…
In a new blog for @VersoBooks, I write about how the placement of homeless families in privately contracted hotels in the 1980s led to a preventable fire which killed a woman and her two young children. This 1984 case has clear warnings for the present: versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/n…
England's temporary accommodation crisis isn't a failure of policy or finances. It's the system working as built. In LIFELINES, a @Justlife report out today, I explore how –from Victorians to New Labour– we got into this mess. And how to get out of it: justlife.org.uk/our-work/res…
The resistance that people living in terrible TA conditions have mounted against the system – and their victories. Stories from 1940s London, 1960s Kent, 1980s Birmingham and London, 2000s Liverpool.
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Time for a new legislative framework for TA. Read the report for recommendations! justlife.org.uk/our-work/res…
@Siobhain_Mc @justlifeuk
Jessica Field retweeted
Last week, we took action to defend our members, a family with young children, from being forced out of their home.
🧵 A thread on why we will continue to resist evictions and fight for everyone's right to a good home.
Jessica Field retweeted
A quick heads-up for anyone in and around Holmfirth, West Yorks, next Wednesday, 13th May, I'll be talking on 'Some Lessons from the History of Council Housing' to the @EcoHolmesCLT. Details below. It would be nice to see you if you're around:
ecoholmes.org.uk/muncipal-dr…
Callout to Leeds folks: I'm hosting a panel: *What can we do about the housing crisis?* Weds 20 May, 19:00, Wharf Rooms. Feat.: Pratichi Chatterjee, Stuart Hodkinson, Paul Chatterton and HoldFast bookshop (coinciding with UK-REiiF boo hiss). Do come!
shorturl.at/gbQIA
We'll tackle affordability, conditions, racialised disadvantage in housing, financialisation - and much in between. Event tickets FREE but £2 membership to the cooperative Wharf rooms required.