Housing
Housing
Hollowing out London: school closure
14 August 2025
A Workers reader writes to point out that the closure of primary schools is both a symptom of workers being priced out of London and something which will hinder its reversal.
Building more houses is not the answer
In cities all over Britain councils are turning their gaze on strategies to build even more houses, and using up precious green belt land. The approach dominates thinking in London’s City Hall. But it won’t work…
Creating modern slums
2 June 2025
One aspect of the housing crisis is the bad state of rented homes and the problem is growing, judging by a recent report. These conditions are a threat to health, especially children.
Blockage on house building
2 June 2025
The government’s declared aim to build more homes faces many challenges, not least the need to provide adequate infrastructure. People in Buckinghamshire are campaigning against a new development because sewers in the area can’t cope.
Net zero – bad for your health
25 February 2025
Energy efficiency schemes launched in the name of the drive to net zero are creating health problems. The government has now acknowledged the wide-scale issues after complaints and media reports.
As unsafe as houses
25 February 2025
Workers must be prepared to fight for their own safety, not least in housing. Predictable risks of flooding and fire have been ignored too often.
Families don’t grow under capitalism
It’s getting harder and harder to build a family in Britain – and in particular to start one before your thirties. High house prices and low wages mean many are forced to wait longer than they want…
Grenfell inquiry says all 72 deaths avoidable
9 September 2024
The final report from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry says that the deaths in the fire were all avoidable. It sets out how that came about and makes many recommendations to improve safety, which need to be acted on.
Taking Engels' name in vain
One of the most recent developments in Manchester City Centre, Deansgate Square, includes a luxury penthouse flat with an asking price of £2.5 million. The housing developer has christened it the Engels penthouse.
Housing, population and immigration: the facts
There’s a whole industry dedicated to ‘proving’ that importing workers into Britain is an undiluted good. Tell that to young people looking for somewhere even remotely affordable to live…
Rough sleeping on the rise
22 January 2024
Record numbers of people are now sleeping rough. The Conservative Party pledge to end rough sleeping in England by 2024 looks an empty promise despite action during the pandemic.
Homeless in Manchester
Manchester is an example of a supposedly booming city where housing problems are acute…
People need homes, not empty promises
Housing policy in Britain is in a mess. From missed house building targets through to exploitative land deals, mortgage inflation and homelessness, the basic needs of people have been neglected…
Housing for people, not for profit
Everyone needs somewhere decent to live – and to be able to pay for it. But housing in Britain has been in crisis for so long that it seems there’s no answer. It need not be that way…
Profit and the housing shortage
A book published in paperback this year reveals a sorry tale of 60 years of legislation fuelling speculation in land, paving the way for the housing crisis…
A community's fight against buy-to-let profiteers
Areas around Britain’s universities are being blighted as once-stable populations are replaced by student lets and multiple occupation – but communities are fighting back. Workers looks at an example from Liverpool…
Housing: Overcrowding doubles
The number of households living in overcrowded privately rented properties has doubled in the last decade.
Deepening housing crisis in Manchester
9 December 2019
The housing crisis sweeping Britain shows no sign of abating. Its effects are to be found all over the country, not least in the much-vaunted “Northern powerhouse” of Manchester.
Housing: New starts down
House building across England has fallen to the slowest quarterly rate for three years.
The big opportunity for homes fit for workers
The need for truly affordable housing is universally acknowledged, yet it is not delivered. Brexit, implemented with control over the economy and migration, will allow Britain to plan properly to house its people…
Debt and privatisation
The Addison Act of 1919 had given council housing a national character, funded nationally through the ring-fenced Housing Revenue Account (HRA). Borrowing was at a low rate linked to government gilts to offset risk.
Council cuts killing homeless people
28 June 2019
More homeless people die in the areas with the biggest council cuts, a new study suggests.
On the streets in Manchester
11 March 2019
Homelessness is growing in Britain, in part due to the shortage of housing. It's worst in London, but is growing fast elsewhere in England – the Midlands, Yorkshire, and the North-West.
Home truths - hard times
28 February 2019
Young workers are finding it harder to set up their own home. This is due to rising house prices, static wages and low levels of employment.
Housing Crisis: Not just in the cities
The deliberate under-resourcing of publicly funded housing often raises images of cities, with tower blocks and urban decay.
Homeless dying as housing crisis worsens
9 January 2019
The number of homeless people dying on the streets or in temporary accommodation has surged 24 per cent in just five years.
NZ says no to foreign buy-ups
New Zealand is acting against foreign buy-ups of property. The country’s previous government was happy to allow rich foreigners to snap up land and property.
'Right to buy' - but no money
The demand for housing continues to rise, with continuing uncontrolled migration into Britain playing a significant part.
NHS land sell-off for 'unaffordable' housing
11 January 2018
A nurse would have to save for 53 years just to put down a deposit on homes built on sold-off NHS land, says a new report.