Regeneration is still Gentrification

PILC hosted their first Gentrification Project workshop on cross-subsidy estate demolition and ‘affordable housing products’ on Saturday 8th February at PILC HQ.

‘A brilliant workshop…insightful, engaging and highly needed for those that are actively advocating for social housing’  

Haringey Community Org 

Over the weekend, we were delighted to welcome activists from across several London housing campaigns to PILC HQ for our first training workshop. Organised and facilitated by Gentrification Project lead Saskia O’Hara and PILC solicitor Alexandra Goldenberg, they provided legal education on estate redevelopment models and ways to share this legal knowledge more widely. The aim of the workshop was to provide paths towards accessing justice in the class based transformation of urban space.

In a room full of campaigners and activists who are experts on the housing issues facing them and their communities, there was unanimous agreement that local councils and the Government’s attempts to address the housing crisis is not just inadequate but actively worsening conditions for tenants in the capital.  

Estate demolition under the guise of ‘regeneration’ promoted and implemented by several councils who are benefiting from private development has already shown us what we knew all along – that regeneration promises are just another way of enforcing gentrification.  

Joe Penny, who wrote our recent report talked through his findings on the different models used in London and the consequences of each with studies of lessons from previous cases. You can access the report here and a handy guide to it here. He also made the case that it is not just simply gentrification that is causing the worsening housing conditions but rather this is a symptom of austerity,

'Austerity creates a market for investors to make long-term returns. ‘Social housing’ and ‘affordable housing’ is the new frontier for investors.'

With that, one of the outcomes of the workshop was that PILC continue to cut through and expose the jargon employed by councils and developers. That way, tenants can better engage with strategies to stop their rights being eroded away, particularly around what ‘social’ or ‘affordable’ housing actually means, if it is not truly affordable and is actively destroying communities. We will explore more options to provide training to a wider network of activists, so make sure you are subscribed to our newsletter for future events.

We will continue to: 

• challenge injustice 

• support communities with access to legal tools, training and guidance 

• cut through Govt jargon with legal education  

• work with a wider network of housing activists and campaigners 

• use our resources to promote campaigns and build wider knowledge in the community 

To expand our reach online, we have just set up a new Instagram account and will be posting information on recurring housing issues and how to challenge them in the coming weeks.

For further information in our gentrification project work visit here – we are also updating our website so you can access all the cases we have worked on.