Thousands of people descended on central London on Saturday for the National Housing Demonstration, the largest mobilisation of housing campaigners in more than a decade, as a coalition of more than 80 organisations united around demands for rent controls and a sustained government investment programme in council housing.
Marchers gathered at Soho Square Gardens at 1pm before moving through the streets, carrying banners from dozens of tenant unions, trade unions and grassroots housing groups that have collectively spent months building support for an event they are positioning as a turning point in the political conversation about housing in England.
The demonstration is backed by six national trade unions including Unite, the National Education Union and the Public and Commercial Services Union, as well as the Green Party, the London Renters Union, Generation Rent, Grenfell United and Acorn, among many others. Speakers at the concluding rally include Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn and Green Party politicians, with grassroots housing organisers taking the main platform.
Elyem Chej, spokesperson for the London Renters Union, set out the central argument ahead of the march. “Soaring rents are pushing us into poverty and out of our neighbourhoods while corporate giants build luxury flats we can’t afford,” she said. “Keir Starmer’s government is making the housing crisis worse, cosying up to private developers and selling out our communities. That’s why unions and grassroots groups nationwide are uniting for housing justice on the 18th April.”
Private rents have risen by 44% since the pandemic across Britain, a pace that has significantly outstripped both wage growth and official inflation measures, leaving approximately one in three renters struggling to cover basic living costs including food and heating alongside their housing payments. Around 330,000 households are currently facing the prospect of homelessness, according to figures cited by campaign organisers.
The Renters’ Rights Act is due to come into force on May 1, a piece of legislation that bans no-fault evictions and introduces other protections for tenants. But campaigners are explicit that the Act does not address the rent level itself, which they argue is the underlying driver of the crisis rather than a secondary symptom. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has long expressed support for rent controls but the national government under Keir Starmer has consistently declined to introduce them, citing concerns about the impact on housing supply.
The political dynamics around the demonstration are notable with local elections approaching in May. Several Labour MPs have expressed sympathy with the campaign’s aims in private, and the visible scale of Saturday’s turnout adds pressure on a government that entered office promising to take the housing crisis seriously but has struggled to demonstrate a policy response commensurate with that commitment.
Martin Wicks, spokesperson for Defend Council Housing, was direct about the assessment. “The government’s strategy of planning liberalisation and reliance on the large volume private builders is doomed to fail. Social rent council housing is the key to resolving the housing crisis.”
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