July 8th, 2023 by Housing Rebellion and Extinction Rebellion

Email: housingrebellion@protonmail.com / press@extinctionrebellion.uk

Phone: +44(0)7834 828 292 / +44(0)7756136396

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Pictures and quotes from the day will be uploaded on telegram here

Housing and Climate Campaigners across the country will be gathering for a national day of action to highlight how the broken housing system in the UK is linked to the deepening climate crisis. 

According to Grace Lally from Housing Rebellion “People are in desperate need of secure affordable homes that don’t cost a fortune to heat, but what we get are completely unsustainable high rise towers of luxury apartments that most people can never afford. Why has squatting been criminalised when the real crime is that there are quarter of a million long term empty homes? Another 3 quarters of a million households in the UK own a holiday home while hundreds of thousands are homeless. 

This Saturday is part of a move towards more national coordination between people who have had enough of the greenwashing and profiteering and are willing to take direct action to fill the empty homes, to stop unsustainable developments and demolition of social housing, and to demand retrofitting to bring our leaky homes up to a decent standard.”

Groups from Glasgow to Cornwall and Birmingham to London will be gathering for marches and rallies, demanding an end to the injustice, environmental destruction and greed that together fuel our housing crisis. 

The protests will be drawing attention to the social and environmental impact of housing developments in the UK, where house prices are incredibly high, social housing is being demolished in favour of high density private ‘regeneration’ schemes, and houses are poorly insulated and built without sustainable practices in mind. Not only does this put people at risk of homelessness and damage their health, but poorly insulated homes create more dependency on gas heating.

Housing charity, Crisis, estimates there will be 300,000 homeless people in the UK every night this year. With millions more struggling to keep up with the rising cost of housing whether that’s rents, mortgages or energy bills. Meanwhile, there are over 250,000 long-term empty homes in the UK which could be used to provide secure housing. 

Housing Rebellion is part of Extinction Rebellion’s continued alliance building work that started with The Big One in April, where over 200 partner organisations came together in central London to demand action on the climate crisis. Housing Rebellion aims to connect with and support those at the forefront of the housing and climate crises, to fight the greedy system that puts profit before people and planet.

The organisations involved in the day of action include Architects Climate Action Network, Disabled People Against Cuts, First Not Second Homes, Fuel Poverty Action, Homes For All, Radical Housing Network, Social Housing Action Campaign and local Trade union and estate based campaigns from across the country. 

Some of the actions planned for July 8th:

• Bexley: 1pm Church of the Cross, Lensbury Way, SE2 9UE
• Birmingham: 11am Smallbrook Ringway, B5 4HX
• Glasgow: 12pm Green space, The Wyndford, G20 8DY
• Lambeth: 10am Central Hill Estate, SE19 1AA
                  2.30pm South Lambeth Estate, SW8 1AD
• Merton: 9am Colliers Wood Tube
• Southwark: 11am Elephant Leisure Centre SE1 6SQ
• Islington: 11.30am Pentonville Prison Flats, N7 5SQ
• Cornwall: 1pm St Ives Harbor
• Wandsworth – 11am Toland Square Green Sw15 5PF
• Folkestone: 7pm Play ‘Fleecehold’ The Grand
• Harlow: 2pm, Obelisk, Broadwalk
• Hastings: Town Centre, 11am

For more quotes and background info on local campaign demands please go here. 

About Extinction Rebellion

Extinction Rebellion (XR) is a decentralised, international and politically non-partisan movement using non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to persuade governments to act justly on the Climate and Ecological Emergency.

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Time has almost entirely run out to address the climate and ecological crisis which is upon us, including the 6th mass species extinction, global pollution, and increasingly rapid climate change. If urgent and radical action isn’t taken, we’re heading towards 4˚C warming, leading to societal collapse and mass loss of life. The younger generation, racially marginalised communities and the Global South are on the front-line. No-one will escape the devastating impacts.