Broadwater Farm Estate. By Iridescenti - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0.
It seemed, at least for a time after the Grenfell fire, that social housing was atop the political agenda. Housing was centred at party conferences, discussed in reams of media, and organisations from across the political spectrum issued announcements, green papers, and reports on the topic. Many argued that Grenfell must signal a turning point in how the UK houses people. Amidst this discussion, we were introduced to the fire’s likely causes. There were those named individuals, from councillors to contractors, and then there were its systemic roots. A deeply embedded ‘culture’ of neglect and dispossession: the ignoring of tenants, the arbitrary revocation of crucial safety law, and widespread social cleansing of blocks, estates and entire neighbourhoods under the guise of ‘regeneration’.
Ten days after the fire and one borough across, late one Friday night, thousands of estate residents were rushed from their homes into makeshift relief shelters. Safety checks by Camden council, issued in the aftermath of Grenfell, had found the Chalcots estate covered in similar flammable cladding. The sudden evacuation was widely criticised. Residents complained about the councils’ aggressive approach, their lack of communication and rehousing options and, even as late as March this year, their disregard for residents as revelations of further safety problems emerged. Residents’ confrontations with council leader Georgia Gould went viral. One featured a woman countering Gould’s assertion that safety was the council’s priority, pointing out “for this long now you’ve allowed them to live in this property that’s been dangerous – how?”. Back up in Chalcots’ towers, around 200 people refused to leave. For them, the chaos and lack of support in leaving posing a greater threat than staying put. As one such occupier told a journalist “It [seeing Grenfell] does make us want to leave, But [...] there’s nowhere to go, and they’re not looking to move us out anywhere convenient.”
