The Unmaking of the British Working Class
Margaret Thatcher described Right to Buy as ‘one of the most important revolutions of the century.’ She was right. And we’re still living with the consequences.
20417 Article(s) by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
The Homeownership Trap
Millions have already faced the dark side of the American Dream. Is there a way to stabilize and democratize homeownership?
Homeless People Don’t Need an App, They Need a Fucking House
It’s really not complicated. Homeless people need homes. So we should give them homes.
The Cooperative Option
Mutual aid cooperatives in Latin America give us a glimpse of what democratic social housing could look like.
The Zombie-Investor Apocalypse
There’s no use in asking why vacant housing and homelessness exist despite the presence of the super-wealthy. These issues exist directly because of them.
We Once Had the Answers
Sweden’s social democrats managed to solve a housing crisis and build a million homes in less than a decade. Why, then, is the Miljonprogrammet maligned today?
How to Solve the Housing Problem
The size of the housing crisis can be daunting, but with a committed political movement and a little bit of state power, it can be confronted.
Going Up the Country
The New Left and the “back-to-the-land” movement.
The Lingo
This list won’t make your city any kinder, but it might help you crack its code.
Kreuzberg Against the Machine
How the West Berlin squatter scene produced Germany’s greatest rock band.
The Private Equity Press
We should demand a media that covers the lives and struggles of working people — homeless, on the verge of eviction, trying to hang on. And not the glamorous lives of property speculators.
The Zone Defense
What we need isn’t exclusionary zoning, inclusionary zoning, upzoning, downzoning, a zoning freeze, or no zoning at all. We need an anticapitalist planning movement.
The Housing Question
We talked to four tenant organizers about how to build working-class movements for housing justice.
The Great American Mortgage Fraud
How banks engaged in systematic forgery to prove ownership of foreclosed homes.
Mayor Pete’s War on the Homeless
Pete Buttigieg is a charming man who speaks some Norwegian and wears wool socks. He also oversaw a wave of evictions and waged a campaign against South Bend’s homeless.
The Joys of Home Buying
In case you’ve never tried to buy a home, I should warn you: if you’re not affluent, you’re heading into a world of pain.
What You Should Read
You’ll need to lug all these books with you every time you move in search of a cheaper apartment.
We Need a Green New Deal for Housing
What would a bold left-wing housing plan look like? Let’s build ten million new, public, no-carbon homes in ten years and guarantee housing for all.