This Must Be The Place

e07 - Tracy Rosenthal on Abolish Rent

What would a world look like if you didn’t have to pay rent? Well, today’s guest Tracy Rosenthal asks this very question with Jack and Clara. Tracy is a writer, organiser, and co-founder of the LA Tenants Union, the United States’ largest tenants' union. They have written for The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Jewish Currents, and others. Their book Abolish Rent, which was co-written alongside their comrade Leonardo Vilchis. It is a manifesto for a world without rent. Alongside their writing and organising, they are also an advisor at UCLA’s Institute for Inequality and Democracy and a fellow at CUNY’s Centre for Place, Culture and Politics. Music is by Sion Lewin, our graphics are designed by Bella Harter, and the show is produced by Clara Hill and Jack Witek. 📣 Tracey will be speaking in London at this even on the 29th of May: https://pelicanhouse.org/event/abolish-rent-how-tenants-can-end-the-housing-crisis/

e06 - Homes For Lambeth Tenants fight back against mass eviction

Jules Zakolska and Conor Crooks are the founders of the campaign group Homes For Lambeth Tenants. The group fights to resist their landlord, a for-profit company called Homes For Lambeth, who are currently serving them Section 21 no-fault evictions. What is notable about Homes For Lambeth is that it is owned and operated by the Labour-run Lambeth Council. In 2022, an independent review found the company operating with ‘inconsistent approaches, poor communications, delays, lack of consideration, and confusion of responsibilities between Hfl and Lambeth Council’ At the time of recording, they both face eviction from their respective flats and are fighting removal from their homes. Music is by Sion Lewin, the graphics are designed by Bella Harter, and the show is produced by Clara Hill and Jack Witek.

e05 - This Must Be The Kernow with Bella Smith

After a wee break, we are back with an extra long jam packed episode (not cream on first, thank you), be prepared to leave everything you think you know about Cornwall behind, as we discover the state of housing and the housing movement in Kernow with Bella Smith. Music is by Sion Lewin, the graphics are designed by Bella Harter, and the show is produced by Clara Hill and Jack Witek.

e04 - Owen Hatherley on The Alienation Effect

Looking at housing and the home in the UK without looking at migration is impossible. From the Romans, to The Windrush generation and beyond, its impact on how we live our lives is undeniable. It has shaped all aspects of our culture, including how we live in our towns and our homes. In our fourth episode, we are focused on the wave of refugees fleeing the rise of fascism in Central Europe in the 1930s and how they shaped our town's architecture and much more. To look at this perhaps under explored aspect of British migration - which included some of the century’s greatest thinkers like Bertol Brecht, Ruth Glass and Erno Goldfinger - Jack and Clara are joined by Owen Hatherley to discuss how it shaped living in modern Britain. Owen is a historian, writer and cultural critic who has published an array of books such as Red Metropolis, A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain and The Chaplin Machine. Previously, the cultural editor of Tribune magazine, he appeared in Jacobin, BBC Radio 4, The Guardian, covering topics such as architecture, politics and culture. His new book The Alienation Effect: How Central Emigres Transformed the British Twentieth Century explores the many ways their lives contributed to our ideas of the home, whether that be architecture, city planning or just their ideas. It is out via Penguin on 27 March Music is by Sion Lewin, the graphics are designed by Bella Harter, and the show is produced by Clara Hill and Jack Witek. It was recorded at MayDay Rooms.

e03 - Nick Bano on Illegitimate Concerns

How do we explain Theresa May’s racist ‘Right to Rent’ policy? How do we understand the widespread displacement of thriving communities to line the pockets of gentrifying developers in areas like Brixton, Elephant and Castle, Peckham and Tottenham? How are slumlords able to force migrant workers to live in cramped and deadly conditions like the kind which led to the death of 41-year-old Deliveroo driver Mizanur Rahman following a fire at Maddox House in 2023? Nick Bano has the answer; racial capitalism. For our third episode, the Against Landlords author and barrister breaks down to Clara and Jack how the concept pioneered by thinkers such as Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Walter Rodney, Gargi Bhattacharya and others is essential to understanding our current and historical context. To resist it, argues Nick, is to resist the ‘YIMBY’ myth of building is the route to safe, secure and affordable homes. He and fans of his 2024 book were dubbed “edgy Maoist rebels” by the Institute of Economic Affairs. It is out on paperback on 15 April via Verso. Music is by Sion Lewin, the graphics are designed by Bella Harter, and the show is produced by Clara Hill and Jack Witek. It was recorded at MayDay Rooms, Fleet Street and Maddox House, Shadwell.