Overview

Tony is facing eviction instead of enjoying retirement; Limarra isn't 'homeless enough' to get help from the council; and for Kelly and her asthmatic son Morgan, another new rented house is a matter of life and death. This is twenty-first century Britain, where millions are trying to build lives in privately rented accommodation, which creates profit for landlords but not safe and stable homes for tenants. This fierce and moving account tells their stories, and the story of how we built a housing system where homelessness is a constant threat. Award-winning housing journalist Vicky Spratt traces decades of bad decisions to show how and why the British dream of homeownership has withered and the safety net of social housing has unravelled. She has spent years talking with those on the frontline all around the country. Here, she illuminates the ways this national emergency cuts across generations, class and education and is devastating our health, destroying communities and transforming the social, economic and political landscape beyond recognition. But it is not irreversible. The Covid-19 pandemic showed that radical action is possible, and there are real steps we can take to give everyone the chance of a good home. This urgent, ground breaking book leads the way.

Full Product Details

9781788161282

Table of Contents

Reviews

Open-minded and formidably informed, Spratt is a compelling narrator. Her stories of people wrenched from their homes by so-called no-fault evictions are startling and infuriating ... it forces you to step back, look at the whole wretched system and think: Why do we put up with this? * The Times * A major new book on the history and politics of renting * Evening Standard * An astonishing feat of journalism, storytelling and compassion. I thought I knew about Britain's housing crisis - I did not. -- Lucia Osborne-Crowley A must-read that explores the housing crisis and its devastating impact on our health, communities and political landscape. * Cosmopolitan * There is nobody better placed to write a book that tells the stories of 'Britain's housing shame' * Metro * This astute analysis examines the toxic lottery of Britain's housing crisis and the devastating outcomes of having no fixed abode -- Lynsey Hanley * Observer * An important book by a journalist who has done so much to shine a light on (and change) Britain's broken housing sector -- Lewis Goodall, Policy Editor at BBC Newsnight Vicky Spratt is one of the best equipped people to wade into this country's housing crisis ... [Her book's] radical plan for rectifying a broken system will leave you feeling hopeful for the future. * Refinery29 * A copy should be handed to the people who make decisions about policy and to anyone who thinks that young people can't buy homes as they don't work hard enough - just read this. -- Rebecca Smith * The Skinny * Politicians would do well to read Tenants , in order to understand the world lived in by so many voters. [This] isn't just an authentic book, it isn't just an accurate book, it's that rarest of things - a timely book that tells the reality of renting right now and it doesn't disappoint. -- Ben Reeve Lewis, co-founder Safer Renting * Cambridge House * I really haven't a clue how to set about the job. Harold Macmillan committed those words to his diary in 1951, shortly after Winston Churchill asked him to sort out Britain's housing crisis. Macmillan lacked the counsel of Vicky Spratt. * The Times * Vicky Spratt's excoriating Tenants shows how Generation Rent is being let down, and reminds us that the power dynamic between renters and their landlords was not always so skewed. Open-minded and formidably informed, Spratt is a compelling narrator, charting the way that governments since the 1980s absolved themselves of responsibility for housing and stripped back protections for renters. [Tenants] is an experience so bracing it forces you to step back, look at the whole wretched system and think: Why do we put up with this? That should have politicians feeling rather scared. -- James Riding * The Times * Important -- Shelter Spratt not only provides an overview and analysis of Britain's housing history, welfare state and the plethora of issues renters are facing today, she gives solutions - readers are urged to think big, think radically and act fast. -- Diyora Shadijanova * Huck Magazine * Leading Journalist Vicky Spratt's important new book [powerfully] blends an overview of political failure with the personal experiences of those going through eviction. -- Alastair Harper * Shelter * Tenants is as much an astute political and social analysis as it is a moving, radical call to arms. You'll come away from this book seething, but stay armed with Spratt's clear view of how we solve this crisis -- Anna Caffola * The Face Magazine *

"'Open-minded and formidably informed, Spratt is a compelling narrator. Her stories of people wrenched from their homes by so-called no-fault evictions are startling and infuriating ... it forces you to step back, look at the whole wretched system and think: ""Why do we put up with this?""' - The Times 'A major new book on the history and politics of renting' - Evening Standard 'An astonishing feat of journalism, storytelling and compassion. I thought I knew about Britain's housing crisis - I did not.' - Lucia Osborne-Crowley 'A must-read that explores the housing crisis and its devastating impact on our health, communities and political landscape.' - Cosmopolitan 'There is nobody better placed to write a book that tells the stories of 'Britain's housing shame'' - Metro"

Author Information

Vicky Spratt is a journalist whose work regularly shapes public policy. Her 2016 campaign Make Renting Fair got letting fees in England and Wales banned, and she has spoken at political conferences, APPGs, and appeared on BBC News, Newsnight, Woman's Hour, Radio 4 and NTS radio. She is currently the i Paper's Housing Correspondent and a writer and editor at Refinery29, as part of the Vice Media Group.

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