Can Labour build a way out of Britain’s housing crisis? with Cllr Aydin Dikerdem and Dr Beth Stratford | ep 134

Where and how we live has always been political – but with the right to buy, the explosion of the private-rented sector, and ever-increasingly demand for affordable, social, and council housing, it’s rarely felt this existential.

With the Renters’ Rights Bill currently making its way through Parliament, the mammoth English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill set to extend planning powers to new mayors and councils, and the budget expected on 26th November, it feels like a timely moment to unpick this huge, crucial issue – and how Labour is handling it.

To dig into this, we were joined by two brilliant guests:

• Cllr Aydin Dikerdem is the Cabinet Member for Housing at Wandsworth Council. His background is in organising and campaigning, having worked as a community organiser for both the Labour Party and then the New Economics Foundation, where he focused on supporting renters unions and the retrofit agenda.
• Dr Beth Stratford is an economist, currently an Honorary Research Fellow at UCL’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, and founder member of the London Renters Union. She was a lead author of Land For The Many for the Labour Party, and is co-leading the Homes that Don’t Cost the Earth project alongside colleagues from UCL, Arup, Dark Matter Labs and Rising Tide.