Cut the Rent and Homes for All

The resolution below, supporting the rent strike taking place at UCL, was passed unanimously by the Marxist Student Federation conference last weekend. In addition we publish below a policy motion on housing that has been submitted to the Young Labour national conference by a group of Marxists. Please get in touch if you would like to add you name to the motion to show your support. Both this resolution and this motion can be adapted to be passed at your local student union, trade union or Labour party meeting.

Cut the Rent

The Marxist Student Federation supports the UCL Cut the Rent campaign. We firmly hold that education is neither a commodity nor a privilege – it is a basic human entitlement and should be available to all, regardless of wealth. The cost of living in halls at UCL prohibits vast numbers of potential students from studying here, and for those that do enrol compounds the burden of already-extortionate tuition fees. This is social cleansing. The 45% rate of profit on student accommodation is obscene, and its justification as a means of reinvestment is exposed as spurious by the animal infestations and general poor living conditions throughout UCL halls. We therefore lend our full support to the continuation and expansion of the rent strike.

Homes for All

Young Labour notes:

1. That there are hundreds of thousands of houses lying empty in Britain.
2. That there are tens of thousands of homeless families in Britain.
3. That rent increases are outstripping inflation.
4. That students, most notably at University College London, have taken rent strike action against the cost of accommodation.
5. That the top 100 construction companies have a combined turnover of tens of billions of pounds.
6. That the ten largest construction companies are sitting on billions of pounds in uninvested cash and undeveloped land.
7. That just one of UK’s largest landlords (Grainger PLC) has an annual revenue of hundreds of millions of pounds.

Young Labour believes:

1. That the housing crisis is one of the most significant threats to the standard of living of young people in Britain.
2. That the resources exist for everyone to have a comfortable and affordable home.
3. That the primary reason for the housing crisis is the pursuit of profit by a small handful of large construction companies and private landlords, which trumps the satisfaction of the needs of the vast majority of people.

Young Labour resolves:

1. To launch a campaign for a massive programme of affordable house building.
2. To argue that this programme must be carried out and funded by the largest construction companies and private landlords.
3. To launch a campaign for the nationalisation without compensation of the businesses and land necessary to carry out this programme in the event that the private owners refuse to participate.
4. To support and coordinate rent strikes as part of this campaign.

Signed:

Emily Cosentino, West Ham CLP
Jack Halinski-Fitzpatrick, Harrow West CLP
Mordecai Paechter, Leyton and Wanstead CLP
Nathan Taylor, Camberwell and Peckham CLP
Ruth O’Sullivan, Manchester Central CLP
Gabriel Munn, Tooting CLP
Eoin Breathnach, Leeds Central CLP
George Downs, Liverpool Riverside CLP
Matt Rider, Swansea East CLP
Cathy Gates, Chesham and Amersham CLP
Ben Gliniecki, Unite Community
Joe Attard, Camberwell and Peckham CLP
Ana Alvarez, Bromley and Chislehurst CLP
Frankie Toynton, Beverley and Holderness CLP
Aida Seye, Queen Mary, University of London Students’ Union
Hushyar Mahmoudi, SOAS Students’ Union
Bo Yuan Chang, Newcastle University Students’ Union
Ravi Mistry, Leicester South CLP
James Kilby, Islington North CLP
Amelia Christopher, Kings College London Students’ Union
Charles Gandon, Southampton University Students’ Union
Clementine Otto-Bruc, Southampton University Students’ Union
Callum Blake, Southampton University Students’ Union
Samuel Harris, Southampton University Students’ Union
Yasmin Ibrahim, Kings College London Students’ Union
Yasmyn Charles, Crawley CLP
Alex Rowlinson, Southampton University Students’ Union
Ed Maynard, Southampton University Students’ Union
Filipo Carrozzo, Southampton University Students’ Union
Mert Chavushoglu, Southampton University Students’ Union
Jason Dougenis, Newcastle North CLP
Dan Hudson, University of East Anglia Students’ Union
Chima Itabor, University College London Students’ Union
Hannah Smith, Sunderland Central CLP
Laurana Espinosa, Cambridge University Students’ Union
Alberto Rodriguez, Southampton University Students’ Union
Mattin Biglari, SOAS Students’ Union
Timur Dautov, Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP
Gabriel Wadland, Southampton University Students’ Union
Aldous Brooks, Kings College London Students’ Union
Harvey Sperry, Sutton and Cheam CLP
Daniel Langley, Unite the Union
Daniel Morley, Hackney South and Shoreditch CLP
Maya Hafid, Gedling CLP
Rui Barbosa, Oxford West and Abingdon CLP
Jesse Murray-Dean, University of Kent Students’ Union
Clara Salaverria, Southampton University Students’ Union
Vishnu Meyyappau, London
Rob Sewell, London Central NUJ
Sam Pritchard, Swansea East CLP
Ryan Brain, University of Swansea Students’ Union
Nicholas Sherratt, Swansea Labour Students
Fredrik Tillett, Reading
Robin Brunsdon, Reading
Harry Connick, Reading
Ellis Temple, Reading
Eliza White, Reading
Algar Epps, Broadland CLP
James Morrow, Rugby CLP
Elizabeth Vazquez, University of Manchester Students’ Union
Edward Rosier, University of Manchester Students’ Union
Karina Basurto, De Montfort University Students’ Union
Lee Johnson, Leicester
James Sherlock-Shaw, Leicester
Christopher Herriott, Newport East CLP
Greco Muratori, University of Kent Students’ Union
Rand Williamson, University of Kent Students’ Union
Sara Mondragon Ruiz, University of Kent Students’ Union
Sean Spencer, South Cambridge CLP
William Napier, Cambridge
Dominic Ross, North East Cambrigdeshire CLP
Ellie Swan, Anglia Ruskin Students’ Union
Casey Cragg, University College London Students Union

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