“So, Don’t You Want Us Here No More?” Slow Violence, Frustrated Hope, and Racialized Struggle on London’s Council Estates

TY - JOUR

T1 - “So, Don’t You Want Us Here No More?” Slow Violence, Frustrated Hope, and Racialized Struggle on London’s Council Estates

AU - Lees, Loretta

AU - Hubbard, Phil

N1 - Funding Information: The research on which this paper was based – ‘Gentrification, Displacement, and the Impacts of Council Estate Renewal in C21st London’ was funded by the ESRC (Grant: ES/N0115053/1). We especially wish to thank Adam Elliott Cooper, the Research Associate on this project, for his contributions to this project. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Since 1997, over 50,000 homes have been demolished to allow for the “renewal” of council estates in London. This has involved the “decanting” of short and long-term tenants, as well as those leaseholders who bought their homes under “right to buy” legislation. Often described as “social cleansing”, the racialized dimensions of these displacements remain under-explored despite asizable literature documenting the connections between race, place and state-subsidized housing in Britain. Drawing on interviews with Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic estate residents– including many active in housing movements– this paper shows that this displacement is understood in relation to histories of racial discrimination, the destruction of ethno-cultural infrastructures, and long-standing racialized inequalities. These themes resonate with apolitics of resistance grounded in aracialized class consciousness that seeks to intervene more broadly in the politics of capital and the state.

AB - Since 1997, over 50,000 homes have been demolished to allow for the “renewal” of council estates in London. This has involved the “decanting” of short and long-term tenants, as well as those leaseholders who bought their homes under “right to buy” legislation. Often described as “social cleansing”, the racialized dimensions of these displacements remain under-explored despite asizable literature documenting the connections between race, place and state-subsidized housing in Britain. Drawing on interviews with Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic estate residents– including many active in housing movements– this paper shows that this displacement is understood in relation to histories of racial discrimination, the destruction of ethno-cultural infrastructures, and long-standing racialized inequalities. These themes resonate with apolitics of resistance grounded in aracialized class consciousness that seeks to intervene more broadly in the politics of capital and the state.

KW - Council estates

KW - displacement

KW - gentrification

KW - housing movements

KW - racialization

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113508368&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/14036096.2021.1959392

DO - 10.1080/14036096.2021.1959392

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85113508368

SN - 1403-6096

JO - Housing, Theory and Society

JF - Housing, Theory and Society

ER -