March for Homes on Shoreditch High Street. Pic: Hannah Calder

Last month over 1,000 protestors took to the streets of east and south London on The March for Homes.

The protestors were joined by Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, who spoke to a meeting in Elephant & Castle. The prospective candidate for London Mayor called for further regulation of the housing sector, warning that housing cannot be left to the private market.

Abbott said: “”In New York, Paris and Berlin they all have rent control…The days are gone when young people on an average salary can buy a home. Housing is a public good and therefore the market cannot provide people’s housing needs.”

The eastern portion of the march went from Shoreditch Church to the mayor’s office at the headquarters of the Greater London Authority near Tower Bridge. As the march set off the crowd were addressed by Mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman.

The mayor said: “I was grateful to be invited to address the March for Homes on Saturday, and proud that Tower Hamlets residents were well-represented among the thousands of Londoners calling for a fair, sustainable settlement on housing. Tower Hamlets First will always put providing decent affordable homes at the top of our priority list and I hope that Labour alongside other parties will support us in doing so.”

The march united many of the leading voices in the London housing movement, including representatives from Hoxton’s New Era 4 All and campaign group Generation Rent.

Video by Kate Holley