The Revival of the Social Housing Community: Providing security and shelter for the urban poor

Adequate housing has long been considered a basic human right. Trends of globalisation, financialisation and urbanisation are oppressing this right. Social housing is neglected by authorities and stigmatised by society. Local, low-income residents are dispossessed and displaced, and social housing is close to disappearance. London has become a fragmented and unequal city, with an unbalanced governance. The power of the private investors induces that residents cannot make use of their right to the city. To recover the right to the city for all residents and to counteract the displacement and dispossession, a shift has to be made towards a revival of the social housing community, providing secure tenure and quality housing for the entire population. This graduation project introduces a community land trust growth model. By gradually taking land out of the market into a CLT, the residents are able to make their own decisions and improve their living conditions. The model provides tenure security and permanent affordability. The project designs a transparent and modular People’s Plan with a holistic, multiscalar vision providing secure tenure and quality housing for the urban poor.Architecture, Urbanism and Building Science