Shining a light on the severe cracks in our social housing systems, 23-year-old KwajoHousing is taking on the biggest housing associations, and winning.
's housing needs report, published in December last year, found that up to two million children currently are living in overcrowded and unsuitable living conditions in England — a fifth of all children. The deepening crisis is hardly unsurprising after decades of underfunding through austerity politics ushered in by successive Tory governments, and with the pandemic and rise of living costs going up, it's only set to get worse.
to meet social housing tenants with first-hand experience of the living conditions he is passionately grappling against. Kwajo is talking Zoom from outside Tooting Broadway Station."Today, I'm going to go see a tenant that lives in Ealing and then another one on the other side of London," he says. Kwajo was initially hesitant at sharing an honest account of the conditions he grew up in, fearing ridicule and rejection."I didn't want to use social media", he says."When I was young, I would never talk to my friends about my living conditions and never invite them over to my house. By putting my living situation out there, my friends, family and everyone would see my poor living conditions, conditions that people shouldn't have to deal with.
On 22 February this year, following the attention his Clarion campaign brought him – Kwajo met with the Secretary of State for Housing, Michael Gove, to discuss how the lives of housing tenants are at risk."We discussed tenants being ignored and how housing associations and councils are equally as bad in terms of disrepair," he says. But despite promises from politicians remaining as yet under-delivered, Kwajo remains optimistic for what is yet to come.
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