Homesick: How Housing Broke London and How to Fix It

Property prices in London have increased sixteen-fold since Peter Apps was born. Once vibrant communities are being uprooted and businesses shuttered. Young people are abandoning London, heading for Brighton, Manchester, Sheffield – taking the city’s creative energy with them. Schools can’t fill their classrooms as families are priced out of the capital. And social housing is a mess. How on earth did we get here? Tracing the last forty years of the public and private housing market in London, Peter Apps entreats us to fight for what is ours: a city that might still provide permanence, safety and opportunities for ordinary people. A city that our children and grandchildren might be proud to live in. We must stop being wistful for what once was and figure out what could be.

About the Author :
Peter Apps is an award-winning journalist and Deputy Editor at Inside Housing. His previous book, Show Me the Bodies, won the Orwell Prize for political writing and his coverage of the Grenfell public inquiry has received widespread acclaim. He lives in London.

Review :
'Apps set the gold standard with his Grenfell coverage. With Homesick, he dismantles the sham of UK housing policy – razor-sharp, stylish, and morally unflinching.' —Darren McGarvey, author of Poverty Safari 'A beautifully thorough, mesmerising and big-hearted book that manages to bring housing policy alive without losing any of the detail or analysis.' —Isabel Hardman, author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians 'Apps… knows his stuff and writes with a confident understanding of the politics and the business of housing.  This book will add its considerable weight to the rising sense that this country has got a lot wrong in the past 50 years… Leaving housing purely to the market was an ideologically driven mistake, the price of which many Londoners are now paying.' —The Times, Book of the Week 'Apps refuses to accept "that no better alternative exists"… He illustrates the impact of such policies with tales of lives lived in council-owned squalor in the shadow of the gleaming towers of Canary Wharf, of those old enough and lucky enough to get on the escalator early, of creative drifters who never contemplated ownership, of priced-out Londoners getting a hostile reception when they move to Bristol.' —Observer 'This book is a brilliant capture of the recent history of housing… Homesick is detailed but incredibly digestible… If we want to see a radical shift in housing policy (and I absolutely do), then we have to acknowledge and accept that there will, and should, be sacrifices made by those of us in society fortunate enough to own our own homes.' —Irish Times 'Homesick is one of the most important books I’ve read on the housing crisis, especially it’s changing face in London. Pete doesn’t just talk about policy he shows the human impact of years of government failure and neglect. As someone who’s seen that devastation firsthand, I found this book powerful, heartbreaking, forensic and necessary. If you want to understand how we got here, you start with reading Homesick.' —Kwajo Tweneboa 'All of life is here – you will laugh, cry and learn from reading Peter Apps. Take this book, put it on the curriculum and turn it into government policy.' —Vicky Spratt, author of Tenants   'A vital book which underscores the human cost of the housing crisis with a forensic analysis of how we got there. Peter Apps is one of the most important writers on housing today.' —Anna Minton, author of Big Capital ‘I don’t think there is anyone else out there capable of writing a book on housing with such quality, depth and humanity. The book is detailed and informative but always readable – the analysis and arguments are convincing; the personal accounts are relevant, enlightening and at times heartbreaking.’ —John Boughton, author of Municipal Dreams 'An essential, epic love letter packed with hope for what housing was, should be and could be again. Apps is a skilled storyteller albeit every word is real and meticulously researched. This is the definitive account of how London's relationship with house and home went wrong. A must-read' —Lucy Easthope, author of When the Dust Settles 'An erudite, careful, plausible, and heartfelt call for change, for building sensibly on the greenbelt, and for the far more efficient use of London’s existing stock including the house-in-every-street, small scale, flat-by-flat, nationalization (aka municipalization) of enough homes in London to make the capital liveable and social again, not just a place for servants and those whose parents gift them property.' —Danny Dorling, author of Seven Children 'Pete Apps’ enlightening account of how we got to where we are and how we might get out is a tour de force of  storytelling and analysis.' —Gillian Slovo, author of Ice Road 'Homesick relates the social, political and economic history of social housing in London since the 1980s. It is threaded through with narratives of real people and the changing picture of affordability and availability over the years. It is beautifully written, hugely knowledgeable and informative – the history of government finance for housing and its drivers was a revelation. Every historian, housing provider and politician must read this book, hang their heads in shame, and work for fundamental and radical change.' —Emma Dent Coad, former MP for Kensington and author of One Kensington 'Homesick is a powerful elegy to the relative affordability and security of housing in the London of Apps’ childhood. His superb account of its systematic unravelling is rooted in the intimate experiences of everyday Londoners, across different time periods, spaces, and tenures... A must-read for governments and the wider public in the UK, and beyond.' —Loretta Lees, author of Gentrification