Join us on Tuesday 15 September (7pm-8pm) for ‘Priced out and forced out – the St James estate offers a warning for renters everywhere’
This event will discuss the Section 21-related possessions currently underway and the de facto evictions via rent hikes likely to continue even under the Renters Rights Act.
Jessica Field is a social historian and commentator writing about housing insecurity, tenant activism and homelessness. Her book, Eviction: A Social History of Rent (Verso, 2025), explores the long shadow of the housing crisis through the lens of her family’s fight against a mass eviction. She also authored Lifelines: A History of Temporary Accommodation in England, 1834-2011 (Justlife, June 2026) and recently reported on the St James estate’s mass eviction in Bermondsey for Zeteo UK and Labour Hub.
Sophie is the Communications & Coordinations Offer of the St James Tenants Association. Hundreds of residents on St James Estate, many of whom have lived there for almost 40 years, face mass evictions and unaffordable rent increases from an unscrupulous corporate landlord. The residents are demanding intervention to keep them in their homes, bring enforcement powers against the landlord and create a long term security for the community.