Description: Helen, the deputy director, talks about the struggles of one-parent families who are at a big disadvantage compared to two-person families, especially when seeking public housing. Hoppy and Helen have an invigorated conversation about how ‘need’ is measured when it comes to housing and the gaps in such modes of measurement, considering people who live in overcrowded homes. She mentions how fighting to move one-parent families up on waiting lists is not a good enough solution as there is a need for more homes, rather than competing under a scarcity mindset. She adds: “The position of one-parent families has been so bad that they deserve some positive discrimination. They are 3 times more likely to be homeless than 2-person families.”

In the interview with Jeff, who formerly worked at the Camden Council, he says, “The reasons for [the housing crisis] are not the number of immigrants, number of squatters, not because council tenants are subsidised. This society produces housing not for need but for profit. We have more unoccupied private property than we have occupied council property.” Jeff and Hoppy talk about the negative image of squatters in the public and also the need for squatters to work closely with their local communities and residents towards change. Hoppy says: “Squatting is the expression of housing difficulties.”