Before Sophie Slater lived in a housing co-operative, her homes, across south London, were precarious. There was the illegal house share in New Cross where she slept under a dodgy boiler for six months. (Eventually the gas man snitched and they had to move out, which was probably for the best, on account of the potential for carbon monoxide poisoning.) There was the flat on the Old Kent Road where she paid £300 to sleep in the living room and her friend, who had the bedroom, paid £600. The worst thing about that flat was that Slater slept by the kitchen bin. She moved to a flat in Peckham, where she spent more than half her salary on rent and bills. Nine months later, the landlord decided he wanted to sell. After she moved out, he charged her £500, claiming she had stained a carpet.
It’s a familiar story, and illustrates the shocking excesses of Britain’s housing crisis. For many low-income and middle-income workers, bouncing between shoddy, overpriced house-shares is a fact of life. After leaving the Peckham flat, Slater – who is 27 and runs the feminist fashion brand Birdsong – was at the end of her tether. Then, there was an unexpected glimmer of hope: a school friend mentioned there might be a space available in a housing co-operative.
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