From the author of the Orwell Prize-winner SHOW ME THE BODIES: HOW WE LET GRENFELL HAPPEN, the gripping story of how housing defines a city's past, present and future
'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
In London, only those with vast cash deposits can get on the property ladder, private rents have spiralled out of control and the wait for social housing is measured in decades. Once vibrant communities are being uprooted, schools are closing down and homelessness is rampant.
It was not always like this. In the 1980s, builders and nurses could afford family-sized homes, there was abundant social housing and long-term security for private renters.
Tracing the last forty years of housing policy, Peter Apps examines this transformation, following a diverse group of Londoners as their fortunes rise and fall across the decades amid the economic forces sweeping through the city. With clear-eyed urgency, he reveals what will happen when a generation of renters retires and climate change brings fire and flood to a city unprepared for extremes.
He also gives us reason to hope, exploring the ways London can transform again: from a market for private profit to a place that once more offers permanence, safety and opportunity for its citizens. A place to call home.
'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
'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
