The housing crisis is not inevitable: An alternative future
Housing has become a crunch point in politics: a key issue on the doorsteps and at ballot boxes, a key reason for communities being ripped apart and a key site of tension in ever polarising debates. Whilst the housing crisis is often framed as inherently complex, there are very simple - some cost-free - solutions which the government could adopt that would change the face of the housing crisis overnight, improving millions of people's lives and achieving their main goal of boosting the economy. Yet, these common-sense policies are continually lambasted as 'radical' and/or framed as folk-devils to be buried out of sight and mind. In this talk Abi will explore why very mainstream solutions to the housing crisis are continually dismissed and explore a very possible alternative future in which houses are homes, not vehicles for profit.
About Abi O'Connor
Dr Abi O'Connor is an urban sociologist based in Liverpool whose expertise centres on understanding the relationship between urban governance, local politics and the (re)structuring of place, specifically focusing on the impact of this on communities and areas impacted by regional inequality. Until October 2025 she was a researcher in local economies at the New Economics Foundation, a progressive think-tank based in London, and is an incoming Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Sheffield. Her PhD thesis completed in 2024 explored how financial capital is extracted from housing markets in Liverpool's communities deemed to ‘lack value’, focusing on the role of the local state in enabling this process. Her post-doctoral research builds on this by developing a comparative theory of local state assetisation through studying urban restructuring in Liverpool, Glasgow and Pittsburgh (USA). Alongside her research, Abi has a keen interest in democratising knowledge through grassroots movements, having long been active in the housing and trade union movement. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool and a trustee of both Vauxhall Community Law Centre and the Housing Studies Association.
Safety & Comfort
We aim to be an inclusive organisation, welcoming attendees from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders. The directors reserve the right to remove any attendee whose continued presence represents a real or perceived threat to the smooth running of our events, or the security and comfort of other attendees. Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.