Housing as commons: sites of struggle and possibility

Abstract

Today, processes of ?accumulation by dispossession? and ever-increasing enclosures are accelerating, commodifying and privatizing more land, water, and forests, and expelling peasant populations and low-income classes from urban centers. With neoliberal capitalism, we have witnessed an extraordinary increase in wealth and income inequalities, significantly driven by the financialization of real estate and housing (Harvey, 2005, 2012; Madden & Marcuse, 2016; Rolnik, 2019; Stein, 2019). The financialization of housing has made ownership increasingly unaffordable. In contrast, the privatization of social housing and dismantling of rent control legislation have rendered rental accommodation increasingly precarious, leading to the forced displacement of previous residents. Neoliberal capitalism has accelerated the privatization of state assets and services as well as of information and knowledge (Christophers, 2018; Harvey, 2012; Rolnik, 2019; Sassen, 2014).