After genteel protests from the Generation Rent ginger group and more pro-active protests from the Acorn group of rental activists, tomorrow it appears to be the turn of Extinction Rebellion.

A statement from the climate campaign group says tomorrow is a ‘national day of action’ involving protests in 12 locations, half of them in London.

The protest sub-group is calling itself Housing Rebellion and spokesperson Grace Lally says: “People are in desperate need of secure affordable homes that don’t cost a fortune to heat, but what we get are completely unsustainable high rise towers of luxury apartments that most people can never afford. 

“Why has squatting been criminalised when the real crime is that there are quarter of a million long term empty homes? Another three quarters of a million households in the UK own a holiday home while hundreds of thousands are homeless. 

“This Saturday is part of a move towards more national coordination between people who have had enough of the greenwashing and profiteering and are willing to take direct action to fill the empty homes, to stop unsustainable developments and demolition of social housing, and to demand retrofitting to bring our leaky homes up to a decent standard.”

The group promises marches and rallies “demanding an end to the injustice, environmental destruction and greed that together fuel our housing crisis.” 

Housing Rebellion says it is part of Extinction Rebellion’s “alliance-building work”, and “aims to connect with and support those at the forefront of the housing and climate crises, to fight the greedy system that puts profit before people and planet.”

It claims to have the support of “local trade union and estate-based campaigns from across the country.”