Lessons from Grenfell Tower: inequality and housing need, the Giant that still divides us

The crucially important role of social housing has been recognised following the Grenfell Tower disaster, which also laid bare the disconnect between the ‘elites’ and the most disadvantaged in society.This event explores the link between inequality and housing, evidenced by the growing demand for low cost rented housing among those on the very lowest incomes. Unless the voices of communities and residents are heard and taken seriously, there is a risk that gaps in society will widen even further.

Danny Dorling (@dannydorling) is a Professor of Human Geography at the University of Oxford. He has also worked in Sheffield, Newcastle, Bristol, Leeds and New Zealand, went to university in Newcastle upon Tyne, and grew up in Oxford. He has published over forty books including many atlases and All That is Solid in 2014; Injustice: Why social inequalities still persist in 2015; A Better Politics: How government can make us happier in 2016; The Equality Effect in 2017; and Do We Need Economic Inequality? – in 2018.

Lynsey Hanley was born in Birmingham and lives in Liverpool. She is the author of Estates: An Intimate History, and Respectable: Crossing the Class Divide. She is a regular contributor to the Guardian. 

Anne Power has been involved in European and American housing and urban problems since 1965. She is Professor of Social Policy at LSE and Head of LSE Housing and Communities, a research group based within the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion. She is author of many books, reports and articles on housing, cities and low-income communities including most recently Cities for a Small Continent.

John Hills is Chair of CASE, Co-Director LSE International Inequalities Institute and Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy, LSE.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEBeveridge #LSEFestival

This event is part of the LSE Festival: Beveridge 2.0 running from Monday 19 to Saturday 24 February 2018, with a series of events rethinking the welfare state for the 21st century and the global context.