Forget Roses. We’re Organising for Homes.
Forget Roses. We're Organising for Homes.
This Valentine's Day, people across the North of England are choosing a different kind of love: comradely love. Love that looks like showing up for each other when rents rise, repairs are ignored, and eviction threats land on the doormat.
On 14 February 2026, housing groups, tenants, and people fed up with being pushed around by landlords and councils will come together in Sheffield for the Homes for Us North Grassroots Housing Gathering.
This isn't a conference for professionals. It's a gathering for people living in the housing crisis, and deciding to take action together, because nothing changes unless you and other affected people are directly involved.
14 Feb: Homes for Us North Grassroots Housing Gathering
Saturday 14 February 2026
11am–5pm (plus social afterwards)
Victoria Hall, Sheffield (minibus travel and food provided)
Travel will be provided, and food will be provided on the day. A large contingent from Food & Solidarity will be travelling together, so you won't be arriving alone.
You can come for the whole day or part of it. Participation in activities is always optional. There is no expectation to speak, perform, or put yourself on the spot, but real change only happens when you choose to be involved in whatever ways you can.
- Bring together housing groups and tenants from across the North
- Share real organising and campaigning skills (what actually works)
- Strengthen a Northern housing network that has each other's backs
- Build momentum towards the national housing demonstration in London this spring
If you're dealing with damp, disrepair, unaffordable rent, or the constant fear of eviction, you are exactly who this is for.
Why This Matters (And Why It's Happening Now)
The housing crisis isn't an accident. It's the result of decades of selling off social housing, letting private landlords run wild, and treating homes like investment assets instead of places to live.
- Rents rising faster than wages
- Repairs ignored for years
- Families threatened for speaking up
- Councils and housing providers passing the buck
Most people are expected to deal with this alone, quietly, politely, and without support. That isolation is exactly how landlords, councils, and housing providers keep control.
Over the last year, people involved in Homes for Us Alliance groups, including Food & Solidarity, have moved from isolated local fights to coordinated regional and national action.
We're organising.
From Newcastle to Manchester: What Collective Action Can Win
Food & Solidarity helped host the first Northern Homes for Us meetup in Newcastle last year. Since then, the Alliance has escalated, and it's working.
In June 2025, Homes for Us members disrupted Manchester's Housing Leadership Symposium, where mayors and developers were meeting behind closed doors. We demanded one thing clearly: rent control powers for mayors.
It wasn't symbolic. It wasn't polite. And it landed.
That didn't happen because of reports or lobbying. It happened because ordinary people took responsibility for acting together instead of waiting for someone else to fix things for them.
The Sheffield gathering is about making sure more people can do the same.
What This Looks Like on the Ground - Food & Solidarity Member Basem's speech at the HFU summit in London
@foodandsolidarity From a WhatsApp mutual aid group to taking on council neglect and threats from Mears, Basem's story shows what Food & Solidarity is about. When we act together, things get fixed.
Basem's story isn't unique, and that's the point.
- Eight years of ignored disrepair fixed after collective action
- A family protected after being threatened for reporting damp
- Members now shaping national demands for rent control and social housing
What You'll Get From the Gathering
If you're not an "activist", good. This space is about you and other people directly affected learning how to fight back together, not having the right language or background.
- A clearer understanding of how housing power actually works
- Examples of tactics that have won repairs, stopped evictions, and forced meetings
- Connections to people across the North dealing with the same issues
- A way into the growing movement for rent control and social housing
You don't need experience. You don't need to know anyone. You don't need to take part in anything you're not comfortable with. What matters is recognising that your involvement is what makes collective power real, without you, nothing moves. What matters is being there.
Built by the North, for the North
Food & Solidarity hosted the last Northern gathering. This one is being hosted by Sheffield Tenants Union, with Homes for Us Alliance groups from across the region coming together.
That's deliberate. We're building something rooted locally, but strong enough to take on national decisions, from council offices to Westminster.
These gatherings only work when you and other affected people choose to take part. When tenants aren't in the room, decisions get made without you, and the problems stay exactly where they are.
Take the Next Step: Register for the gathering
Want more than a one-off event? You don't have to join anything to attend, but if you want your housing problems dealt with collectively rather than alone, Food & Solidarity is one way people choose to stay organised beyond a single day.
When you join Food & Solidarity, you:
- Support each other through disrepair, eviction threats, and council neglect
- Take part in regional and national housing fights through the Homes for Us Alliance
- Act collectively, rather than being left to deal with housing problems alone
Membership is open to people anywhere, not just Newcastle.
Join here: https://foodandsolidarity.org/join
This Valentine's Day, choose solidarity. Because love looks like fighting for a home you can afford, and keep.
