Living in Solidarity: from housing struggle to collective action

Living in Solidarity: from housing struggle to collective action

This April, Food & Solidarity is running a practical workshop on housing organising - how to act when someone near you is in trouble, and how neighbours can back each other up instead of dealing with landlords and councils alone.

The day before, we're also taking part in a booklet launch that came directly out of that work.

These events are about what happens when neighbours stop dealing with housing problems alone - and start acting together.

Friday 10 April: a booklet rooted in real organising

Friday 10 April (6-8pm), NewBridge is hosting the launch of the Living in Solidarity booklet, produced with 151 Housing Cooperative and Food & Solidarity.

The booklet comes out of housing workshops Food & Solidarity ran in 2024 - sessions where people shared what was actually happening (rent hikes, damp, eviction threats) and worked through how to respond collectively when landlords and councils fail them.

Friday is about marking that work and sharing it more widely.

Saturday 11 April: The Good Neighbours Toolkit workshop + film

The main Food & Solidarity event is on Saturday 11 April (12-3pm).

This is when we're running The Good Neighbours Toolkit workshop, alongside a screening of Tenants in Revolt (1939).

What is The Good Neighbours Toolkit?

The Good Neighbours Toolkit is being used publicly for the first time. It's designed for when someone near you is in trouble - a neighbour, a friend, someone on your street - and you want to act together rather than leave one person carrying everything.

When someone gets an eviction notice, or can't afford heating, or is being ignored by their landlord - what do you actually do? Not "be supportive" or refer them on. Act: who needs to know, what needs to happen, how do you share the load, and how do you turn individual crisis into collective response.

The workshop is practical and participatory. It's based on simulations Food & Solidarity has already run with members, and it focuses on the basics of housing casework and collective response. Not professionalised services or charity or "being nice" - but learning how people share responsibility, back each other up, and act in ways that shift power rather than just absorb harm.

This is training, not a talk.

Why we're screening Tenants in Revolt (1939)

As part of the workshop, we'll screen the short film Tenants in Revolt, made in 1939 about the Stepney Tenants' Defence League.

The film shows tenants organising door-to-door, refusing unfair rents, supporting each other when landlords retaliated, and winning repairs and reductions by acting collectively.

It's nearly 90 years old - and that's the point.

So much of what you see in the film is still familiar: landlords ignoring repairs, families pushed to breaking point, institutions dragging their feet. Nearly 90 years, and barely anything has changed - except neighbours then knew that nothing would unless they acted together.

The film isn't an instruction manual. It's there to frame the workshop politically - to remind people that housing struggles didn't start yesterday, and that ordinary people have organised successfully before, without experts or permission.

People are often amazed by how little has changed. That recognition matters.

Why Food & Solidarity is doing this

Food & Solidarity works with people dealing with poverty and housing crisis every week. Food parcels keep people going - but they don't stop landlords, and they don't fix the conditions that make life precarious in the first place. That's why we organise.

The Living in Solidarity booklet helps explain why joining Food & Solidarity matters - because dealing with housing alone keeps people stuck.

The Good Neighbours Toolkit is about what you can do once you're part of it.

These events are an invitation to learn, connect, and get involved in something collective - whether you're already active, or just starting to realise that dealing with this stuff alone isn't working.

Who this is for

This is for:

• people struggling with housing right now
• people worried about neighbours or friends
• people who are angry but unsure what to do next
• people who want to be part of something organised and serious

It's not an art event. It's not a lecture. And it's not about watching from the sidelines.

Come along

Friday 10 April, 6-8pm

Living in Solidarity: Exploring Community Action and Housing Struggles

Booklet launch with 151 Housing Cooperative and Food & Solidarity

📍 NewBridge Gallery

Saturday 11 April, 12-3pm

The Good Neighbours Toolkit

Practical workshop + screening of Tenants in Revolt (1939)

Run by Food & Solidarity

📍 NewBridge Gallery

NewBridge is hosting - not because this is a gallery event, but because they know housing organising needs space.

👉 Register your interest via the above forms
👉 Come to the events

Join the fight

No one fixes the housing crisis for us. But we can face it together - and we can fight back.

Register. Come along. Join Food & Solidarity.

Join Food & Solidarity

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need housing experience to attend the workshop?

No. The workshop is designed for anyone who wants to learn how to respond when someone near them faces housing problems. Whether you're dealing with housing issues yourself, worried about a neighbour, or just want to be prepared to act, this workshop is for you.

Is this event free?

Yes, both events are free to attend. Just register your interest through the form.

What's the difference between Friday and Saturday's events?

Friday is a booklet launch celebrating work already done through Food & Solidarity's winter housing workshops. Saturday is the main practical training event where you'll learn The Good Neighbours Toolkit - a hands-on approach to housing organising and collective response.

Can I attend just one of the events?

Yes. While both events are connected, Saturday's workshop is the main Food & Solidarity event and stands alone as practical training. Friday provides useful context but isn't required.

What will I learn at the workshop?

You'll learn practical skills for housing casework and collective action: how to respond when someone gets an eviction notice, how to share responsibility rather than leaving one person to deal with everything, and how to turn individual housing crises into opportunities for collective response. The workshop uses simulations, not lectures.

What is Food & Solidarity?

Food & Solidarity is an organising group in Newcastle working with people facing poverty and housing insecurity. We believe in collective action, not charity - building power together to challenge the conditions that make life precarious.

Where is NewBridge Gallery?

NewBridge Gallery is in Newcastle. Full address details will be provided when you register. NewBridge is hosting these events because housing organising needs space, not because this is an arts event.

I'm a private renter struggling with my landlord. Is this relevant to me?

Absolutely. The workshop covers practical responses to common housing problems including dealing with unresponsive landlords, unfair rent increases, disrepair, and eviction threats. You'll learn how to act collectively rather than facing these problems alone.

About housing organising in Newcastle

Newcastle, like cities across the UK, faces a severe housing crisis. Private renters deal with rising rents, poor conditions, and unresponsive landlords. Social housing waiting lists grow longer while councils lack resources to enforce basic standards.

But housing struggles aren't new. The 1939 film Tenants in Revolt shows working-class tenants in Stepney organising collectively - refusing unfair rents, supporting each other when landlords retaliated, and winning real improvements through collective action.

Food & Solidarity's housing work builds on this tradition. Through our winter workshops, renters and neighbours came together to share experiences and develop collective responses. The Living in Solidarity booklet documents that process. The Good Neighbours Toolkit puts it into practice.

This isn't about volunteering or charity. It's about neighbours acting together, sharing responsibility, and building the power to challenge landlords, councils, and the systems that fail people.

Community organising works when people stop dealing with problems alone and start acting collectively. That's what these events are about.