This ethnographic study of a mixed-occupancy housing estate near the centre of London refocuses
the scholarly conversation around social housing in the UK after the 1980 Housing Act. As well
as examining the long-term consequences of ¿Right to Buy ¿ such as shortages in local authority
stock and neighbourhood gentrification James Rosbrook-Thompson and Gary Armstrong investigate
the changes wrought on the social fabric of the individual estate. Drawing on four years of
ethnographic fieldwork the authors explore the estate¿s social mix and more specifically the
consequences of owner-occupiers council tenants and private renters sharing a cramped
inner-city neighbourhood. Mixed-Occupancy Housing in London: A Living Tapestry humanizes the
academic discussion of class race and gender in social housing through the occupants¿ tales
of getting by getting along and getting out.
