On August 22, 2020, ACORN chapters across the United Kingdom held a No Evictions! Day of Action.

From ACORN UK:

Hundreds of ACORN members took action in 17 towns & cities across England & Wales saying no to rent debt, eviction & homelessness during the pandemic.

Members held socially distanced actions outside of courts where eviction proceedings will be heard, visited the offices of landlords and letting agents to deliver ‘notices of eviction resistance’ to let them know that we won’t stand for immoral COVID evictions, and held outdoor Community Protection Training sessions! ACORN demands that the 1 month eviction ban extension announced last week is followed by serious legislation to protect renters from homelessness and rent debt in the fall out of COVID-19.

We need rent debt accrued as a result of COVID wiped and an immediate end to Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.Over the last couple of months hundreds of people have attended Community Protection Training sessions meaning whenever evictions restart, ACORN members will be ready to resist them.

Reprint of Article from Bristol 24/7 by Will Simpson

Acorn – remember the word. The chances are you’re going to hear it a lot in the future. In less than two years Bristol-based community group, Acorn, have not only helped gain a better deal for the city’s private tenants, but also shown how community politics in the UK might be conducted in the future.

The idea is simple. Acorn is a community version of a trade union. It began in Bristol when co-organiser Nick Ballard and a colleague worked on Locality, a government-backed community-organisers programme. Any funding the pair raised to start a community organisation, would be match-funded by the government. When they secured the cash in 2013 the Bristol Acorn was planted. “We thought we would do something to tackle economic issues rather than relatively more superficial things,” Ballard explains

Campaigns covered by Acorn are ultimately up to its members, but it quickly became clear their primary focus is securing a better deal for private tenants. “When we initially talked to people other things were mentioned as being important issues. The cost of living, the high prices of utilities, access to services, but housing is the dominant thing.”

Acorn is not a new idea. A US version has existed since the early 70s. There are also groups in Canada, Peru and the Dominican Republic. Since the Bristol group began in 2013 other UK versions have emerged in London, Newcastle, Birmingham and Reading.

“I have to admit I didn’t know much about the US organisation,” says Ballard. “But when we spoke to their founder it sounded like their model worked and that it would beneficial to operate under that name.”

The Bristol version is set up like a trade union – with neighbourhood rather than workplace branches. Each branch is free to launch its own hyper-local campaign yet if it has city-wide relevance they can co-ordinate with the other groups.

Eventually, as with other unions, Acorn’s funding will come entirely through membership. “We still have a bit of money from that original grant,” explains Ballard. “But our goal is to be 100% self-sufficient through membership fees, which are around £4 to £5 per month. “It keeps us independent and it doesn’t limit the activities we can do or the campaigns that we run.’ At present Bristol Acorn has around 300 members although they estimate up to 8000 have supported the various campaigns and the demonstrations they’ve organised.

And those campaigns have produced speedy results. This spring Bristol City Council adopted Acorn’s Ethical Lettings Charter, committing landlords to certain minimum standards – three of the city’s letting agencies have already signed up. Acorn have also won back deposits for members, and forced landlords to make long overdue repairs and install new appliances. “Just last weekend we demonstrated on behalf of three members in dispute with Liv N Let and as a result, for one of those, the overdue repairs have already started.”

The question is whether Acorn can transform not only individual lives but grass roots politics in the UK. Nick believes the idea has huge potential. “Well, the idea is eventually to be build a national organisation. In the States Acorn started from nothing and grew to half a million members. That’s our long term goal. And the more we grow, the greater the ambition, the better campaigns we can run and the bigger political impact we can have.”

“For the moment though it’s been great to see that mobilising people and taking direct action can improve a lot of local people’s lives. It really shows that if we unite and stand up for each other we can change things.”

For more information about Acorn and their latest campaigns go to: acorncommunities.org.uk

Photographs by Julian Welsh

Fun-Raver was held on April 2nd in London.

A group of campaigners marched their way around estate agents in Easton on Friday to protest against “unfair” tenancy fees and rolling monthly contracts.

Members of the newly launched Easton neighbourhood branch of ACORN, a community social justice organisation in Bristol, have been canvassing residents to support the campaign and gained 500 signatures in just over a week.

The BS5 area has twice the average number of privately rented homes in Bristol, and generates more than 25 per cent of all complaints about privately rented homes in the city.

ACORN say that most rentals in the area offer only two to six months security and “rip-off” letting agent fees of up to £500 each time they move, leaving many tenants feeling “intimidated” out of complaining or campaigning by the threat of eviction.

The group is now campaigning for an end to tenancy fees, the implementation of 12 month fixed-term tenancy agreements over rolling tenancies and support of longer fixed-term tenancy agreements wherever possible.

The aim of Friday’s March was to encourage estate agents in the Easton area to work with ACORN to achieve those goals.

Agents were also invited to “explain themselves” to residents at a public meeting on Thursday July 3. More than 100 people have already registered to attend the meeting and two letting agents have already agreed to come.

Read more at http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Campaigners-visit-Easton-estate-agents-protest/story-21277964-detail/story.html#wg4V2SLBuGjgLHP9.99

Easton tenants to march against ‘rip-off’ letting agents

ACORN Bristol had their first action today. We marched to various estate agents to have the members deliver a letter with the campaign demands (no more tenancy fees and rolling monthly contracts) and inviting agents to a meeting on the 3rd of July. ACORN Bristol is definitely buzzing and today three different media groups came out (including the radio that did some interviews with our ACORN members).

After 7 hours with our first organizing committee introduction with leadership and organizer training workshop at the Easton Community Centre in Bristol, it’s fair to say that we’re on our way and off to a great start. People were both serious and excited, and hunkered down to the tasks before them with another meeting in two weeks as the organizing committee membership expands. The first 10 members have now joined at 5 pounds per month and we’re on our way.

The day involved a deep discussion of the ACORN Model and how it might work in Easton as well as the chance to practice doorknocking and spend serious time doing some planning of potential issues in the neighborhood. Given the level of tenancy in Easton, not surprisingly one group worked on how they would construct a campaign to limit “letting” (leasing) agency fees from 150 pounds to get a flat and the other sketched out a campaign to deal with mold and health hazards in units where landlords were not making repairs and the dampness was causing asthma and respiratory problems. Very exciting stuff.

Easton has about 13000 people and is a polyglot area, once largely white working class, but now also Somalian, Indian, Pakistani, Afro-Caribbean, and more. Much more!

Pictures can speak thousands of words.

Here comes ACORN Bristol!