What if the housing crisis isn’t a natural disaster, but a carefully manufactured reality? In the first part of my conversation with Simon Elmer, we tackle the foundations of the housing market, and the global forces that shape it. Simon’s journey - from co-founding Architects for Social Housing to dissecting the machinery of policy, finance, and power - offers a rare lens on how crises are engineered, and who stands to gain. The conversation explores the uneasy alliance between government and corporate interests, and the way public needs are transformed into private profit. Is the dream of home ownership just another illusion, propped up by policies that serve the few at the expense of the many? How did we get here, and what would it take to imagine something radically different? Stay tuned for part 2 of this conversation where we get into the murky topic of immigration and the slow death of the United Kingdom.Please help to spread the word! Share the episode release post on X (Link: https://tinyurl.com/2b3y5ufw) Share the episode release post on nostr (Link: https://tinyurl.com/4xa8m8wx) Guest Links Simon on X (Link: https://x.com/SimonElmer2022) Architects For Social Housing (Link: https://architectsforsocialhousing.co.uk/) The Housing Crisis: Finance, Legislation, Policy, Resistance by Simon Elmer (Link: https://tinyurl.com/4rncdepm) Architecture is Always Political: A Communist History by Simon Elmer (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3bpyu886) Writer pages: Off-Guardian, UK Column, The Daily Sceptic, Real Left, The Conservative Woman, The Exposé, People’s Lockdown Inquiry, Unity News Network. Affiliate Links Surfshark: VPN / Antivirus / Incogni Fountain: https://fountain.fm/jonnyhodl?code=3a917f606b Podcast Website: http://www.stayingfreepod.com/ Links to all platforms: https://linktr.ee/stayingfreepod Telegram: https://t.me/stayingfreepod Host Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonnyhodl Host Nostr: https://tinyurl.com/mr2xk76c Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/stayingfreepod Donate to the Podcast: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/stayingfreepod Donate with Bitcoin: https://tippin.me/@jonnyhodl / bc1qvgktg2uurp69cf5xepjhunwhp6skxrf69hmq82 Donate with Lightning: https://tipybit.com/stayingfreepod / ⚡️jonnyhodl@getalby.com Huge thank you to my generous supporters Pim Mark A