This research draws on interview-based research that took place between May and June 2021 to capture the experience of staff and volunteers at a London food co-op that set up a shopping service for vulnerable people at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. As well as reflecting on the food co-op, what it is and their relationship to it, participants discuss the foundation of the shopping (shop and drop) service and their relationship to it. They also explore broader topics such as the wider impacts of COVID-19 on their own lives and life in the UK, their opinion on the governmental response to COVID-19, and their understanding of concepts such as mutual aid, cooperation and community, which became so prevalent during the pandemic.The financial crisis of 2008 and resultant period of austerity have had a significant impact on the nature of politics, the economy and the lives of everyday citizens in Britain. These political-economic shifts have informed and adjusted the ideals, practices and structures of community organising, raising questions about the nature of citizenship, grassroots political action and the structures of society in Britain today. The COVID-19 pandemic is further highlighting issues of inequality, while catalysing more community organising and network building. In the wake of Brexit, tensions around issues such as welfare, immigration and identity have also become increasingly polarising. This research takes an ethnographic approach to experiences of social and political-economic change, community-building and collective organising to offer a nuanced representation of life in contemporary Britain and the impacts of increasingly neoliberal policies on food and housing. Despite the fact that Britain is one of the richest countries in the world, more than 8 million people are suffering from food insecurity today (Lambie-Mumford 2017). Where food has historically been one of the biggest income expenditures, it now averages just 10-16% for the lowest income households in the UK (DEFRA 2017). The fact that many people in Britain are unable to afford to eat despite this reduction, highlights one of the stark realities of life in Britain. The country is also undergoing a severe housing crisis, which is felt most acutely in cities such as London (Minton 2017). While housing used to be more affordable than food, by the 1990s this had become the main cost for the average household (Hickman 2008; Cribb et al. 2012). This raises questions about how the social and financial value of food and housing and the levels of urgency attached to each impact on how people mobilise and organise around them today, whether as activists or humanitarians; and what structures, practices and ideologies they draw on. As part of my doctoral work I conducted two years of ethnographic research with grassroots, retail food co-ops in London. This focused on practices of politics, aid and care in the face of austerity and the growing humanitarian crisis around food. The Politics of Food and Housing in Changing Times aims to consolidate and disseminate my PhD findings, and draw out the issues around housing which were already present in the thesis. In order to further my understanding of housing issues and the forms of collective organising used in relation to them, I will build on my established networks and contacts in London to do two months of fieldwork with housing activists. I will develop a research funding proposal from this work which makes a theoretical contribution to the social sciences on food, housing, political economy, and creates impact for the groups involved. In addition to the production of this new research and proposal, key outputs for the fellowship will include: A monograph based on the PhD thesis that engages with public and social scientific debates on austerity, food and activism, therefore appealing to both academics and practitioners. Three research participant workshops for people and organisations that contributed to my doctoral work. A practitioner workshop on food access and sustainability. I will also present at two international conferences. The fellowship activities are designed to build on each other, benefitting my career progression, while also creating pathways to impact. Drawing on my existing networks in London, the South West and mainland Europe, they will engage academics and practitioners across a range of disciplinary and professional backgrounds to share experiences and findings and develop tools in relation to the politics of food and housing, sustainability, poverty alleviation, community-building and social cohesion; and to build on local and international networks in order to share resources and findings.

Semi-structured online and telephone interviews with 6 participants of a London food co-op and covid shopping service (one coordinator and five volunteers). The researcher had previously conducted participants observation with the food co-op, and draws on knowledge from this as well as the changes in the project due to the pandemic to ask questions.