I research and write about the history of renting, housing insecurity, homelessness and housing policy in Britain.
I’m currently working with Justlife to write the first comprehensive history of temporary accommodation in England. The report charts the material and social history of temporary housing — including stories of homeless communities organising and resisting punitive and squalid conditions. Due spring 2026.
Book
Eviction: A Society History of Rent (Verso, 2025)
Reviews/Coverage:
How Britain’s Housing Was Broken — The Observer, Sept 2025
One of 10 New Non-Fiction Books to Read for Your Autumn 2025 Reset — Shortlist, Sept 2025
Top Ten Books to Understand Labour Conference — Mark Perryman, Philosophy Football, September 2025
Eviction Is a ‘Deliberate Feature’ of the Housing System — University of Manchester, September 2025
We Have Never Moved Beyond the Idea That a House Is at the Grace and Favour of a Landlord — Camden New Journal, Oct 2025
Articles/Opinion
LabourHub: “Rampant Landlordism and Tenant Resistance” (Nov 2025)
Red Pepper Magazine: “Fighting for Cardboard City: The drudgery of activism on the frontlines of the housing crisis” (Summer 2022)
Feminism and the City? Magazine: “Housing as an infrastructure of care: Defiance against destruction in a British suburb” (June 2022)
The Guardian: “Our landlord is demolishing 70 homes- but we won’t go quietly” (March 2018)
Blog
Save Our Homes LS26 campaign site: https://savourhomesLS26.org
Recognition
For my article, “Fighting for Cardboard City”, I won the inaugural Dawn Foster Memorial Essay Prize, 2022.
In 2024, I was awarded a K Blundell Trust Society of Authors grant for works designed to raise social awareness.
Dr Jessica Field 