All The Houses I've Ever Lived In

Both an intimate history of Yates' life in a community at the margins, and a sweeping look at the reality of how the precarity of housing continues to impact us all, All The Houses I've Ever Lived In puts a face on a crisis with all the warmth and outrage that so defines the experience of trying to live within it. Far from a doom and gloom outlook, this book offers tender insights about the nature of home, friendship, and the value of community, alongside potential solutions and commiserations for anyone who has suffered at the cold, mold-filled edge of the housing crisis.

All The Houses I've Ever Lived In is a memoir structured around the places that Yates has called home. Through her personal experience, Yates shows how the UK housing system fails us collectively.

I recently read (and thoroughly enjoyed) Vicky Spratt's Tenants, and while this covers some of the same ground, Yates takes a slightly different approach. As well as exploring the basic right to housing (and how that is all to often under threat), she looks at how different aspects - such as furnishings, privacy, access to green space - impact on our physical and socio-cultural wellbeing. It's smart and nuanced journalism, but never overly-intellectual - Yates' personality shines through the prose.

Well-structured, emotive and thought-provoking, All The Houses I've Ever Lived In is an important read.

I feel like I talk about wanting balance in these information based memoirs, of which I be read a few in the past few years. A number I’ve read feel like two separate books - one that is memoir and another that is a text book. All this to say that Yates strikes the balance perfectly here.

Perhaps it’s my own familiarity with some of the homes she finds herself in, but her personal stories are told so intimately, with the data peppered in so well that it feels completely natural.

There is so much covered here - the right to (safe, secure) housing, renting, social housing, green space, gentrification, interior design, the list goes on - all with nuance, consideration and sensitivity. There are pages that I’ve highlighted to an inch of their life. I’ve already recommended this book to a handful of people that I think will relate to this book on both a professional and personal level, and I’ll especially look forward to actually owning a copy that I can foist on people!

*I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley *