Brett Christophers, economic geographer: “In contemporary capitalism, the right to housing does not exist”
The British academic and essayist, an expert in investment fund strategies, points out that the “right to housing” has been replaced by that of “buying a house”.
Brett Christophers, a 55-year-old geo-economist from Croydon, United Kingdom, has been closely studying the strategies of large corporations for years. He began by examining the banking sector, such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, but soon realized that investment fund giants like Blackrock and Blackstone received more attention from politicians and influential individuals.
This shift in focus, he notes, has been gradual over decades, as these investment firms have quietly gained control over nearly all aspects of daily life, including housing, water, roads, railways, and healthcare facilities. Christophers has been documenting this phenomenon in various research projects and more recently in his books, "Our Lives in Their Investment Portfolios" (Traficantes de sueños, 2025) and "Rentier Capitalism" (Verso Books, 2020).
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