Domicide and the coalition: Austerity, citizenship and moralities of forced eviction in inner London

Abstract

This chapter explores and extends the notion of domicide. The chapter assesses the domicidal impact of 2 UK housing policies implemented by the 2010-15 Conservative/Liberal Democrat government: the criminalisation of squatting and the ‘bedroom tax’. Through these case studies, the notion of domicide is extended to consider the ways in which it is utilised as a technology of governance. The chapter in particular highlights the moralising strategies employed by neoliberal structures of governance that position squatters and social tenants as parasitical, uncontributive figures, and thus deserving of domicide. I conclude by arguing that such social framing, and the subsequent implementation of domicidal policies, reveal UK austerity policy to be a distinctly ideological, rather than solely pragmatic, governance strategy.