About this Event
Awaab Ishak’s tragic story sparked Awaab’s Law – proving that powerful stories can drive systemic change.
As the housing landscape shifts with new reforms, including the Renters' Right Bill, now is the time to ask: how can we use policy to create safe, secure, and equitable housing for Black and Minoritised Ethnic families?
This session will explore what safe housing should look like, and how stories can be translated into meaningful recommendations for policymakers.
Together, we will imagine a housing system that is not only free from hazards and exploitation, but actively supports health, dignity, and equality for all communities.
Housing is one of Voice4Change England's four key areas of focus in our new Horizons London Programme. The Horizons London Programme is committed to addressing entrenched racial inequalities by co-designing real world solutions, building a united movement, fostering strategic collaborations, and developing actionable strategies.
🌟Panel Speakers
Lennina Ofori, CEO of Supported Housing Company
Lennina is a social entrepreneur, writer/director, producer, and consultant with almost 20 years’ experience leading race equity, storytelling, and systemic change across children’s services and the arts. As Founder and CEO of Principal Housing, she leads a team supporting and nurturing looked-after children and care leavers aged 16+ and 18+.
A PhD candidate in Children and Young People Services with an MA from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, she founded The Awareness TAP, an indie film and social action research company blending film, arts, and research for system change. Author of Advocate: A Voice from the Margins, Lennina was commissioned by tech innovators Vivida as advisor, researcher, and writer for HSBC’s multi award-winning global race equity training In Their Shoes. She also serves on ROTA’s Brick by Brick Advisory Board.
Dr Nikita Simpson, Reader in Anthropology at SOAS, University of London
Dr Nikita Simpson is a Reader in Anthropology and Co-director of the Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA). She researches and advises on mental health, care, and inequality, and is the author of Tension: Mental Distress and Embodied Inequality in the Western Himalayas (Duke University Press, 2026).
Her current research focuses on housing distress in the UK and Australia. In collaboration with psychotherapist Suad Duale and geographer Liz Storer, she examines how experiences of mould, disrepair, and state oversight in temporary accommodation contribute to racial trauma and illness in postcolonial Britain. As a visiting fellow at the Sydney Policy Lab, funded by the IAA, she investigates comparative forms of housing distress in settler-colonial Australia.
Dr Elizabeth Storer, Lecturer in Health Geography at Queen Mary, University of London; Research Fellow at the London School of Economics
Liz's research and teaching focus on diverse struggles for health justice and reparation across post-colonial contexts. Primarily based in Uganda and the UK, Liz investigates practices of claims-making in challenging political and ecological environments. Her work has received funding from the British Academy, ESRC, and LSE.
Dr Suad Duale, Psychologist at the NHS Women and Children’s Hospital
Dr Suad Duale is a Psychologist at the NHS Women and Children’s Hospital and a psychiatric inpatient service. She is also a Community Fellow at SOAS, where her research focuses on community based interventions and understanding how systems can more effectively engage with communities to promote health equity and inclusive mental-health care.
🌟This session will be lead by our Policy and Influence Officer, Christabelle Quaynor
Christabelle has led initiatives highlighting housing as a fundamental human right and driving reform. She previously contributed to the #ItStartsWithHousing campaign and wrote to the Labour Government calling for a national programme of affordable, energy-efficient homes. Christabelle has published blogs and articles on the long history of women in housing activism and on how housing shapes nearly every aspect of society, from work and family to debt and social inequality. She has also advocated for Awaab’s Law and is undergoing training to deliver advice on social housing. Through Brick by Brick, co-signed a letter to Baroness Janke on centring racial experiences in housing policy. Most recently, Christabelle organised the Room for All Roundtable, bringing together researchers, community leaders, and advocates to explore structural inequalities in housing and inform ongoing reform.
About Voice4Change England (V4CE)
Voice4Change England is a national membership organisation dedicated to the Black and Minoritised Ethnic (BME) voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector. Our aim is to build a stronger and inclusive civil society to improve the life outcomes for BME and other disadvantaged populations who are subjected to disadvantage and discrimination. Our expertise lies in offering them infrastructure and capacity building, resilience and influence development. This specialised expertise is foundational for our dedication to deliver impactful services.
Membership is free. Become a member by signing up here: https://www.voice4change-england.org/membership
Visit our website to find out more: www.voice4change-england.org
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Lift, 45 White Lion Street, London, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
