Kwajo Leon Tweneboa (born October 1998) is a British social housing activist and writer.
Kwajo Tweneboa | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kwajo Leon Tweneboa October 1998 |
| Alma mater | De Montfort University |
| Years active | 2021–present |
Early life and education
editTweneboa was born in the South London Borough of Lambeth to a Ghanaian father and an Irish mother.[1][2] He attended St Mark's Academy[3] before going on to graduate from De Montfort University with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Business Entrepreneurship and Innovation.[4]
Career
editTweneboa did not intend to become a housing activist and was propelled to by his family's experience. They had moved into the Eastfields Estate in Mitcham in 2018 after living in temporary accommodation since 2016. The association flat was in poor condition, with several infestations, broken windows, a partially caved in ceiling, mouldy walls, water leaking through light fittings, and asbestos. Tweneboa's father Kwaku Robert Tweneboa[5] died of oesophageal cancer in January 2020; he attributed his father's quickly declining health to the flat's unsafe living conditions. In May 2021, Tweneboa started a social media campaign with help from other Eastfields tenants to force Clarion Housing Group to do repairs after waiting 18 months.[6][7]
After that, Tweneboa was contacted by social housing residents across the country and even abroad in New York for help.[8] People would send him images and videos of their poor living conditions or invite him to come see them for himself, which he would expose on his Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok pages to raise awareness and shame housing associations into action.[9][10] He appeared on The Big Issue's Changemakers 2022 list for his work.[11]
In June 2023, Tweneboa declined an MBE as he could not "accept being honoured... off the back of an issue [that] should have never existed". He stated thanked the person who nominated him and wrote to Prince William and Kate Middleton offering to collaborate with them on this issue among other issues.[12] Tweneboa considers solving the housing crisis non-partisan and has met with multiple figures across the political spectrum to discuss the issue, including Sadiq Khan, Michael Gove, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner.[13] Tweneboa appeared on Politico's Power 40: London Class of 2023 list.[14] He attended the November 2023 Next Gen Summit in Hackney.[15]
Tweneboa published his debut book titled Our Country in Crisis, described as a "rallying manifesto" on the housing crisis, in July 2024 via Trapeze Books (an Orion Publishing Group imprint), which acquired the publishing rights in a seven-way auction.[16] The Big Issue named Tweneboa "Britain's most high-profile housing campaigner".[17] Also that year, Sky News worked with Tweneboa to identify vacant Council properties.[18]
Bibliography
edit- Our Country in Crisis: Britain's Housing Emergency and How We Rebuild (2024)
References
edit- ^ Silvers, Isabella (27 November 2023). "Kwajo Tweneboa: "Everybody's entitled to an opinion, but I don't have to listen to it"". Mixed Messages. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Shaw, Grace; Rawlings, Tia (25 January 2024). "Kwajo Tweneboa: Campaigning for change within social housing". Holloway Express. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- ^ "Former Student Tackles Housing Injustice Nationally". St Mark's Academy. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ York, Melissa (20 February 2022). "Kwajo Tweneboa is the Marcus Rashford of terrible flats". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- ^ Fraser, Tali (4 March 2023). "The Kwajo Tweneboa interview: "We're meant to be in 2023. This is like Victorian slum housing"". Politics Home: The House. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- ^ Buchanan, Michael (15 September 2021). "The 22-year-old who took on a housing giant and won". BBC News. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Tweneboa, Kwajo (30 May 2024). "Cockroaches, leaks and asbestos – my living conditions were shameful. So I named and shamed the culprits". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Morales, Monica (6 February 2023). "Public housing advocate from London visits NYC: 'It's really, really bad'". PIX11. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- ^ Abuah, JK (20 April 2022). ""I can only stop when I'm no longer getting DMs from tenants": How Kwajo Tweneboa is holding housing associations across the UK". Guap. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
- ^ Abraham, Roshan (1 February 2023). "This TikToker Is Highlighting Horrifying Conditions in NYC Public Housing". Vice. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- ^ "Changemakers 2022: Housing and homelessness". The Big Issue. 10 January 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
- ^ Cottrell, Hannah (17 June 2023). "Social housing activist compelled to decline MBE as crisis 'should not exist'". The Independent. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ McCabe, Jess (18 July 2024). "Insight - Kwajo's new book: how to fix Britain's housing crisis". Inside Housing. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- ^ "Kwajo Tweneboa: Power 40 – London Class of 2023: The ranking". Politico. 5 July 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Wandji, William; Addai, Jonathan (1 December 2023). "'Digital activism has the power to influence politics'". BBC News. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Spanoudi, Melina (17 November 2023). "Trapeze wins Tweneboa's 'rallying manifesto' in seven-way auction". The Bookseller. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ "Inside the Big Issue: Kwajo Tweneboa's home truths for new government". The Big Issue. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- ^ Johnson, Becky (7 June 2024). "'They told me there are no council houses': Families homeless - but 33,000 properties are empty". Sky News. Retrieved 19 July 2024.