John Lewis isn’t solving the housing crisis with 10,000 rent-to-buy homes. It’s creating a system where you’ll work for them, rent from them, and stay locked out of ownership forever.

John Lewis has just had plans approved for 428 homes in Ealing and 353 in Bromley, claiming that 35% will be affordable. They also plan on opening 215 apartments in Reading – just 10% will be affordable. 

John Lewis claims they will build 1,000 new homes across the three locations. They aim to build 10,000 homes total. 

But there is no way to ever own these homes – instead you would rent them out for the rest of your life, paying rent to a company which saw profits before tax increase by 66% from £59m to £98m in 2024 alone.

They attempt to justify this greedy attempt to become corporate landlords by stating that ‘build-to-rent’ is a growing sector in the UK where homes are built with the sole purpose of renting to local communities, stating that it’s much needed to address the growing housing crisis.’  

But with the majority of their homes being totally unaffordable – this is merely another way for big conglomerates to make more money out of the struggling workers. 

John Lewis and Waitrose (their partner brand) want you to work in their stores, buy their produce, and finally rent their buildings – generating enormous profits and benefits for them – but none for the everyday person – who will own nothing. 

John Lewis and other companies entering the rental market continues to worsen our housing crisis – as homes are seen as assets for the wealthy to continue generating profit from. Tenants remain subject to rent extraction, while ownership and control concentrate in the hands of a corporation, as they extract surplus value from basic needs.

With just 10% of these flats in Reading benign affordable, this leaves unaffordable luxury and high rent flats to dominate, further assisting gentrification and displacing working-class residents in favor of middle-class tenants who can pay more.

The scheme is not “ethical” or “helping with the housing crisis,” in reality it’s a business strategy to diversify revenue as retail declines. They are masking their profit motives in an attempt to mask their exploitation.