At key points throughout the 20th century, the local authority in York made decisions to knock down whole areas of housing. This was sometimes referred to as ‘slum clearing’ – a term that has been widely contested. We’ll explore these moments between the wars and post-second world war. We'll focus on specific pieces of archival evidence to explore the governmental motivations (from minutes to health inspections) but we'll also seek the traces within the archive of the personal experience of being moved from the place you call home (from letters to the council seeking information to activism against the clearances in the late-20th century). What can these attempts to improve people’s housing conditions tell us about the role of government and communities in housing in York today? What principles - about homes and the role of government in housing - can we draw out to take into the York Central discussions?