If hospitals deliberately spread disease, it would be a scandal. But with an acute housing crisis, local councils, housing associations and other public bodies are routinely selling off homes intended for social rent at public auction. Those with a responsibility to reduce housing need are making the situation worse.

This month, at least 37 homes are due to go under the hammer at four separate auctions held in West End hotels. Among the sellers are Wandsworth and Westminster councils, which have a combined housing waiting list of 9,000 families, and Oxford Citizens Housing Association, part of GreenSquare Group, which operates in the city with the most unequal housing market outside London.

In east London, Newlon Housing Association is offering a five-bedroom family home in Cable Street, Tower Hamlets – a borough in which 18,000 families are languishing on the housing waiting list. Even London mayor Sadiq Khan is getting-in on the act, with City Hall flogging a three-bedroom semi in Finchley. Another repeat offender is Peabody, one of the oldest housing associations in the country. Last year it made a profit of £175 million while still claiming to be a “social landlord”.

In March, 44 social homes were up for sale at three auctions, of which 15 were owned by the NHS.

But there is growing opposition to this flagrant profiteering. People in Tower Hamlets mounted a campaign to oppose Peabody’s plan to sell a family home in Bethnal Green. Under pressure, including from the local mayor John Biggs, Peabody said “we are happy to offer the property to house a homeless family from the Tower Hamlets waiting list.“ Shockingly though, Tower Hamlets Council is itself aiming to sell a four-bedroom house it owns in Whitechapel on 21 May. The home has been empty for some time (a scandal in itself) and now needs significant work to bring it up to a liveable standard, but that cost would be a fraction of that paid by the council to keep a family in temporary accommodation. While one council department is selling homes, another is buying them to use for homeless families.

In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Show all 51 1 /51 In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police have released images from inside the tower where at least 58 people have died Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by polices what appears to be a stationary bicycle sitting among the ashes In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by police shows the remnants of a burnt-out bathroom In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Picture showing the lifts on an unknown floor Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency crews outside the front entrance to the tower Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Fire crews inspecting flats in the burnt out tower London Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Grenfell Tower is seen in the distance PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A drone flies near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire 'Theresa May Stay Away' message written on the messages of support at Latymer Community Church for those affected by the fire Ray Tang/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire An aerial view of the area surrounding Grenfall tower Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Donated shoes sit in the Westway Sports Centre near to the site of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of support for those affected by the massive fire in Grenfell Tower are displayed on a well near the tower in London AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A local resident stands on her balcony by the gutted Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of condolence are left at a relief centre close to the scene of the fire that broke out at Grenfell Tower, EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A police officer stands by a security cordon outside Latimer Road station Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firemen examine the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London on a huge ladder AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A search dog is led through the rubble of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comforts a local resident (name not given) at St Clement's Church in west London where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hugs councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement's Church in Latimer Road, where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meeting staff and volunteers at St Clementís Church in Latimer Road David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firefighters with a dog walk around the base of the Grenfell Tower REUTERS/Peter Nicholls In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emotions run high as people attend a candle lit vigil outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Debris hangs from the blackened exterior of Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman speaks to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman holds a missing person posters near the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Sadiq Khan speaking with a resident James Gourley/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Ken Livingstone walks near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is confronted by Kai Ramos, 7, near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks to a woman outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers distribute aid near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People gather to observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People light candles as they observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man distributes food from the back of a van near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A firefighter is cheered near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A T-shirt with a written message from the London Fire Brigade hangs from a fence near The Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A young girl on her way to lay flowers near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are seen from Dixon House a nearby tower block Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers prepare supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire REUTERS/Neil Hall In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers move a car to make space for a lorry picking up supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People distribute boxes of food near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower bloc REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman touches a missing poster for 12-year-old Jessica Urbano on a tribute wall after laying flowers on the side of Latymer Community Church next to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man looks at messages written on a wall near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Candles and messages of condolence near where the fire broke out at Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry a stretcher towards Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency services at Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry out a body from Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Rick Findler/PA Wire

The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has said that 165,000 homes intended for social rent were lost between 2012 and 2018 and warn that could reach nearly 200,000 by 2020 “if we don’t take action soon”. But still the practice continues.

Anyone I speak to about this has the instinctive reaction “outrageous”, but it’s important to understand why it’s happening. It’s a result of deliberate government policies that have slashed public service budgets in general and housing investment in particular.

Councils have given up the fight against austerity and are liquidating public assets to maintain services. This has dove-tailed with the increasingly corporate culture of housing associations, which have been encouraged to become more commercial – and have done so with enthusiasm.

These sell-offs are a grotesque display of the property speculation that has made a few rich, while causing misery to millions and untold social damage. This combines with a deliberate, but covert, policy to remove working class people from “high value” urban areas. This social cleansing, which often means ethnic cleansing too, is a familiar phenomenon in the US, but is becoming embedded in the UK, with the active connivance of agencies like those selling social rented homes at auction.

As the CIH says, these sell-offs must stop. But wider change is needed for us to take control of housing, instead of being controlled by it.

Grenfell Tower became the sickening symbol of failed housing policies, but as we approach the second anniversary of that, the outrage felt by Londoners and the wider population hasn’t been translated into action to close the social gap that housing now represents. Only a fundamental rethink will do that.

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

There’s a growing consensus that instead of selling homes, local councils should start building them again. This will require substantial, long-term government investment, but will pay for itself within a generation. Millions of people will be saved from the super-exploitation of private renting and the rapacious and volatile market will be defused by an alternative – council housing – that provides good quality, secure, truly affordable, energy efficient and safe homes for those who need them.

Until or unless we restore the principle of housing as a social asset and a place to live in, rather than a private commodity to make money from, the auctions of our future will continue.