The comedian was at Downing Street with residents of the New Era estate in East London to deliver a petition calling for help to prevent their rent from rising to unaffordable levels.
Russell Brand got into an argument with Channel 4 News reporter Paraic O’Brien on Monday after he was asked about the cost of his house.
Brand was at Downing Street with some of the residents of the New Era housing estate in Hoxton, East London, who are concerned they may be forced out of their homes after an American private equity company bought the estate earlier this year.
Residents are worried Westbrook Partners plans to refurbish currents flats, build new accommodation and raise the rent of the affordable housing to current market levels, Channel 4 News reported.
The Guardian said such a move could see rent on a two-bedroom flat in the estate rise from £800-a-month to over £2,000, making accommodation unaffordable to the current tenants, some of whom have lived on the estate for decades.
The previous management had promised to keep the rent at its current level until 2016 and earlier this month Jules Pipe, the mayor of Hackney, wrote to Westbrook asking for the New Era estate to be sold to a local housing association and the private equity firm to honour the agreement to not increase rent.
Westbrook has since released a statement saying rents would not change during the first half of next year.
Yesterday, Brand and News Era residents protested outside the Westbrook office in central London and marched to Downing Street.
There they delivered a petition with 294,000 signatures calling on Prime Minister, David Cameron, and London Mayor, Boris Johnson, to get involved in the dispute.
It was at this point that Brand spoke with Channel 4 News.
Channel 4 News / Via youtube.com
During the interview, O’Brien put it to Brand that part of the problem was super wealthy individuals buying up property and the subsequent demands this was putting on the London property market.
He then asked the actor how much he paid for his house, to which Brand replied his home was rented and he wasn't interested in discussing how much rent he pays.
"I'm here to support a very, very important campaign and you as a member of the media have an important duty to help to represent these people," he told Channel 4 News.
Channel 4 News / Via youtube.com
New Era resident Lindsey Garrett then stepped in to defend Brand.
Channel 4 News / Via youtube.com
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