PROPERTY barons were told some home truths by housing campaigners yesterday as activists scolded delegates at this year’s Mipim fair.

Dozens of protesters held their own against the pouring rain, crying out against rising rents, public land sell-offs and Britain’s spiralling housing crisis.

Despite the bad press generated by turning up to last year’s exhibition, London boroughs of Lambeth, Westminster and Croydon were among those present this time.

Hackney resident Owen Espley told the Star: “From Catford to Cape Town, the housing system is failing people.

“People’s right to the city is being denied because cities are prioritising profit over social welfare and we believe housing is a human right,” added the War on Want campaigner.

Green Party London mayoral candidate Sian Berry stood outside the Olympia exhibition centre before going in to speak at a panel meeting on social housing.

“The current system is broken,” said the Camden councillor.

“We’ve got a market that’s just driving people out of London, leading to houses being built that are not homes — they are just properties and investments.”

She added that with her she would take campaigners from Generation Rent, who have spent the last year lobbying politicians for rent controls, safer tenancies and against the right-to-buy scheme.

“I think we will see lots of evidence of the social cleansing that is going on.”

She signed a letter opposing Mipim alongside trade union figures and high-profile activists.

The bad weather forced campaigners to scrap some of the planned direct actions but they still managed to turn some delegates away by quietly telling them the event had been cancelled because of the protests.