Housing Justice News Release 27 November 2003
Embargoed until 15:30 27/11/2003
New church housing charity calls for urgent action on affordable housing
Housing Justice, a new Christian housing charity launched today, is calling on church and state to provide affordable housing as a matter of urgency. The new charity, formed by the merger of the Catholic Housing Aid Society (CHAS) and the Churches National Housing Coalition (CNHC), will enable all churches to speak with one voice on homelessness and housing issues.
Speaking at the launch, Housing Justice Chief Executive, Robina Rafferty, said “The government must address as a matter of urgency the lack of affordable housing – the root cause of homelessness and bad housing. They need to build another 90,000 affordable homes each year, and bring 750,000 existing empty homes back into use. At the same time, church members need to do even more within their local area to help homeless and badly housed people."
The launch of Housing Justice was marked by a service of celebration at St Martin in the Fields church in central London, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor and other senior church figures.
Celebrating the launch, the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of the shared commitment of all Christians to tackle homelessness and housing injustice. "Homelessness and living in poor housing is not inevitable – something can be done. The churches in this country have a centuries-long tradition of working with those on the margins of society, including those who are homeless. Housing Justice has a bold vision to unite all Christians in taking action to prevent homelessness by engaging with local communities throughout the UK . Working in partnership with a large number of organisations, including the government, Housing Justice will develop common agendas to prevent homelessness and bad housing.”
Supporting the call for a united Christian response, the Cardinal added: "A just society must care for all its members, but especially those in most need. As Christians and Catholics we have a special responsibility to work on behalf of homeless people. We must be their advocates, and we must do everything we can to provide for their needs, both practical and spiritual." He went on to acknowledge the important role to be played by Housing Justice, saying: ‘’This is what Housing Justice is all about, and why I warmly welcome its launch.’’
Today also marks the release by Housing Justice of resource packs for local church communities to prepare for Homelessness Sunday 2004 – an event run jointly by the two founding charities since 1993 and scheduled for 25 January 2004.
Housing Justice Chair, David Walker, Bishop of Dudley, called on churchgoers around the country to support this important community initiative. “Building Justice – Yes we can! will inspire hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country to do something practical about homelessness,” Bishop David explained. “This is an ideal opportunity for churches to get together to make a big impact on homelessness and to increase the numbers taking part in the Homelessness Sunday event.” After the service, the two church leaders were joined by other senior figures and a group of local schoolchildren to sign their commitment to the mission of Housing Justice.
Facts and figures
Homelessness and Affordable Housing
Official statistics on homelessness show only part of the picture but we do know that:
* In 2002/03, 278,440 households applied to their local authority for help with housing Thousands of young people are excluded from those statistics because they are ineligible to apply for local authority help Of the 278,440 who applied for help because they believed they were homeless, less than half (46% or 129,320) were accepted for housing 53% of households accepted as homeless include dependent children – that’s estimated at 150,000 children And a further 10% include a pregnant woman
* Of those who weren’t accepted for housing, 22% were deemed to be homeless but not in priority need; 4% were in priority need but judged to have made themselves homeless; and 28% were judged not to be homeless at all. None of them were rehoused.
And when it comes to resolving the problem:
* We need at least 90,000 new homes a year to meet current need
* There are 750,000 empty homes that could be brought back into use, 80% of which are in the private sector
Notes to editors
1 Service of Celebration and Photo Opportunity
The service of celebration is scheduled for 2.30-3.30pm at St Martin in the Fields. After the service the Archbishop and Cardinal will sign banners in the portico of the church. They will join children from a local Roman Catholic school, St Vincent de Paul, for photographs. The children will also participate in the service and then write their own words and draw pictures about homelessness on the banners.
2 About CHAS and CNHC
The Catholic Housing Aid Society (CHAS) campaigned to prevent homelessness for nearly 50 years, working through housing advice centres and with local community groups, and lobbying policy and decision makers nationally and locally. The Churches National Housing Coalition (CNHC) came into being in the early 1990s bringing together local and other groups across a wide denominational range to promote community projects and campaign on housing issues. The two charities merged officially in April 2003 to form Housing Justice. Today’s service marks the formal launch of the new charity.
3 About Housing Justice
Housing Justice is the national voice of Christian action to prevent homelessness and bad housing. We provide frontline services to people in housing need and campaign to improve housing policy. We have a network of 11 housing advice agencies and numerous community projects, and develop models for frontline services that local groups can adopt. Our key community projects include:
* MegaBite – a food token scheme operating with people on the street in four areas around the country
* Regenerate – an initiative to enable residents to take the lead in renewing their estates.
We support practical action projects such as:
* furniture stores rent deposit schemes
* the Just Housing Account with Triodos Bank, providing ethical funds for housing projects.
We campaign for changes in housing and associated policy at national and local level such as:
* access to affordable housing for under 25s upgrading national standards on overcrowding that date back to the 1930s
* repeal of section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.
And we service the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Homelessness and Housing Need. Housing Justice works with and for homeless and badly housed people of all denominations, and with and for those who have no religious beliefs. And, wherever possible, we work in partnership with others who share our values, regardless of religious beliefs. Key figures in Housing Justice are:
* Robina Rafferty, Chief Executive (biography available) Rt Revd David Walker, Bishop of Dudley, Chair (biography available)
* 12 staff based in Central London , three in Manchester and one in Totnes
Website: www.housingjustice.org.uk
4 Homelessness Sunday
Homelessness Sunday began in 1993 as a joint venture between CHAS, CNHC and the Scottish Churches Housing Agency. It is a day of ecumenical prayer and action in churches and local communities around the country. Typical events include church services with a homelessness theme, fundraising for local homelessness projects and awareness raising activities such as sleep outs.
The theme of Homelessness Sunday 2004, scheduled for Sunday 25 January, is Building Justice – yes we can! It seeks to focus the attention of churchgoers on the right of those without a home to have one, as a matter of justice. And on society’s responsibility to build those homes, as a matter of justice. That responsibility is reflected in the bible, with a call to build real and lasting justice.
Resource packs are available from Housing Justice, 209 Old Marylebone Road , London NW1 5QT (tel: 020 7723 7273; fax: 020 7723 5943.) The pack contains everything needed to plan a service or event, including worship resources, materials for young people of all ages, action briefings with real-life stories and examples of practical action, posters, prayer cards and press releases.
Further information can be found on the Homelessness Sunday website www.homelessness-sunday.org.uk
The Queen’s Speech
We anticipate that a new Housing bill will be announced in the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday 26 November 2003. This is likely to address the critical issue of heath and safety standards in Houses in Multiple Occupation, and well as Home Information Packs for private sector sales. We are delighted that the former, an issue on which we have campaigned in the past, is now going to become law.
About Housing Justice
Housing Justice is the national voice of Christian action to prevent homelessness and bad housing. It was formed in April 2003 through the merger of two long-standing housing charities, the Catholic Housing Aid Society (CHAS) and the Churches National Housing Coalition (CNHC) bringing together more than 60 years of experience of working for change in the field of housing.
Housing Justice provides frontline services to people in housing need and campaigns to improve housing policy. Housing Justice funds a network of 10 housing advice agencies and numerous community projects, and develops models of good practice for frontline services that local groups can adopt. In total Housing Justice is actively involved in 35 communities across England and Wales.
Housing Justice Regenerate, funded by the Home Office’s Civil Renewal Unit, supports resident-led regeneration in 15 guide neighbourhoods across the UK. Regenerate brings together residents who have transformed their estates with those who want to embark on the regeneration process to share thinking and offer support.
Housing Justice works with and for homeless and badly housed people of all denominations, and with those who have no religious beliefs. All our services are offered to the whole community and, wherever possible, we work in partnership with others who share our values, regardless of religious beliefs.
For further information on Housing Justice see www.housingjustice.org.uk
Contact
Luke Evans 020 7723 7273
email media@housingjustice.org.uk