Housing Justice News Release 15 October 2004
For immediate release
Housing Justice Alliance conference lifts lid on homelessness in Croydon
A conference on 14 October 2004 hosted by a partnership of national and local organisations has drawn attention to the plight of thousands of people homeless in Croydon. Housing Justice, the national Christian voice calling for the elimination of homelessness and bad housing, organised the event in conjunction with Croydon Housing Advice Service (CHAS) and London-based UNLEASH.
Invitations to find out about the homelessness landscape in Croydon went out to all local churches and church-based projects. The resulting audience of 60 people illustrated the level of local concern.
Guest speaker for the evening was local MP Geraint Davies, who described housing as a "human right" that had not been high on the Government's agenda until recently. He highlighted the lack of affordable housing and temporary accommodation in Croydon, while promising a £100 million investment in local social housing.
Kevin Gibbs of CHAS echoed the theme of shortage of housing, claiming that this issue had not changed since CHAS started out in the '50s and '60s. He also drew attention to stark statistics in Croydon: of the 5,000 households pa who apply to the council as homeless 1,300 are accepted. That leaves 3,700 households without housing help
Audience members were most moved, however, by the real-life stories of the people CHAS works with - people like "Mary", a primary school teacher, who found herself homeless after her husband abandoned her and her small daughter. Gibbs emphasised that prevention is key and that good housing advice can help people hold onto their homes.
The evening provided opportunities for people to find out what is going on locally and how to get more involved. Cherry Furber of Housing Justice talked about the need to support and connect local church groups working in the field, a service offered by Housing Justice's Alliance. Alastair Murray of UNLEASH called for a "more aware and responsive Church" engaging in appropriate action "beyond just giving hand-outs", and standing against the new tendency to demonise homeless people as a result of the Government's Anti-Social Behaviour agenda
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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