Housing Justice News Release 20 January 2006
For immediate release
Housing Justice calls on Blair to direct respect agenda towards homelessness
Housing charities are challenging Prime Minister Tony Blair that if he really wants to promote his respect agenda and combat social exclusion then he should address the problems of more than 100,000 homeless families forced to live in temporary accommodation.
As part of the work for Homelessness Sunday this year churches are being asked to take practical steps to prevent homelessness and build happiness.
These actions include looking at vacant church buildings for conversion to living accommodation, leasing houses and setting up temporary accommodation for those seeking to get into the private rented sector, and using church premises for those who are homeless and for play space or free meals.
"The make up of our churches are rapidly changing in both demographic and physical terms. Some of these changes offer a real opportunity for churches to be creative and re-use premises for the homeless." said Robina Rafferty, Chief Executive of Housing Justice. "Parishioners sometimes leave houses to distant relatives who will then want to rent them out - these premises could be run by church organisations for homeless people."
The situation is urgent with the human dignity of more than 100,000 families who are homeless and living in temporary accommodation in England and Wales at stake. These include 75,170 households containing children or a pregnant woman. There are believed to be over 150,000 children caught up in this unhealthy situation.
Other actions recommended that can help prevent homelessness include early intervention to rectify potential problems. Housing advice centres run by churches and others can make a significant difference.
Research into homelessness shows that housing problems do not suddenly appear but develop over time. There is often a period of four to five months between the first indication of a housing problem and an eviction notice being served. Local council housing departments usually only act when crisis point is reached and an eviction notice is served. Earlier intervention could prevent such problems.
Rent deposit schemes where people are helped with the initial deposit required to obtain a property and tenancy support are other ways to prevent homelessness materialising.
The longer-term answer is to build more homes. In 2004 a Treasury-commissioned report (the Barker Review) estimated that there would need to be an extra 140,000 homes built each year for the next 20 years to meet demand. Of these it was recommended that 23,000 should be affordable social housing to begin to replace the 1.6million homes sold to tenants under the right to buy policy since 1980.
Housing Justice urges the building of more sustainable housing. "In areas with lots of families in housing need we should ensure that new developments are of homes suitable for families of varying sizes rather than simply one and two bedroom flats. We need sustainable communities, with a range of sizes and tenures, so that we can work for much more mixed communities. In addition we need to ensure that the infrastructure such as transport, community facilities and schools are suitable for the area," said Ms Rafferty.
Who are the homeless? (England - government figures 2004/5)
* 75,170 households (62 per cent of the total) were families with children or where the mother was pregnant.
* 10,560 (9 per cent) were young people aged 16 and 17 and care leavers under 21.
* 10,650 (9 per cent) were classed as vulnerable due to mental illness.
* 5,960 (5 per cent) were vulnerable as a result of domestic violence.
* 6,140 (5 per cent) were vulnerable due to disability.
* 3,440 (3 per cent) were vulnerable due to old age.
the remaining 7 per cent were vulnerable due to reasons such as time spent in care, in custody, in the forces and from fleeing violence other than domestic violence
Homelessness Sunday events
Over 2,000 churches take part in Homelessness Sunday - here are a selection of the events being for Homelessness Sunday 2006
28 January 2006
Pastor Pete Cunningham - How to house Britain's Homeless, St Pauls, Robert Adam Street, London - contact Green Pastures Office 01704 535 989
29 January 2006
Alison Gelder, Housing Justice Director of External Affairs, will speak at the Faithworks event - Joining it Up, Hill Street Baptist Church, Poole 3.30 to 5.30
Robina Rafferty, Chief Executive of Housing Justice will speak at all masses at St Vincent De Paul, 36 Altenberg Gardens, London SW11
Salford RC Cathedral will hold an ecumenical service led by speaker from the Mustard Tree
Greg Mulholland MP will speak at Oxford Place Methodists in Leeds
Durham Cathedral will be holding a Homelessness Sunday at 6pm – Preacher Mr Paul Marriott .
YMCA will be taking part in services at churches and homeless shelters including
* John Drake, chief executive of YMCA Norfolk, will be speaking at Ipswich Road United Reformed Church in Norwich.
* Guildford YMCA will be raising local awareness by having a team from its Nightstop homeless project in Guildford High Street accompanied by a sofa to demonstrate hidden homeless.
Robina Rafferty, Chief Executive of Housing Justice, will speak at Canterbury Cathedral on 22 January 2006 at 6:30pm.
Ends
About Homelessness Sunday 29 January 2006
Homelessness Sunday, now in its thirteenth year, is a day of ecumenical prayer and action in churches and local communities around England, Scotland and Wales. Typical events include church services with a homelessness theme, fundraising for local homelessness projects, and awareness-raising activities such as sleep-outs.
On 29 January 2006 the theme of Homelessness Sunday is Build happiness Stop homelessness. This was developed to show how everybody (as individuals or as members of churches) can build happiness and stop homelessness by thinking about the issues and offering practical help.
More than 2,000 churches in England, Wales and Scotland take part in Homelessness Sunday each year and thousands of pounds is raised for local and national homelessness charities.
Further information on Homelessness Sunday is available on the Homelessness Sunday website www.homelessness-sunday.org.uk
Homelessness Sunday is organised by the Homelessness Sunday Partnership of Housing Justice, Housing Justice Wales and Scottish Churches Housing Action.
Homelessness Sunday is supported and endorsed by a wide range of denominations and organisations.
About Housing Justice
Housing Justice is the national voice of Christian action to prevent homelessness and bad housing.
Housing Justice was formed in April 2003 by the merger of two long-standing housing charities, the Catholic Housing Aid Society (CHAS) and the Churches National Housing Coalition (CNHC). In January 2006 Housing Justice merged with UNLEASH (Church Action on Homelessness in London). Housing Justice brings together more than 60 years 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. In total Housing Justice is actively involved in more than 35 communities across England and Wales.
The Housing Justice CHAS network of 11 housing advice centres provide practical support to people with housing and related problems.
Housing Justice UNLEASH works to support church-based housing and homelessness projects in London.
Housing Justice Regenerate, funded by the government'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 learning 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.
Further information on Housing Justice is available at www.housingjustice.org.uk
Contact
Luke Evans 020 7723 7273
email media@housingjustice.org.uk