Housing Justice News Release 24 July 2007
For immediate release

Housing Justice calls on Christians to counter NIMBY arguments against new homes
Christian housing charity Housing Justice has welcomed the proposals to increase housing supply put forward by Housing Minister Yvette Cooper in Parliament yesterday.

Introducing the new green paper in Parliament Ms Cooper said that the government intended to increase housing supply by 40,000 new homes to 240,000 new homes a year which will lead to the construction of 3 million new homes by 2020.

The green paper indicates that around a third of the new homes will be built by housing associations and local authorities for affordable rent. The green paper proposals, following consultation, will be included in the Queen’s Speech in November.

The increase in housing supply proposed in the green paper, Housing Justice believes, will offer hope to the 1.6 million families on council housing waiting lists and the 87,000 homeless families trapped in temporary accommodation. The impact of the past failure to invest in new housing is seen in Housing Justice’s housing advice centres on a daily basis.

The charity fears that the government’s proposals may come across opposition on the ground from local authorities and others who are against increasing housing supply.

It will be calling on all Christians to recognise the housing need in their communities and counter arguments put forward by opponents to new homes who argue that house building should be ‘not in my back yard’.

Judith Maizel-Long, Director of External Affairs at Housing Justice, commented “We wholeheartedly welcome the Government’s proposals to increase housing supply contained in the green paper. If implemented the proposals will begin to address England’s housing crisis, the effects of which are felt daily by hundreds of thousands of families.”

She went on “We are however concerned that the proposals will come unstuck as a result of opposition in local authorities. To counter this we will be encouraging all Christians to find out about the housing problems in their local area and nationally using the links on the new green paper pages of our website. We hope they will then be able to use this information to press their council to increase housing supply to meet need. They can also counter some of the arguments of people opposed to new housing.”

“We hope that this pressure will prevent local authorities from giving in to the NIMBY arguments. This country has not been building enough housing for the last 20 years so there is a lot of work for the government to do. By increasing the supply housing will be made more affordable for everyone. ”

The charity is also stressing that merely building housing is not enough, Maizel-Long commented “we are pleased to see that the government has recognised that it is no good just building houses. It is crucial that we avoid the mistakes of the past and ensure that the new housing is of the best quality, it is vital also that the infrastructure to support communities is built at the same time – services such as transport, shops, medical services, schools, community halls and places of worship need to be integral to new developments – only then will we be able to create truly sustainable communities.”
Ends

Notes
The Government yesterday published the housing green paper Homes for the future: more affordable, more sustainable. The green paper is available on the CLG website at www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/homesforfuture. The consultation period for the green paper runs until 15 October 2007.

Over the next few weeks Housing Justice will be developing its response to the green paper which will shape Government housing policy until 2020. The charity welcomes the proposals to increase housing supply and especially social rented housing supply.

Further information on the background issues and campaign for more housing will be available on the Housing Justice website at www.housingjustice.org.uk/greenpaper

The latest government figures show that
• 223,000 new households are formed every year in England but in 2006 only 160,234 new homes were built -139,344 by private builders, 20,613 by housing associations and 277 by local authorities. The green paper proposes increasing the housing supply –in both private and social sectors- to 240,000 new homes a year to meet ongoing demand and begin to address the backlog
• At the end of the last quarter there were over 87,000 households in temporary accommodation whilst they were awaiting rehousing under the terms of the homelessness legislation
• 1,631,187 households are on local authority housing waiting lists
(source Department of Communities and Local Government)

In addition
• An estimated 500,000 families, including approximately 1million children, live in overcrowded accommodation
• According to independent research carried out for the charity Crisis there are approximately 380,000 homeless and badly housed people who do not show up in the government homelessness figures – mainly these are single people who do not fall into one of the priority need categories according to the legislation and so are not eligible for rehousing

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 –in Bradford, Bristol, Croydon, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Kingston upon Thames, Leeds, Central London, Middlesbrough and Oswestry - provide practical support to people with housing and related problems.

Housing Justice UNLEASH works to support church-based housing and homelessness projects in London. It is responsible for coordinating the Soup Run Forum amongst other activities.

Housing Justice Regenerate, funded by the government's Community Empowerment Division, 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 faiths, 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 info@housingjustice.org.uk