Poverty and Homelessness Action Week News Release 18 January 2008
For immediate release

Hearings to provide platform for UK’s 12 million poor people
A coalition of Christian charities -Housing Justice, Scottish Churches Housing Action, Church Action on Poverty and the Church Urban Fund- have come together to hold a series of public poverty hearings as part of Poverty and Homelessness Action Week (26 January to 3 February 2008).
 
During the week Christians across the UK will be looking at the human face of what poverty, bad housing and homelessness means where they live.

One in five people living in poverty
Government figures show that 12.7million people (22% of the total) live in poverty in the UK including 7million adults (3.1million of whom are parents), 3.8million children, 1.8million pensioners. Others figures show that over 526,000 families, including almost one million children live in overcrowded accommodation, and over 80,000 homeless families are having to endure temporary accommodation whilst they wait for rehousing. At the same time over 1.6million families are on local authority housing waiting lists.

“Churches rightly pay lots of attention to poverty and hunger in the third world but often fail to appreciate the extent of the problem at home,” said Chief Executive of Housing Justice Alison Gelder. "it is a scandal that in this the fifth biggest economy in the world more than one in five people are living in poverty.”

Gelder went on “We hope that the Poverty and Homelessness Action Week events will cause Christians to reflect on the situation here in the UK. For most people in poverty in Britain it is not about literally being homeless or having no money but about not being able to fully participate in society.”

“The hearings will provide a voice for the experiences of people at the margins of society such as families having to endure cramped overcrowded accommodation, asylum seekers who are suffering destitution, disabled people having to live in inappropriate housing and families forced into debt in order to afford everyday items.”
 
As well as the poverty hearings churches will be marking the Action Week with special services and events such as sleep outs to raise awareness and raise money for local services.
 
The Poverty and Homelessness Action Week is the first stage in a bigger year-long national campaign, aiming to raise awareness and gain commitments from all political parties to eradicate poverty in the UK.

Gelder concluded “the evidence we gain from the hearings will feed into our campaign to get the government and opposition parties to include pledges to end poverty in their next election manifestos. The government is already committed to ending child poverty, we would like to see this extended to ending all poverty.”
Ends

Poverty in the UK
People are considered to be living in poverty if they have incomes below 60% of the median income level after housing costs and taxes. This definition is accepted by the UK government and European Union and is widely used for international comparisons. For the UK the median income level is £363 a week. Using this definition people are living in poverty if they have less than £217 a week to live on.
 
Events during Poverty and Homelessness Action Week
Banbury – Poverty hearing. Quaker Meeting House. 1 February, 5:30pm

Boston – Poverty hearing for Lincolnshire. St Christophers Church. 29 January, 7pm

Bradford – Poverty hearing: Speak out on poverty. Impressions Art Gallery. 1 February, 11am

Chatham – Sponsored sleep out. 26 January, 9pm

Chippenham – Sponsored sleep out. St Andrews Church. 26 January, 7pm

Gloucester – Poverty hearing: being poor in Gloucester. St Johns, Northgate. 1 February, 2:30pm

Leamington Spa – Forum to explore poverty and homelessness in Leamington Spa. Dormer Conference Centre. Saturday 2 February

Letchworth – Opening Doors, Opening Hearts: a forum on homelessness. Norton Parish Centre. 30 January, 7:30pm

Liverpool – Telling it like it is: poverty hearing. Quaker Meeting House. 1 February, 10am

London – Poverty hearing. Trinity United Reform Church, Camden. Monday 29 January, 8pm

London – Connecting Voices: an evening of poetry, music and visual arts. St Pancras Parish Church, NW1. Thursday 31 January 7pm

London – Open house film screening: Ken Loach will introduce Riff Raff. Prince Charles Theatre. 5 February, 6:15pm

Lytham St Annes – Poverty hearing. YMCA. 30 January, 11am

Luton – Shop a soup: homelessness awareness raising in Luton town centre. Organised by Luton Accommodation and Move-on Project. 24- 26 January, 2pm

Oxford – Street Hearing: opportunity to hear local people describing their experiences of poverty and homelessness, organised by Oxford Gatehouse and New Road Baptist Church. Sunday 27 January, from 12pm

Reading – lunch and meeting at Churches in Reading Drop in Centre. Thursday 31 January.

Sheffield – Poverty hearing. St Winifreds Centre. 28 January, 7pm

St Austell – Homelessness in the community: day of workshops. St Augustines Church. 26 January, 10am

Tamworth - Cardboard box sleep out and all-night prayer vigil. St Johns Church. Saturday 26 January

Weymouth – sleep out on the beach to highlight tough conditions endured by homeless people in the area. Tuesday 29 January

Worthing – frugal lunch and poverty hearing. Tabernacle Church. 31 January, 12pm

Contact details for all events are available from Housing Justice.
A full list of events is available at www.church-poverty.org.uk/

About Poverty and Homelessness Action Week
Poverty and Homelessness Action Week is organised by Church Action on Poverty, Housing Justice, Scottish Churches Housing Action and the Church Urban Fund.

Church Action on Poverty is a national ecumenical Christian social justice charity, committed to tackling poverty in the UK. It works in partnership with churches and with people in poverty themselves to find solutions to poverty, locally, nationally and globally. It aims to: enable people in poverty to develop more sustainable livelihoods; give a voice to people experiencing poverty; and mobilise churches to work with others to overcome poverty. Find out more at www.church-poverty.org.uk

Housing Justice is the national voice of Christian action to prevent homelessness and bad housing; it 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. Further information available at www.housingjustice.org.uk

Scottish Churches Housing Action brings together the major Christian denominations in Scotland under the slogan No Room for Homelessness! As well as campaigning for the rights of homeless people, it promotes the development of local, volunteer-based, projects to help homeless people, and encourages the churches to make land and property available for affordable housing. Further information available at www.churches-housing.org

The Church Urban Fund is a charity supporting churches and projects tackling poverty and injustice in England’s poorest communities. Through funding local initiatives, sharing knowledge and raising awareness of social injustice, we work to bring about significant and lasting change. Further information available at www.cuf.org.uk.

Contact
Luke Evans 020 7723 7273
Email info@housingjustice.org.uk