Social housing for the most vulnerable

• Autores: Michael Newey
• Localización: 50 out of box housing solutions / coord. por Clotilde Clark Foulquier, 2019, págs. 64-77
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro
• Resumen

  • Whilst the absolute right to housing might be debated by national governments, the reality is that in the twenty-first century it is surely unacceptable for people to be excluded from decent, affordable homes purely because of their financial circumstances.In 1966, the BBC television play Cathy Come Home exposed the dreadful conditions that many families in the UK were living in, despite the construction of millions of social homes by municipalities over previous years. Access to these homes was difficult and there still weren’t enough to meet the demand. In the same year, the campaigning charities Shelter and Crisis were launched, never expecting to still be needed 53 years later. Homelessness hasn’t gone away and the need for more social housing has grown.A healthy society—where people are comfortable with their neighbours and where people can realise their potential—is one where everyone has a place they can call home: somewhere decent and well-equipped and with affordable running costs. Sadly, all too often there is insufficient funding for municipalities and housing associations to build enough new social homes where the rent is truly affordable. Different governments prioritise distinct segments of the electorate rather than pushing for bipartisan answers to our housing crisis. Arbitrary and ideologically motivated decisions to balance the books has meant significant pain for the most vulnerable.We have come a long way from the first council housing in England in 1869. We saw huge progress between 1900 and the 1970s in the provision of good quality rented homes by municipalities and by housing associations. However, since 1979 this focus has no longer been bipartisan, but instead housing tenure has been seen as a vote generator and housing policy, a political football.We need to refocus. We need to judge a nation not just by GDP, average incomes and other economic indicators, but by how that society looks after their most vulnerable neighbours in terms of housing and health. Social housing can improve people’s lives enormously, but will only do so when prioritised by governments, supported financially at a level that offers affordable rents to tenants and financial viability to landlords. In the current housing crisis, new housing solutions for the most vulnerable are emerging in many contexts. These solutions exist within, alongside or sometimes in the absence of an established social housing sector. This chapter provides a snapshot.