In the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy last year, it emerged that the type of cladding fitted on the building may have contributed to the rapid acceleration of the fire. Since then, the government have been coordinating a Building Safety Programme to identify other buildings with similar cladding – and there’s a lot of them.
Government stats released today show that only a tiny proportion of the unsafe cladding has been totally replaced on homes across the country. Out … Read more
Having to feed your family while trapped in just one room, with nothing other than a kettle, isn’t something you’d expect to hear about in Britain in 2017.
But this sadly, was the reality for residents living in Buckinghamshire, where an explosion in the number of homeless families meant the council was forced to house those people in temporary accommodation (TA). Local foodbanks responded by putting together ‘kettle packs’, because all that was in the rooms to cook with were … Read more
We are asking MPs to take action in the Autumn Budget and call on the Chancellor to end the freeze to Local Housing Allowance (LHA) – the support low-income families receive for private rented homes.
Around 1.2m households in the private rented sector receive LHA (a rate of housing benefit for private renters) and about one-third of these households are in low-paid jobs and require LHA to top up their rent.
Since 2011, government reforms have slowly lowered the value … Read more
Shelter’s Bristol Hub is piloting a bond scheme in partnership with the Bristol Credit Union that gives homeless families the chance to access private rented sector (PRS) housing.
These families remain trapped in temporary housing because of their financial difficulties and not being able to compete for PRS accommodation. With the upfront costs of private renting ever increasing, raising £2k for deposits and rent in order to move into the PRS is a hurdle these families are unable to overcome. … Read more
Britain’s forgotten middle. The 1.3 million-strong private renters who continually struggle to pay their rent and have little hope of ever buying their own home. These ‘hard-pressed private renters’ increasingly turn up at Shelter’s doors, looking for support with their housing and paying their rent. They’re the families we’re suggesting a new generation of living rent homes should be built for – with rents pegged to lower rates of pay in any given area that enable hard-pressed renters to reach … Read more