Good quality homes should be a right for everyone John, not a financial asset used to churn out profit for the wealthy few. But right now, “we are living through a full-scale housing emergency”, as Siobhan Donnachie from the London Renters Union put it at our event earlier this month.

Rent hikes in the last year were the highest ever recorded, 139,000 children are growing up in temporary accommodation, and Britain has the highest rate of homelessness in the developed world. [1] We need bold changes to tackle this, not more sticking plasters.

Our event in Parliament ‘Beyond Building: Fixing the UK Housing Crisis’ brought together cross-party parliamentarians, renters groups, researchers, and policy experts, to discuss solutions. Read more about it in our blog post here.

This crisis isn’t just about supply John. Decades of government and central bank policies have turned our homes into financial assets for hoarding wealth. This process of financialisation has inflated a housing bubble that’s bursting at the seams, and put the right to a safe and comfortable home further and further out of reach for millions of us. It’s why building alone will never solve this crisis. 

From scaling up social housing buy back schemes by councils, to rent controls, and reforming capital gains tax, this government could be doing so much more to transform our housing system into one driven by need not greed. And these conversations are only the beginning. 

Together, we’ll keep shining a light on the real causes of the housing crisis, and collaborate with politicians, community organisations and the press, to fight for the reforms we need to tackle housing injustice.

Thanks so much for your support,

Hannah, Positive Money

Notes:

[1] BBC News: UK rent prices up 9% in record yearly rise, says ONS

Shelter: Record 139,000 children in temporary accommodation – up 7,400 in three months

Financial Times: Why Britain is the world’s worst on homelessness

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