Like many of my blogs this is is based on personal experience, but I’m also drawing on many resources that I’ve listed as an appendix. If I were to review them all this wouldn’t be a blog, it would be a treatise! For those who would like to delve deeper into the subject, I suggest skimming through the headlines and clicking on those links that attract your interest. I haven’t arranged them in any particular order 😊

There are many reasons why people become homeless – it might be because of marriage breakdown or, in my case, drug or alcoholism. We need to be housed first before we can address our addiction. I have all sympathy with women forced to live with their husbands or abuser because they don’t get the the support they need. It’s not a problemthat can be solved by building more houses in the wrong places.

I’m fortunate in being sufficiently settled now to be able to think of others besides myself. I’ve lived at my present address for 20 years and don’t intend to leave except in a body bag. The letting agency at my previous address were under investigation by trading standards. I considered suing under Freedom of Information Act, they were using my personal information to harass my mother and sister as well myself.

They were quite notorious, staff of the pub where I worked agreed that we could refuse to serve anyone who had a good word to say for them as they were obviously drunk. I was threatened with eviction but was able to quickly get into a housing association flat which is twice the size with good neighbours. We had a lot of antisocial behaviour at first but it’s been quiet for many years now.

The village where I live is turning into a town but without the infrastructure. The houses that are still being built are affordable to someone, they’ve been sold before building has been completed, but not to those who most need them – that includes people in a neighbouring village threatened with eviction. Here’s some drone footage of the new development. Sherburn in Elmet https://youtu.be/GbcvQ3I4UT8?si=cnK72qZgRRzaaSFo

The new building I don’t object to is right opposite my balcony, but it’s been 2-3 years since the council held a consultation. We objected to them covering the whole Green with new houses, we asked them “where will the children play?”, but were happy with three 2-bedroom bungalows for pensioners. So far they’ve improved my outlook by demolishing some derelict garages, which were not only an eyesore but cover for kids using catapults to fire apples at our windows (glass in my patio door was broken twice within a week of it being installed). I’m pleased to say it’s been many years now since we’ve had any antisocial behaviour.

The truth is there are twice as many empty properties as there are homeless families. We don’t need more housing but more social housing where it’s needed. Any building left empty for a certain length of time, to be decided by parliament, should be consfiscated and used for social housing

I don’t know if anything has changed since I took this photo, but when I was last there these houses and more had been boarded up for as long as I could remember. At the other side of town there are boarded up houses on one side of the street and new buildings on the other. Elsewhere there are whole areas of a town that are almost empty. These buildings need to be either either renovated or demolished, but who wants to spend money on a house when the rest of the street is boarded up?

So building more houses isn’t the answer, we have to ask why people become homeless in the first place.

There comes a time when we have to stop pulling people out of the river and go upstream to find out why they’re were falling in.

Desmond Tutu

Migrants aren’t taking up all our housing, if they’re housed at all it will be in places that aren’t judged suitable for human habitation. Of course far right extremists think it’s too good as they don’t consider asylum seekers as human 😠 Even when they’re granted asylum, which can take several years when they’re not allowed to work, they have just 7 days to find accommodation. Instead of fixing problems this government is creating them!

Tony Benn said that the way Tories treat refugees is the way they would treat the rest of us if they thought they could get away with it. Thanks to the lack of opposition from the Labour Party they are getting away with it! The latest proposal is to consfiscate tents from tents and sleeping bags from rough sleepers and fine charities that distribute them, one council has jumped the gun and started doing so. This is not new, it’s been done before by various councils, but now the government want to give police additional powers – effectively reintroducing the Vagrancy Act to further punish the victims of Tory policies

We need a cap on private rents and a ban on no fault evictions, also better enforcement of existing regulations. There are currently 42 offences, including unlawful eviction and harassment, that warrant a banning order; currently only 16 landlords are banned from letting property because cash-strapped councils can’t afford to take them to court.

Housing Allowance has finally been unfrozen but is still insufficient in the midst of a cost of living crisis. Many landlords refuse to rent to people on benefits, partly as a condition of their landlord insurance. Even people who own their home face difficulties with mortgage payments.

Independent Age have just published a report that suggests that pensioners who are renting privately are likely to suffer most from rent increases. Seems they want to force us into retirement homes and restrict our independence 😠 Hidden renters: The unseen faces of the rising older rental wave https://www.independentage.org/hidden-renters-report

Thatcher’s idea of a home-owning working class was flawed from the start. We want a home we can call our own, even if we don’t actually own it. That’s what I have now. I’m single with no children, if I owned my home what would happen when I died? Housing Associations too are selling off their most valuable properties and they’re not being replaced! We need a comprehensive policy to address the situation, instead of tinkering around the edges.

Thanks to Val and Charlotte for their comments on an earlier version of this blog, further comments on this important topic will be most welcome.

Further Resources

The £5,000 Houses And Boarded Up Streets Of Doncaster https://youtu.be/RTQTrd3Znto?si=Wp7InnBLx4-nlS5A

George Clarke Talking About Empty Homes at the Tory Party Conference 2011 https://youtu.be/17ZutpByf78?si=CRpuqwD5CIaUrf1_

Social Housing and Planning Reforms: Nope to Hope https://blog.shelter.org.uk/2023/07/social-housing-and-planning-reforms-nope-to-hope/

Conservative and Labour claims on house building fact checked https://fullfact.org/economy/house-building-levels-PMQs/

Flaws in Renters Reform Bill risk ‘no fault’ evictions continuing in England https://www.ekklesia.co.uk/2023/06/19/flaws-in-renters-reform-bill-risk-no-fault-evictions-continuing/

New eviction laws could stop homeless people getting help, charities warn https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/renters-reform-bill-homelessness-prevention-duty-section-21-shelter-crisis/?utm_source=oD%20Daily%20SEGMENT&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Eviction%20law%20loopholes%20could%20harm%20most%20vulnerable&_kx=i9Kw7CSdYvzYBQejdxvn4HQ4oi14bexPOeDOYeLRctkGs4V3CxMmH-P7J_jOJAIw.YjCYwm?utm_source=tw?utm_source=tw?utm_source=tw

Housing First: Homelessness Eradication in the UK? https://youtu.be/FnQ-sCw6VjA?si=SnhOy8LhU1SKGbYY

Domestic violence victims being made homeless or forced to live with abusers https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/domestic-violence-victims-homeless-abusers-councils-housing/?utm_source=oD%20Daily%20SEGMENT&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Documents%20reveal%20harrowing%20incident%20at%20immigration%20centre&_kx=i9Kw7CSdYvzYBQejdxvn4HQ4oi14bexPOeDOYeLRctkGs4V3CxMmH-P7J_jOJAIw.YjCYwm?utm_source=tw?utm_source=tw

Everything you need to know about the government’s plans to criminalise begging – and how we can stop them https://www.crisis.org.uk/about-us/the-crisis-blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-government-s-plans-to-criminalise-begging-and-how-we-can-stop-them/

Anti-racism, the general election and beyond – Shelter England https://england.shelter.org.uk/were_committed_to_becoming_an_anti-racist_organisation/anti-racism_general_election

Exclusive: Housing associations flog dozens of properties in private auctions https://thelead.uk/exclusive-housing-associations-flog-dozens-properties-private-auctions

The future of council housing: it’s time to speak up https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/future-council-housing-it%E2%80%99s-time-speak

Revealed: Only 16 rogue landlords are banned from renting out properties https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/landlords-renters-banning-orders-tenants/?utm_source=oD%20Daily%20SEGMENT&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20shocking%20number%20of%20rogue%20landlords%20banned%20from%20renting%20properties&_kx=i9Kw7CSdYvzYBQejdxvn4HQ4oi14bexPOeDOYeLRctkGs4V3CxMmH-P7J_jOJAIw.YjCYwm?utm_source=tw

Nowhere left to go for private renters receiving housing benefit https://blog.shelter.org.uk/2023/06/nowhere-left-to-go-for-private-renters-receiving-housing-benefit/

Thousands more working households facing homelessness in England https://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/national/23853728.thousands-working-households-facing-homelessness-england/?ref=twtrec

Housing Benefit No Longer Covers Rent Payments For Many https://thepoorsideof.life/2023/08/18/families-on-low-incomes-can-no-longer-cover-their-rent-with-the-housing-benefit-they-are-paid-according-to-a-charity/

Labour’s supposedly bold ‘new towns’ idea has been tried before. And it failed https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/labour-s-supposedly-bold-new-towns-idea-has-been-tried-before-and-it-failed/ar-AA1i6Zwr?ocid=socialshare&cvid=50159e7cc6984626896bb27cfd7a021f&ei=h

Private landlords exodus backfires on public housing https://thelead.uk/private-landlords-exodus-backfires-public-house

Human trafficking survivor was granted asylum. Then she was evicted straight into homelessness https://www.bigissue.com/opinion/refugee-homelessness-ria-human-trafficking-survivor-jcwi/