Charity unhappy with government review of social housing

The interchurch homelessness charity Housing Justice has expressed grave disappointment over a review of social housing commissioned by the government. The study, by Professor John Hills sought to analyse existing government housing policy as well as to map out the future of social housing. But Housing Justice say it has failed to address the fundamental issue, which is the desperate need for more social housing. Chief Executive of Housing Justice Alison Gelder said: "We fear that Professor Hills' review fails to tackle the main problem. This review provides no hope for the 92,000 homeless families in temporary accommodation, the more than 1.6million families on council waiting lists or the thousands of single people in insecure accommodation. In addition it offers no respite for the 500,000 families having to endure overcrowded housing. What these people need is for the government to invest at once in new affordable housing that is the right size and in the right locations." She went on "Every day our housing advice centres see the results of the failure of government housing policy over the past two decades, in particular the failure to invest in new social housing. If the government gave a commitment to increasing the supply of affordable housing and making the current stock fit for purpose many of the problems Professor Hills identifies would be eliminated." For more information see: www.housingjustice.org.uk