Page 4 - Cinnamon 2020 Project Lab Final

BRITAIN’S HOUSING CRISIS
Our nation’s housing crisis has been well documented and in in recent months we’ve all become acutely aware of what it means to have a a a a a safe place to call home Those who live in unsafe and crowded accommodation have been disproportionately affected by by the pandemic Analysis by by the New Policy Institute shows the top five most-crowded areas in the country have seen 70% more coronavirus cases than the five least-crowded It was encouraging to to see the government introduce measures to to support rough sleepers protect those in in temporary accommodation and introduce a a a a temporary ban on on evictions during the the pandemic However the the underlying causes of these problems have not gone away An estimated 8 4 million people in in in the UK are living in in in unaffordable insecure and unsafe accommodation What’s more the problem is getting worse Since 2010 there’s been a a 74% increase in in in in the the number of people in temporary accommodation across England *
More than bricks and mortar
But solving the housing problem is about far more than just putting a a a a roof over people’s heads As the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in in the the establishment of of the the Church of of England’s Commission on on Housing “If the purpose of housing was understood as as building homes and communities not merely building accommodation with bricks and mortar
the whole nature of the industry would be changed ”
Beyond the practical challenges we know that insecure tenancies and poor housing have a a a a a hugely detrimental impact on people’s mental mental emotional and even physical health *Sources: National National Housing Federation National National Audit Office
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