It's important because there are a lot of families displaced or living far from where they work because they can't afford housing in popular tourist areas which are also their home villages and where their families live

We implore you to join us in our campaign as we believe that adequate housing is a basic human right. Many asylum seekers have fled from persecution and violence, experiencing extreme trauma in the process of being displaced from their original homes. It is vital that they get support and the human right to the safety of their own home.

The Lifetime ISA is turning into a financial trap for young people. Currently the savings and bonus can only be used to buy a property up to the value of £450,000. However the average house price for first time buyers in London and the South East is at least £500,000. This property value cap even applies to buying a small proportion of a property on a shared ownership scheme. This means that to buy a home the government will charge you a penalty fee of 25% to withdraw your money as your house does not qualify for the deal. (In real terms, this works out at way above the 25% bonus that is paid and eats into your original savings. Which is a situation I now face. I am set to lose money on the very little I have managed to pull together.) In the midst of a cost of living and housing crisis this is completely unacceptable. The treasury is currently profiting from people struggling to save and get a foot on the property ladder with an ill-designed financial product. This limit should be reviewed immediately to ensure that people can use the bonus towards their first homes. Or the treasury should consider waiving the penalty for anyone in the London area who wants to buy a first home. Going forward the threshold should be regularly reviewed in line with increases in the housing market. This is the absolute minimum that the government should consider reviewing to support people to get on the housing ladder. It means that even schemes like shared ownership are inaccessible for people like me in the south of England. We are in the midst of a cost of living and housing crisis. The treasury is currently profiting from people struggling to save and get a foot on the property ladder with an ill-designed financial product. The government is unwilling to provide adequate social and affordable housing, or consider rent caps. If private ownership is the only way we the majority of the population is able to access housing reviewing this product is the absolute minimum that the government should consider. Even schemes like shared ownership are inaccessible for people like me in the south of England. The Lifetime ISA is meant to help young people get somewhere. But instead I’m now financially trapped.

Paying extortionate rent in a time of a cost of living crisis is totally unacceptable.

I have lived with mould in my flat since I moved in. It seeped through the roof into my bedroom meaning I’ve not been able to use the top of my wardrobe for fear of my clothes getting damp and ruined. I managed to speak to the previous tenant and he had experienced the same problem. The landlord and letting agents consistently denied the mould was because of a fault to the property. The source of the mould was condensation from the roof tiles caused by a lack of proper, basic insulation. Since the tragic death of Awaab Ishak was confirmed to be due to prolonged exposure to mould a few months ago [1] renters like me have felt more anxious than ever about the potential consequences of mould harming our health. 11% of private rented homes have some form of damp (including mould) in them according to the 2022 English Housing Survey. [2] Thousands of renters have to live with the threat of mould ruining their home but also ruining their lives. According to a Survation poll, 37% of private renters experienced damp and mould in the previous 5 years. [3] Many things cause mould, including leaks, rising damp and poor insulation, but too often landlords dismiss complaints and blame tenants. Renters shouldn’t have to pay for the negligence of landlords and the Housing Secretary Michael Gove wants to change the system [4] It’s currently not possible to get legal aid for compensation for disrepair: whether for the inconvenience of living in those conditions or if your health has been damaged by your landlord’s actions. And when tenants can get legal support, proposed changes this year to cap legal fees that negligent landlords have to pay will discourage lawyers from taking on complicated housing cases – as problems with mould usually are. It is only right that renters be able to sue their landlords for damaging their health when they have failed to repair the homes they are making money from. By extending legal aid to cover damages claims and exempting housing cases from the new legal fee rules, the government would make it easier for renters to take action. If failure to keep homes in good condition is more likely to result in legal action, then landlords will respond more quickly to complaints and make sure their properties are safe to live in in the first place. So please sign this petition today so that we can tell the Justice Secretary that renters deserve to live in homes that don’t threaten their health and that landlords have to be held accountable. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/15/death-of-two-year-old-awaab-ishak-chronic-mould-in-flat-a-defining-moment-says-coroner [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-headline-report/english-housing-survey-2021-to-2022-headline-report [3] https://www.generationrent.org/survation_april_2021 [4] https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/michael-gove-homes-unsafe-rochdale-black-mould-inquest-b1042263.html

Our conservation area policies are over 20 years old, from when house prices were one sixth of today’s level and climate less revelant. Islington now has a clear problem with families leaving the Borough, with the Local Plan evidencing high resident turnover and the number of primary school pupils in decline. Mansards have a clear role in creating space for families or additional flats, whilst also serving as a tool to improve energy efficiency (improved insulation, solar). These needs have been recognised for 50% of the Borough which sits outside conservation and they should be recognised for the rest. This petition is only open to those living, working or studying in the Borough.

The Chartered Institute of Housing is seeking to host a lavish £250 plus VAT Presidents dinner at the very time NO ONE has been held to account for the tragic loss of Baby Telan Stone 11 months and Awark Ishak , this is in truly poor taste at a time in which families have had NO justice, thousands live in homes not fit for purpose whilst its leaders seek to hold a lavish jolly whilst claiming zero funds for repairs whilst Food Banks like We Care is facing closure because Energy and Food hikes mean it needs to raise £25,000 to open and serve its 3000 people and pets in crisis in 2023. This Event should be cancelled and cash saved investing in local food projects and improving tenant's homes. Across the UK in 2022 young children and babies have died in Social Housing the very sort of housing those most in need depend on and expect decent housing, holding a lavish dinner at a time Social Housing is under such huge and justifiable scrutiny is totally and morale wrong and should NOT go ahead

Like many people living in London, I've had to change my plans and delay life decisions in response to the obscene prices in the capital’s rental market. I’m so outraged by how much letting agents are charging, one of my tweets about it became a story in the Times. [1] But for one chain of estate agents, apparently even excessive rents are not enough. After looking at some of Foxtons’ adverts, I noticed that just to rub salt in the wound, they are also charging some tenants fees of £250 per person that were supposed to have been banned three years ago. [2] In 2019 the Tenant Fees Act banned landlords and letting agents from charging almost all fees to private renters. The only permitted payments are rent, refundable deposits and fees incurred due to the tenant’s actions, such as losing keys, paying rent late, or ending the tenancy early. Foxtons claims that it charges the £250 fee when the tenancy is a “short let”. [3] On 14 November, Foxtons was advertising 614 of these in London. However, unless short lets are specifically for holidays, they are classed as assured shorthold tenancies in the Housing Act 1988 (Schedule 1, section 9) and are therefore subject to the letting fees ban. [4] Foxtons describes short lets on its website as "from a few weeks to a few months". [5] By claiming they are not assured shorthold tenancies, the company is abusing the Tenant Fees Act – legislation renters fought hard to secure. Foxtons are profiteering from these illegal fees. And by keeping homes in the short term market and out of the longer term market, there are fewer homes for the people who need them most, and higher rents on the homes that do become available. Foxtons needs to stop ripping off renters and be clear that these illegal fees are unacceptable and will not be charged. [1] https://twitter.com/feedthedrummer/status/1587785056545918977 [2] https://www.foxtons.co.uk/let/fees_and_terms [3] https://twitter.com/foxtons/status/1585569745750970369 [4] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/schedule/1 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/922896/Tenancy_Fees_Act_-_Statutory_guidance_for_enforcement_authorities.pdf [5] https://www.foxtons.co.uk/landlord/short-lets

If you are privately renting and on benefits you will be able to claim Local Housing Allowance (LHA), the problem is that unless you are very lucky it won't cover your rent. Sometimes this is because where you live has been banded with another area where housing is cheaper. The fact that your area, even it is in another town, has higher rental prices won't affect how much you get. The immediate effect is that you will be paying the difference between your allowance and rent out of your other benefits. This means that even if you are disabled and have certain requirements like being on the ground floor, need wheelchair access or need friends or relatives to visit you every day, you are massively disadvantaged by this system. Just imagine if your relative needed your help everyday but couldn't get it because they couldn't afford to live locally or you couldn't find a home that meant you could live independently? If you lived in my town you would receive over £230 less than another town which is just under 4 miles away and is in fact in the same band as another town which is just over 9 miles away. This doesn't make sense does it? This is called the Broad Rental Market Area and it doesn't reflect actual housing costs. Where I live it costs more to rent than in either of these areas! I am asking that you join my campaign to have the local housing allowance banding overhauled and made to reflect local housing costs. This will help people who are already vulnerable, living on benefits and having to pay more for their rent than the current system acknowledges. I am also asking that the LHA does take into account disability needs - currently it does not. Please don't say: It will only go to property investors. Do say: Ask the goverment to make it work fairly.

Cornwall cannot afford to serve as a satellite town for London anymore. Historically, we have utilized large Council Estates and housing for this purpose. Today, in 2022, Cornwall is facing a housing crisis, with residents receiving 33% less pay than the national average for services. Recent mortality rates from our primary hospital, Treliske, and Southwest Ambulance services have been alarmingly high. The region is experiencing long wait times, staff shortages, and limited facilities to accommodate the expanding population. In light of these challenges, how can Livewest justify this current situation?

This issue affects everyone. Everyone that is renting a home but doesn't want to. Everyone who is struggling daily, weekly and monthly to get by. Everyone with 2/3/4 jobs just to make ends meet. The people in power don't see this issue because they are not living paycheck to paycheck. They don't understand the stress of paying rent every month for years on end and having nothing to show for it at the end of the day. Or the stress of never feeling secure in your home incase your landlord sells from under you. It's looking after the rich and exploiting the poor, and nowadays, everyone is poor.

This petition is of great importance, as it will look deeply into certain problems which have derived from affordability issues within housing policy and gentrification surrounding the housing market. The petition focuses upon the issues gentrification brings to lower income communities and aims to form a new way of going about affordable housing policy. The revision of the 106 agreement as well as gentrification activism are at the heart of this petition in attempts to fight of issues with national policy and greedy developers!