• No Sleeping rough this winter
    to prevent deaths and to prove we care about the wellbeing of all citizens
    21 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Kaitey Blair
  • ADEQUATE HOUSING FOR DISABLED
    My partner is a double below knee amputee and is currently having to live on the settee in our two storey property while we wait to be rehoused into a level access property eg a bungalow. However due to the current housing stock being so low we cannot be rehoused until at least 2017 and even that is a big maybe. He has no access to washing facilities and this is degrading as well as unhygienic and puts him at risk of infection and illness. Due to the size of the property and the struggle to navigate a wheelchair around tiny doorways and hallways he has had to resort to using his knees to crawl or transfer from his chair which massively increases the risk of needing to have his knees amputated also which would add years to rehabilitation. We also have three young children who are seeing their father suffer every day which in turn is affecting the families well being due to the continuous daily stresses we are experiencing. I'm sure we are not the only ones in this predicament which is part of a wider issue that there needs to be a major rethink in the property allocation process to ensure those in the greatest need are adequately housed.
    30 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Sophie Marsollier
  • Don't give our homes away
    The Housing and Planning Bill 2015-2016 includes measures to sell "high value" council homes in St Albans off to the highest bidder. The government have not defined what is meant by the term "high value" and won't do so until after the bill is passed. Housing charity Shelter have estimated that using a standard definition of "high value" would mean the loss of approximately 60% of the council homes in St Albans or 2993 homes. The money from the sale of these properties will be handed over to the government, with the local council keeping a tiny fraction. If the homes are sold for an average of £150,000 (a fraction of what they are likely to be sold for) then local tax payers will lose more than £500m. By signing this petition At a time of the worst housing crisis since the war, we need more housing not less. These plans will lead to a reduction of council stock and affordable housing to rent. UPDATE: New amendments to the bill tabled by the Secretary of State Greg Hands in January 2016 also make provision for Developers to nominate private companies to process their planning applications. We worry an individual or organisation that submits a planning application will be free to shop around for whichever alternative provider they think can give them the best chance of getting a planning application accepted. These idea has already been trialed in St Albans and experienced issues, we are also worried about the effect of any privatisation of the planning process on the engagement of local people in planning applications. Many companies may prioritise speed over quality in determining applications.
    14 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Jacob Quagliozzi
  • Support Selective Licensing in South Manchester
    This is important because South Manchester has one of the largest private renter populations in the whole of Greater Manchester. The impact of the explosive growth of renting on communities in South Manchester is largely negative, with dangerous properties being let out by absent landlords and unscrupulous letting agents, mostly targeting young professionals and students. The result of South Manchester's unregulated private rented sector, on a human level, is increased anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping, and reduction of families and long term residents living in the area. While landlords make millions in rental profits the impact on communities is devastating. Introducing a selective licensing scheme will: -Protect tenants, and communities from predatory landlords. -Improve enforcement against bad landlords – on homes in disrepair, pest infestations, overcrowding and illegal HMOs. -Bar landlords with criminal convictions or a history of poor property management. -Introduce requirements on gas, electrical and fire safety. -Provide a true picture of renting in South Manchester. Licensing WILL NOT increase rents, the licence fee is tiny.
    11 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Pollyanna Steiner
  • Stop the RIGHT TO BUY!
    To house those on low, minimum wages. Let us break this English notion of home ownership. Promoting "Thatcher's" edict of house ownership is to saddle poor people with unaffordable morgages to keep them screwed down so as not to cause trouble. Keeping the lower classes in debt stops industrial action and allows the population to be more manageable.
    9 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Peter Long
  • Fair rent
    With nearly 60,000 families homeless and their children numbering around 100,000 this would reduce the number of evictions. This situation can only get worse and needs to be addressed now! I'm in my sixties and can see no future for young people born of average families. Please, everybody, privileged or not, join my campaign and make a difference to a family that just wants a home so they can feel secure.
    3 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Bill Carroll
  • Ban buy-to-let landlords refusing DSS payments from the homeless.
    There is an epidemic of homelessness in the United Kingdom. It is illegal under The Equality Act 2010. for a business to discriminate against individuals based on their sex, sexual orientation, physical/mental disability or race, and YET... Homeless individuals are more likely to be: - Male - Suffering from mental illness - Suffering from physical disability - From the LGBT community - From black and minority ethnic backgrounds By refusing DSS (housing benefit) as a method of paying rent, letting agents and buy-to-let landlords are indirectly discriminating against sections of society which would be protected under law, because they are homeless. Please sign and share
    16 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Nick Hanson
  • Affordable housing for Kirklees
    Because there is shortage of affordable housing
    12 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Joanne Smith
  • There's a housing crisis!
    Am I crazy? Surely giving social housing tenants the right to buy their homes and reducing their rent by 1% every year for four years is good news. Don't be fooled! In the short term these measures might seem advantageous to people living in social housing. In fact in the long term they pose a real threat to the very organisations that provide such housing and therefore to the tenants and future tenants. They also pose a threat to every taxpayer. Who will pay to pick up the pieces when housing associations (RPs) go under? Once lost to a social housing landlord, rent money cannot be recovered. Social landlords will not benefit financially from the sell-off of their properties - people's homes - but will have insufficient surpluses with which to replace them with new housing. Many RPs will have to shelve indefinitely their plans to develop new housing. Much social housing is old and costly to maintain. RPs might also have drastically to curtail their plans to modernise these homes. If they're really strapped for cash, routine maintenance plans will also be adversely affected. The knock-on effects of the Government's plans are serious and wide-ranging. There is a housing crisis! This is not the time to be impoverishing the very organisations that could help to remedy that.
    76 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Elizabeth Walker
  • More social housing
    Many people are now having to seek private rented accommodation, due to there being a lack of social housing. They are being exploited by rogue, and greedy landlords, who can get away with mistreating tenants because they don`t have anywhere else to go. It`s common to read: NO DSS, NO PETS and NO CHILDREN ! Are people on benefits commiting a crime by having to accept benefits ?? Landlords are able to dictate terms, increase the rent and give you short notice to leave. We need to have affordable and secure tenancies, not expensive private lets. Previous, and existing governments, have created this dilemma, and they have admitted to relying on private landlords to fill in the gap. Right to buy is brilliant for the people that can take advantage of this opportunity, but, if there is no plan to replace these properties, they are lost to anyone wanting to rent for ever. I believe that the revenue from the right to buy was used to help pay off the national debt; which is very short sighted, and has resulted in the dire situation we have in the housing market now. I would like to reiterate, please, can we have some COMMON SENSE used before any government policies are implemented ?
    91 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Larry Pearl
  • Help the homeless
    Because it's someone brother, sister, dad, uncle, etc. They are human beings and should not be treated like that
    37 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Annamarie Hanson