Covid has had a dramatic impact on the uk as a whole. With an uncertain future ahead and many jobs having already been lost debt is unfortunately a prospect for many people. Councils have to stop the practice of selling council tax debt to heavey handed debt collection agency's. The practice is out of date and penalizes those on low incomes. To have what little possesions you have taken away and sold at auction is Dickensian

It will make lovely small basic two bed homes affordable for single people like myself who are happy to work part time but only recieve minimum wage I would love a two bed flat ,the extra bedroom would give me and other people on low incomes more space . I need an extra bedroom for storage and to enable me to keep my home tidy and organized

Prevents the destruction of habit and greenspace, when building on farmland. Allows people to voice their opinions and concerns in regard to their local environment. It also maintains social equality within an area, e.g how is it fare that someone born hear can’t afford a house in the area but someone else moving in can?

The number of people living in social housing in this country is in decline. As waiting lists continue to grow, more and more people are being forced into private rented housing instead. This is leaving thousands of families and vulnerable households without a suitable home. Local councils have spent millions, to tackle housing shortages. Many authorities have been forced to buy back homes/properties they sold at a discount under the Right to Buy scheme for full value. Islington council spent over £6.2m buying back homes it sold to people for less than £1.3m. The original goal to increase home ownership within working class society seemed to work however, the system is broken. The problem is created due to high arrival of sales through the RTB scheme although their underinvestment has failed to create new social housing stock. Following the actions of Welsh and Scottish government, abolishing the Right to Buy scheme will prevent the further loss of social housing onto the private market and will provide Local Authorities the opportunity to reduce housing waiting lists by re-homing vulnerable families. A wealthy country like the UK can benefit from building social and affordable homes and move away from focusing on home ownership for the few and profit for private landlords.

Step Up aims to give young people a sustainable start in life by providing economically and environmentally stable accommodation. We are powered by passionate students who are sick of overpaying for poor quality housing and being disregarded by landlords. Join Step Up and be counted.

This is an important issue as more and more people find themselves in financial hardship as the impacts of coronavirus on the economy become more rife. it is therefore important tat the government building and supplying of social housing aligns with need, to ensure all who want social housing are able. This is imperative for millions of peoples physical and mental wellbeing.

Open discrimination towards people on benefits is actively taking place across the country regarding housing availability. Recent studies show that over the last five years, 1/3 of people receiving housing benefits haven't been able to rent a home due to a 'No DSS' policy. There are over 1 million private renting households in England who receive housing benefit, meaning that hundreds of thousands of people have most likely faced this type of discrimination. In an expanding and competitive lettings market, far too many renters are being locked out of finding a home due to prejudice fronted by 'No DSS' policies employed by lettings agents and landlords.

The housing secretary has claimed that more than 90% of rough sleepers have been housed during the coronavirus pandemic, therefore demonstrating that the accommodation, resources and funding are available to significantly reduce rough sleeping and homelessness. It is not acceptable to tell these people to go back and live on the streets after the pandemic is over as evidently, there is accommodation available. Thus this housing must be made permanently available to house the homeless.

The Homelessness Reduction Act (2017) gave new duties and roles to local housing authorities to prevent homelessness experiences from ever happening in the first place. In addition councils must support people out of homelessness, whether classed as 'priority need' or not. (Haringey Council, 2019) Following the introduction of the Act, £72 million was given to local councils by the government, to be used in combatting homelessness (Barton and Wilson, 2020) This funding runs out in 2020 and there is no indication that it will be renewed. (Butler, 2019) Given that the new role of local authorities to prevent homelessness is already being neglected by some as they don't have the fund to implement it (Geraghty, 2018), the renewal of this funding is even more important to encourage more local authorities to take responsibility and engage with the program.

The number of government funded social housing has fallen by 97% since 2010 with over 120,000 social homes lost between 2012 and 2016. (Kentish, 2017) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/social-housing-government-funded-properties-rent-falls-97-per-cent-study-homes-communities-agency-a7799116.html Councils only replace less than a third of homes sold under the 'Right to Buy Scheme' and without a flow of new homes, the proposed benefits of the scheme will never be experienced by future generations. (McKay, 2018) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/11/councils-able-to-replace-one-third-homes-sold-under-right-to-buy Many social housing properties are being sold to former landlords. These landlords are increasing rent prices, meaning that some people are unable to pay the rent of even the most basic formerly council-owned property. (Savage, 2019) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/19/ministers-urged-halt-right-buy-council-homes-rented

Raising the age important because they are still young and with their lives ahead of them, we shouldn't be turning our backs on them we should be supporting them now so that they can have better lives later on. Abolishing the 'under 21 and having been in care' criteria is important because, whilst these former children of care are incredibly vulnerable and need extensive support, so do all young homeless people. Each case is different with some young people experience abusive and violent home environments that cause homelessness, yet it was never reported and thus care support was never received.

This is extremely important, especially during a pandemic because we have been asked to self-isolate, to stay inside, to protect ourselves and others. So it would only be right while there is multiple accommodation around the country free from public use, to put it to good use - for someone in need.