to prevent deaths and to prove we care about the wellbeing of all citizens

I cannot imagine sleeping rough in driving, biting winds, snow, ice and winter rain. It's inhumane. It's also inexcusable when we have so many empty buildings. I'm not asking for permanent shelters; just somewhere warm and dry for our homeless to sleep in winter. Please sign this petition. Tag the friends you feel would like to see this. Thank you so much. Charities are doing the best they can, with limited resources and funding cuts. There are many empty buildings that can be offered, purely for winter shelter. Maybe these places can also then be used to facilitate targeted help to those in need of it - for support, help with housing, health care, advice and general care. Charities' resources could be used for support rather than spending their resources on providing the actual shelters. This is a necessary resource and if we pull together we have more than a great chance of being an influence.

Christopher Clinton Wilkinson – who was said to be sleeping in the woodland surrounding a hospital because it was the only place he felt safe – was hauled before Doncaster magistrates. Representatives from Doncaster-based charity The M25 Housing and Support Group said using anti-social behaviour legislation to criminalise people sleeping rough was a ‘significant concern’. Wilkinson, aged 40, was given an absolute discharge after pleading guilty to failing to comply with a Community Protection Notice on October 5 – but told the offence would stay on his record. Prosecuting at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court, David Sheppard said it was the second time Wilkinson had been found sleeping in the grounds of St Catherine’s Hospital in Tickhill Road, Balby, after struggling to find accommodation. Mitigating, James Gray said: “His situation is an unfortunate one. “He suffers from mental health problems and is clearly out of the care of mental health services at the minute and not receiving any medication. “He told the police he felt safer being in the grounds of the hospital sleeping rough than anywhere else. “He was in his sleeping bag when police woke him up.” Mr Gray said Wilkinson had struggled to find accommodation but was hoping to receive help from Doncaster Council and M25. Community Protection Notices and Orders are issued under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act – legislation introduced last year to stop ongoing environmental anti-social behaviour. Specialist housing advisor Vince Bell of M25 said: “It is of significant concern that the police and local authority are using what can only be described as Dickensian measures to tackle rough sleeping in Doncaster. “Using anti-social behaviour legislation to address issues such as rough sleeping is not going to help but will hinder their situation. “Dragging a vulnerable rough sleeper in front of the courts to give them a criminal record serves only to exacerbate their situation. “This would appear to be a new mindset which undermines all the hard work M25 has done to dispel myths and convince communities that rough sleepers are not to be feared and can be supported to change their lives.” Mr Bell said the police should be offering support to those who find themselves sleeping rough rather than criminalising them. He added: “Considering the person in question suffered with mental health issues and was sleeping in the woods within the hospital grounds because it felt safe, then it would appear we have lost all sight of humanity and good sense. “If you judge a society by the way it treats its most vulnerable then I believe we have failed in this instance.” http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/news/crime/doncaster-man-prosecuted-for-sleeping-rough-1-7513585 and.. Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said: “I am concerned that a vulnerable young girl, who has repeatedly asked for help from Doncaster council, has been told at every turn that she is ‘not their responsibility’. “The law is clear on this, a child does not have to be ‘ordinarily resident’ in a council’s area – and Doncaster council should have assessed the girl’s situation when she came to them and presented as homeless. “I hope this case reminds other councils of their legal position when considering children in need who are from outside their area.” http://www.lgo.org.uk/news/2014/mar/homeless-teen-turned-away-doncaster-social-workers-when-she-turned-help/ From tme to time people will need help. Not prosecution or avoidance of the responsibility to help.

Increasing numbers of us have no option but to rent from a private landlord. That shouldn’t stop us having a place we can call home. Landlords have the legal right to evict tenants with only two months’ warning and without giving a reason. Not all landlords exercise that right, but a family has no idea if their landlord will until they get the eviction notice – and there is nothing they can do about it. They might have been living in their home for twenty or more years, like Helen and Jason, a teacher and gardener who live with their two teenage daughters as valued members of their south London community. They have paid rent to their landlord for all that time and now face a no-fault eviction with no prospect of any security in the place they move to. This imbalance of power is severely disrupting the lives of thousands of families and playing havoc with the education of increasing numbers of children. It’s time the law started protecting tenants from the whims of unscrupulous landlords. Sometimes landlords need to take back their property, either to carry out refurbishment, or to sell it if they are unable to keep their business viable. In such cases, the landlord should be required to help rehouse the tenant, including a longer period of notice than two months. But landlords don’t even need to use the eviction process to force tenants to move. They can just raise the rent to an exorbitant level. The government needs to protect tenants from this as well, and should therefore bar landlords from raising the rent by more than inflation. There are 11 million private renters in England – and counting. None of them should have the rug pulled from under them.

To plead to Bradford Council to open its empty buildings to the homeless in winter. I have slept on the streets myself, in order to raise money to help local churches to do this. While they provide a fantastic service, they only help a fraction of our homeless - there just isn't the room. I cannot imagine sleeping rough in driving, biting winds, snow, ice and winter rain. It's inhumane. It's also inexcusable when we have so many empty buildings. I'm not asking for permanent shelters; just somewhere warm and dry for our homeless to sleep in winter. Please sign this petition. Tag the friends you feel would like to see this. Thank you so much. Charities are doing the best they can, with limited resources and funding cuts. There are many empty buildings that can be offered, purely for winter shelter. Maybe these places can also then be used to facilitate targeted help to those in need of it - for support, help with housing, health care, advice and general care. Charities' resources could be used for support rather than spending their resources on providing the actual shelters. This is a necessary resource and if we pull together en masse we have more than a great chance of being an influence.

Andrew and Claire Stoddart have been farming in East Lothian for 22 years. During this time they have invested heavily in infrastructure and buildings on their farm at Colstoun Mains, creating a profitable and well-managed business. The Stoddart family are an integral part of the community. Andrew and Claire are well liked, and their 3 children go to the local school, as do the 4 children of their employees. The Stoddarts have been asked to leave the farm by the end of November. Once evicted, the Stoddart family will be forced to move from the local area, laying off their two employees, and taking their children away from school and friends. They are to be given very little recompense for the investments they have made over their lifetime, leaving them both homeless and unable to buy a farm elsewhere. I urge you all to show your support by signing this petition to ask the Scottish Government to intervene and stop the forced eviction of the Stoddart family. I address this petition to Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, and Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian. Some of the issues around this eviction are highlighted in the channel 4 news item below. You can see what Andrew Stoddart has to say at 6:33 minutes. https://youtu.be/E-6DzKzmFtA Thank you for your support.

We need support in our bid to stop a major redevelopment and Save North Street Mews! Developers HighLaw Ltd claim the space is "underused", "isolated" and in need of "enhancing" with expensive townhouses and 'hot-desk' commercial office space. All 21 units have been fully occupied for the last 20 years, allowing careers to be made, families to be supported and a strong community to be built. HighLaw Ltd have made absolutely no offers or assurances to any existing tenants to be included in the future development or to be supported in relocation. They refuse to acknowledge that they will in fact be kicking out 21 small businesses and their staff, leading to numerous potential job losses and adverse affects on their families. The mews is an asset to the local community which will be lost in the prospect of a redevelopment that will serve the interests of profit, those wealthy enough to buy luxury houses, and large companies who can afford commercial desk space. This development is not a done deal - YET! A planning application will be made shortly and we must take urgent action to garner as much support from the local community and beyond to try and stop this process and Save North Street Mews. You can help us by adding your voice to this petition and spreading the word! Please join our Facebook group at facebook.com/wearenorthstreetmews for more information, videos and photos to see what we create at the mews. Thanks from Ali and the whole North Street Mews community!

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.

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.

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.

There is so much unused space in Birmingham. Just think how many square foot becomes empty and unused at night; all our high rise offices, all of our shops, all of our businesses, and now grand central. At the same time, tens (if not hundreds given the recent explosion we've seen of people sleeping rough in Birmingham) of people have to sleep outside; exposed, cold and often in fear of abuse. Let's stretch out a hand and do a simple thing, which may have a profound impact. Let's utilise our space and create an area in Grand Central where there are beds available to those sleeping on the streets. Let's break down barriers in society, and truly show that we care.

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.