To plead to the Council to open its empty buildings to the homeless in winter. 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.

We all have so many issues and views which are important to us, but how many of us take for granted our warm shelter? It is too easy to close our doors and forget about the people who, for a multitude of reasons, have none. Let's try and give those less fortunate than us, the very basic human right of shelter this winter. Why does this even need to be asked for?

Many homeless people out there are homless while there are adequate empty houses to house them but are stunted by red tape and Bureaucracy.

To save people living on the streets from illness, death and to enable local community and unity while safeguarding streets at the same time.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Because there is shortage of affordable housing