Political Leaders: Ignore the Housing Emergency, lose the election

Sign this letter to all party leaders: Tell them our vote will only be won with a promise to rebuild our broken housing system
 

Dear Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak, Ed Davey, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsey, 

We're writing to you today to tell you: you’ll lose the next general election if you continue to ignore the housing emergency.  

England’s housing system has been broken by successive governments. Politicians have ignored the housing emergency, not built enough social homes and now homelessness is at record highs. Thousands of people are stuck in poor-quality, over-priced housing that's taking a devastating toll on our physical and mental health. This is England’s housing emergency and it’s getting worse.

Yet, none of your priorities have included fixing the housing emergency.

We’ve asked people with experience of poor housing and homelessness about what needs to change, and they’ve helped us identify the solutions to rebuild our broken housing system. By building social housing, creating a fairer renting system and by ensuring benefits cover rents, we can build happier and healthier communities across England.

Those who have signed this letter are clear: If you want our votes, you must fix the housing emergency.  

Yours sincerely, 

The electorate

• Why should you sign this letter?         
              

  You have the power to make this general election the one where political parties stop ignoring the housing emergency.

  To get commitments from political parties, enough of us need to sign this open letter to party leaders to convince them they’ll lose votes and the next general election if they continue to ignore the housing emergency. You can send this message to politicians today: that if they want our vote, they must build a new generation of social homes, make renting affordable, raise standards in rented homes and strengthen housing rights. You can find out more here: https://england.shelter.org.uk/support_us/campaigns/general_election

  Tell political leaders today: ignoring the housing emergency is the way to lose our votes and the election.

          
      
• Who is in the picture?         
              

  This is Clare.

  She is an artist, studied counselling and is mum to two children with complex needs.

  Her experience of housing injustice, like so many, is complex, rich in nuance and detail. She has helped us compile our manifesto and says that opportunity begins with the home. With no choice of a right home to move onto, life shrinks. People become isolated, health suffers, education suffers, accessing work suffers. Authorities accept less, shift blame and devastatingly lives are even lost.

  She campaigns in Birmingham to create the safe, secure and truly affordable homes we need.

      
• How are we challenging racism in the lead up to the general election?         
              

  As we approach the general election, we are seeing migrants, people seeking asylum, and British-born communities of colour being unfairly scapegoated for the housing emergency,

  Shelter has spent years researching and understanding the root causes of the housing emergency and we know this narrative is false. We have published a statement, alongside our manifesto, where we lay out our commitment to anti-racism in the general election campaign and beyond. You can read it here: https://england.shelter.org.uk/were_committed_to_becoming_an_anti-racist...