Shelter is a long-running homelessness charity whose purpose is to defend the right to a safe home. Appearing on The Leaders Council Podcast, its CEO, Polly Neate, discussed the effects of Covid-19 pandemic on homelessness over the last two years and why it is imperative that the government addresses the cost-of-living crisis at a time when housing demand is exceeding supply.
“We are actually in a bit of a national emergency when it comes to housing at the moment”, Neate explained. “At Shelter, we try to address some of the systemic issues at local level that are putting people in situations where they need our help. We also work nationally with our campaign, trying to challenge those systemic issues which put people's right to a safe home under threat.”
Sharing her perspective on the previous two years from an operational perspective, Neate described the Covid-19 pandemic as a “difficult” time, and despite the easing of social restrictions, the symptoms of the pandemic remain unrelenting.
“It has been a very, very difficult 18 months, and to be honest, we're not coming out of it. So, we have actually raised funds at Shelter in anticipation for things to get worse.
“The reason for that is that the protections that the government put in place during the pandemic, which were very welcome, are now starting to lapse. So, what we're seeing now is the is the fallout from the pandemic, which has been delayed in a way. Some of the government’s emergency measures did fend off some of the worst financial impacts, but these are unfortunately taking effect now.
“Frankly, what has happened during the pandemic is that the government has bought itself some time to deal with the underlying issues of the housing emergency, but then hasn't dealt with those issues yet. So, it is a worrying situation.”
In the wake of all of this, Shelter has continued to serve its charitable purpose and sought to support vulnerable people as much as possible. Its activities have involved increasing the capacity of its emergency helpline and providing greater levels of support at local level, but Neate believes that ministers must step up and do more to alleviate the crisis.
Neate said: “We are working on supporting people as best we can. Our helpline acts as a first port of call for people if they're facing eviction or homelessness and provides an instant source of help and advice. I’d urge anyone affected to reach out to us before the absolute worst happens because we can help. We are providing support at local level and mobilising as many resources as possible into that.
“The important thing for us is trying to get the government to put in place some measures that actually will prevent homelessness. Without this action, we are going to see more people on the streets. The government has done a lot during the pandemic and shown just what is possible when an emergency situation prompts strong, decisive action. We saw the ban on evictions, the furlough scheme to protect businesses and incomes, and this was absolutely transformational in staving off the effects of the pandemic. Now, that support is coming to an end and energy and food prices are on the rise, so we’re seeing a cost-of-living crisis unfolding before our eyes and the government is not dealing with it. The government also remains non-committal to delivering homes that those on low incomes can actually afford, and there are measures it could take to address this. That is what needs to happen now.”
The urgency of Neate’s words cannot be understated, with a recent report commissioned by the Local Government Association indicating that the list of families waiting for social housing is estimated to double to 2.1 million over the next year.
“A significant number of those awaiting social housing are in temporary accommodation which is completely unsuitable, especially for families and children,” Neate continues. “This is bound to have a detrimental effect on people’s mental health, yet people are finding themselves in these temporary dwellings for years because of the lack of social homes.
“The thing that makes this especially staggering is that we are spending around £30 billion per year on housing related benefits to keep people in unaffordable homes in the private rented sector. That is absolutely dwarfing the size of the affordable housing programme, which is £12 billion over five years. That plan, at the moment, also contains almost no social housing. Failure to invest in social housing is costing us a fortune in welfare.”
While the cost-of-living crisis remains an ongoing issue, Neate remains optimistic that the Renters’ Reform Bill will be forthcoming in 2022 to help bring about much-needed changes to the private rental sector which will help prevent spontaneous evictions without justification.
“We had a really good meeting at the recent Conservative Party Conference with Eddie Hughes, minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing. He echoed our concerns about the urgency of reforming private renting, which is something we at Shelter have been lobbying hard on.
“In particular, we need to stop so-called ‘No-Fault’ Section 21 Evictions, because they allow renters to be evicted for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and this is rather unique to England. We want to make sure that the Bill contains what it needs to contain to prevent these practices.
“I do have confidence that the government is committed to this legislation. It is not a replacement for actually delivering properly affordable homes, but it is a huge step in the right direction and an extremely important move.”
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
