Shelter

Today’s #KingsSpeech has given hope to renters, and the promised planning and devolution bills could help boost social housebuilding. However, if the government truly wants to end the #HousingEmergency they must 📈 set national and local social rent targets; 📝 get the planning system focused on social rent and making developers pay their fair share 🏠 get councils building again, including freezing and reviewing right to buy

⚠️ BREAKING: Our new analysis shows that households are paying on average £103 more per month than they were just 12 months ago. Meaning England’s private renters are coughing up an extra £473 million pounds each month on rent in 2024. These rising costs are pushing renters to the limit. A separate survey of more than 2,000 private renters, carried out by YouGov for Shelter, found a third now report spending at least half of their monthly household income on rent. The new government has pledged to scrap Section 21 evictions – a change that is long overdue – but unpredictable rent hikes will continue to force people out of their homes unless action is taken. Our CEO, Polly Neate, is calling on Kier Starmer’s government to finally fix renting: “With the King’s Speech just days away, this government must succeed where others have failed. To finally make renting genuinely safe, secure, and more affordable, it must bring forward a bill that scraps no fault evictions in full, limits in-tenancy rent hikes, and extends notice periods.” Read more in the Times (login needed): https://cutt.ly/Feg5PTb9

Are you a Solicitor with experience of housing and homelessness law? You could soon be making a real difference to people affected by the housing emergency by joining our Community Legal Team at our Plymouth Hub. Find out more about the role, the team, and our amazing Legal Services fighting for home: https://shltr.org.uk/hfxIZ

What can the new government do in its first 100 days to truly deliver real change in housing? We’re challenging them to commit to four tangible, achievable changes to tackle the housing emergency 👇 1) Arm councils with the funding, capacity and tools to build new social rent homes. 1.3 million households in England are currently waiting for a social home. 2) Adopt a social housing target and hold developers to account by including a nationally set 20% minimum social housing requirement on large sites. 3) Immediately freeze #RightToBuy and do a full review of the policy, so councils have confidence the social homes they will build won't be lost within a few years. 4) Commit to robust reform of the private rented sector to give renters stability in their homes and tackle runaway rents. No-fault bailiff evictions have soared to a six-year high, and rents have increased by 9% in the last year. The government promised a strategy to end homelessness, reform for renters, and the biggest increase in social housing in a generation. Now it’s time to prove it. ⏰ We’re issuing the 100 Days Housing Challenge to kickstart its housing legacy in its first 100 days, starting from TODAY. Hold the government accountable and demand real change – add your name to the challenge: https://shltr.org.uk/lfxJN

It's time to kickstart a housing legacy. Keir Starmer has inherited a country in the grips of a housing emergency. But this government promised change - and a strategy to fix it. 📅 In its first 100 days, they must show us how 'change' will happen. And that must include kickstarting plans to deliver more social homes and making private renting secure, fairer and more affordable. We won't stop campaigning for the change we need. 📸: Jake Darling

310,000 private renters in England had to leave their homes in the last 5 years because their landlord raised their rent. For too many renters, a rent increase is as good as an eviction notice. The new government had committed to scrap unfair, ‘no fault’ evictions. But all of this will be undermined if landlords are free to bump up tenants’ rents and force them out their homes through the back door.   We need fair limits to the amount that rent can be increased during a tenancy, so that annual rent rises are limited to either wage increases or inflation, whichever is lower. Read our blog from Shelter Policy Manager Tarun Bhakta 👇🏾

We’re wasting no time telling Keir Starmer that the real ‘change’ people need is ending the housing emergency. Why? He’s inherited a country with a chronic shortage of social homes, record high private rents and rocketing numbers of people being evicted for no reason. And it’s causing record homelessness. Home is our foundation for a stable and healthy life – but right now, millions of people don’t have that. They can’t wait any longer. The new government must kickstart their plan to end the housing emergency now. #FightForHome

Are you #VotingForHome? Don’t forget your ID. Not sure what you can bring – check out the list of accepted photo ID’s >> https://shltr.org.uk/TfxTm And remember your ID doesn't need to be in date – the photo just needs to look like you and have the same name you registered to vote with.

These are just some of the faces who'll be #VotingForHome tomorrow 🏠 ❤️ Whatever your reason for voting for home, make sure to bring your ID to the polling station! Not sure of where your polling station is? Find it here: https://lnkd.in/eUZysPdX #GeneralElection #BringYourID

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!   Up and down the country you’ve been making it clear, this election #TeamShelter are #VotingForHome. People power works. You have:    ✏️signed our open letter to party leaders in your thousands 📨written to candidates from EVERY constituency in the country 📢taken direct action to put the #HousingEmergency on the agenda  And because of our amazing supporters, like you, we’ve won important pledges, from fixing private renting to building more social homes, we know that whoever forms the next government, ending the housing emergency will be a top priority. But our work is not done, we need to keep the fight going. Together, we will end the housing emergency.