As a new report highlights the importance of providing sites for the estimated 150,000 members of the Gypsy and Traveller population, John Perry explores what it takes to provide sites which work. Last month came a reminder about what was claimed five years ago to be Britain’s biggest unauthorised Traveller encampment, when the local authority…
The regular Homelessness Monitors published by Crisis for each of the four countries of the UK have helped marshal the evidence and focus attention on a persistent problem which rational minds would have thought had been solved in the UK well before this century began. Unfortunately, not only is this not the case but in…
Will the chancellor’s bid to halt the decline in owner-occupation work? The Autumn Statement’s extra investment for housing towards the end of this parliament is very good news. We could never hope to address our national supply crisis without government action. But the way it will be configured means a massive boost to homeownership, apparently…
Two reports out this month and next present an overview of homelessness in England and allow judgements to be made on whether or not current policies are working. The Homeless Monitor: England, published by Crisis, takes the official homelessness statistics as its starting point: rough sleeping has been increasing (albeit more slowly of late), while…
The untimely death of Felicita Zeledón, a member of the National Assembly, recalls the tragedy that hit the rural area of Posoltega on the morning of 30 October 1998. Zeledón, then mayor of the small town on the Leon-Chinandega highway, became the central figure in dealing with the biggest humanitarian crisis in Nicaragua since the…
English councils’ budgets for 2014/15, published this month, show that their current spending has fallen by 23% over the five years of this parliament. How have the cuts affected housing? Chartered Institute of Housing figures show that housing fared worse than many other services with a 28% cut – once housing benefit was taken out…