The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) Housing Commission has observed a range of interlocking issues which comprise the housing crisis facing our nation.
We have seen how problems with the affordability, security and supply of housing are seriously impacting the lives of people already struggling. And we have learned from the CSJ’s Alliance of poverty-fighting charities how these factors can make it even harder to
tackle and reverse the pathways to poverty.
The Commission has advanced suitably bold policy proposals for the Government to dramatically increase the supply of truly affordable homes, in order to end both the flow of children living in temporary accommodation as well as our costly reliance on housing benefit in the private rented sector. We have also recommended measures to radically improve housing security and access to justice for both renting families and private landlords.
The Government has responded with significant reforms: including, but not limited to, the abolition of councils’ housebuilding borrowing cap and the announced repeal of Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, that is, the clause allowing renting families to be evicted at two months’ notice. These moves have the potential to change millions of lives and should be welcomed.
Here, however, we look beyond the role of government on its own. In the fourth CSJ Housing Commission interim report, we ask: can employers help solve the housing crisis?