The chief executive of a Sussex housing and homelessness charity has called on the government to take urgent steps to fix the housing crisis.
David Chaffey, chief executive of BHT Sussex, spoke out as the charity joined the National Housing Federation’s “Plan for Housing” campaign.
BHT Sussex: “The campaign calls for a national long-term plan to transform the housing system and brings together housing associations across the country who want to collaborate with the government to deliver it.
“BHT Sussex provides social housing and is a member of the National Housing Federation (NHF). As a social landlord, it provided 481 households and individuals across Sussex with community housing last year.”
This was alongside its work providing supported accommodation and specialist services for vulnerable people.
The charity said: “The National Housing Federation argues with this campaign that a long-term plan for housing could fix child homelessness and provide the security of a social home for one million more people, as well as improving affordability and boosting productivity, all by 2035.
“They point out that there are many wider socio-economic benefits to building more social homes, including job creation, better educational outcomes and savings to the NHS.”
Mr Chaffey said: “We believe that everyone deserves a safe home.
“Research from Shelter and the NHF has shown that building 90,000 social rented homes would generate £12 billion profit to the taxpayer over 30 years so the investment makes economic sense on top of all the other benefits that secure and decent housing brings.
“As well as providing social homes, we run specialist ‘housing advice centres’ in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings, areas with long social housing waiting lists and a serious lack of affordable housing.
“Last year, our advisers prevented 820 people from becoming homeless, but every day they see the devastating consequences of the housing crisis on people’s lives.
“We need a long-term plan to transform this country’s housing system and that’s why we support this campaign.”
BHT Sussex is a registered charity made up of interlinked projects and services aimed at empowering people to overcome homelessness, poverty, addiction and mental ill health.
The charity added: “We support more than 10,000 people across Sussex each year. We are a registered social landlord and fully compliant with the Regulator for Social Housing.”
To find out more about the National Housing Federation’s “Plan for Housing” campaign, click here.
For more detail about the National Housing Federation’s long-term plan, click here.
To read the research from Shelter and the NHF about the economic benefits of building social housing, click here.
