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England

Social housing not scapegoating

An open letter to all party leaders.

Dear party leaders,

We write to you as organisations working with people affected by homelessness, housing, migrant and refugee policies – whose members and service-users exist at the sharpest end of the housing emergency – to express our deep concern with the direction of the political conversation around housing and migration in the lead up to the election.

We know that when we live in a safe, secure and affordable home, it provides us with the solid base we need to thrive in life. Everyone deserves this right – regardless of their migration status.

But recent months have seen the housing emergency used to justify inflammatory and racist
narratives. Migrants, people seeking asylum, and British-born Black and Brown communities are being blamed for this country's acute shortage of social rent homes and record levels of
homelessness. Now that the election has been called, this rhetoric is only growing louder.

This narrative doesn't exist in a vacuum. It has a knock-on impact across the country. As it becomes more ingrained in everyday discourse on the news, the campaign trail, and social media, it further fans the flames of xenophobia and racism.

This narrative scapegoats and punishes a group of people for a problem that they did not create. But we know the truth. The housing emergency is the result of political choices. We are haemorrhaging social homes: there's been a net loss of over 260,000 social rent homes in the last decade alone.

The organisations undersigned call on all parties to stamp out scapegoating and focus on
building genuinely affordable social homes as the only sustainable way to end the housing
emergency.

We need a new generation of good quality, secure and genuinely affordable social homes – at least 90,000 per year – for the benefit of everyone in society. This social housing must be allocated fairly, based on need, or else we will see homelessness continue to rise.

Every family, whatever their background, needs a safe and secure place to put down roots, where their home can be their foundation.

We demand social housing. Not scapegoating.

#SocialHousingNotScapegoating

Yours sincerely,

Polly Neate CBE (Chief Executive, Shelter)

Nick Beales, Head of Campaigning, RAMFEL

Dr Shabna Begum, CEO, Runnymede Trust

Zrinka Bralo, CEO, Migrants Organise

Grace Burgess, Director, RootsMove

Tom Burgess, Executive Director, Compassion in Politics

Jabeer Butt OBE, Chief Executive, Race Equality Foundation

Sally Causer, Executive Director, Southwark Law Centre

Tom Chance, Chief Executive, Community Land Trust Network

Andrea Cleaver, CEO, Welsh Refugee Council

John Delahunty, Acting Chair, BME National

Matt Downie MBE, Chief Executive, Crisis

Natasha Elcock, Chair, Grenfell United

Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Director Institute of Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research (I-SPHERE), Heriot-Watt University

Yasmin Halima, Executive Director, JCWI

Abdirahim Hassan, Founder, Coffee Afrik

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive, National Housing Federation

Rick Henderson, CEO, Homeless Link

Tim Naor Hilton, Chief Executive, Refugee Action

Sylvia Ingmire, CEO, Roma Support Group

Alphonsine Kabagabo, Director, Women for Refugee Women

Debby Kennett, CEO, London Gypsies & Travellers

Phil Kerry, Chief Executive, New Horizon Youth Centre

Suzanne Muna, Secretary and Co-founder, Social Housing Action Campaign

Lucy Nabijou, Coordinator, Haringey Welcome

Shān Nicholas, Interim Chief Executive, Praxis

George O’Neill, CEO, Cardinal Hume Centre

Dan Paskins, Executive Director of Policy, Advocacy & Campaigns, Save the Children UK

Jacky Peacock OBE, Facilitator, Fairer Housing

Hannah Peaker, Director of Policy and Advocacy, New Economics Foundation

Fizza Qureshi, CEO, Migrants' Rights Network

Stuart Radose, CEO, Community InfoSource

Salah Rasool, Head, Welsh Refugee Coalition

Emma Revie, CEO, The Trussell Trust

Sarah Robson, Director, Da'aro Youth Project

Celia Sands, CEO, South London Refugee Association

Sarah Sidwell, Hosting Manager, Hope at Home

Gavin Smart, CEO, Chartered Institute of Housing

Kerry Smith, Chief Executive, Helen Bamber Foundation

Enver Solomon, Chief Executive, Refugee Council

Charlotte Talbott, CEO, Emmaus UK

Nick Watts, Director, Together with Migrant Children

Jane Williams, CEO Founder, The Magpie Project

Karin Woodley CBE, Chief Executive, Cambridge House

Bridget Young, Director, NACCOM