Housing organisations must play a central role in a society which is more divided than ever – the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing has said.
Events of the last 12 months have shown that the role of the housing sector ‘is more important than ever’, said Terrie Alafat as she opened Housing 2017 in Manchester.
Ms Alafat also used her opening speech at CIH’s annual conference, which takes place at Manchester Central until Thursday, to pay tribute to the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and to call on the government to address an imbalance in housing funding, to review unfair welfare policies and tackle homelessness.
“The result of the election just a few weeks ago adds further uncertainty into an already very unpredictable and challenging environment,” Terrie Alafat said.
“If the shock general election result and the last 12 months have taught us anything, it’s that our society is more divided than it has ever been. Divided politically, financially, by generation and by ideology.
“People in our communities face challenges every day, and those challenges are different for each person.
“In such times our role at the heart of our communities is more important than it has ever been.
“Because one thing that unites us all is our need to have a place to call home.
“To have shelter, security, safety, happiness and warmth: a place from which we and our children, and their children can flourish and thrive.”
A minute’s silence was held at the start of the conference to remember the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and new sessions have been added to the programme to explore fire safety issues.
Terrie Alafat said: “At times like this the most important thing is that we come together and use our collective knowledge and resource to help in any way that we can.
“We were part of a group of organisations which met with the housing minister following this terrible incident to look at what the response of the government and the sector should be, both in the immediate aftermath and in the long-term.
“I want to make one thing absolutely clear – we will be doing everything we can to play our part in making sure this never happens again.”
New research launched by CIH on the first day of the conference reveals in some areas of the country rents have risen dramatically compared to earnings between May 2011 and May 2017.
In London rents increased 22% over the period, nearly four times faster than the projected increase in average earnings of just 6%. While in the South East rents increased 15% compared to a projected 7% increase in average earnings.
In other regions in England rents went up in line with earnings or slower than earnings. But a new survey by Ipsos MORI for CIH has found that 52% of private renters across the UK are concerned they will not be able to afford their housing, 56% report a great deal or fair amount of stress being caused by housing costs, and 44% think they might have to move from their area in the future because the cost of housing is too high.
Ms Alafat reiterated CIH’s calls for the government to review a number of welfare policies which it says undermine efforts to tackle the housing crisis.
She called on the government to review its entire approach to the local housing allowance – including the LHA cap and the local housing allowance levels - and to reverse the decision to lower the benefit cap. Ms Alafat also used her speech to urge the government to act immediately to tackle homelessness.
Housing 2017 is Europe’s biggest housing conference and takes place at Manchester Central from Tuesday 27 June to Thursday 29 June. Around 300 exhibitors, 1,500 delegates and 8,000 visitors will attend Housing 2017.
