Displaying items by tag: affordable housing

Due to a homelessness crisis, Edinburgh is poised to declare a housing emergency. The city council's housing convener, Jane Meagher, will table a motion to establish an emergency action plan and request urgent funding from the Scottish government to address the severe challenges. Edinburgh currently has around 5,000 households in temporary accommodation, the highest in Scotland. The crisis is exacerbated by a severe shortage of social rented homes, with approximately 200 bids for each advertised property. Rental costs are soaring, with Edinburgh having the UK's highest rental inflation rate at 13.7%. If the motion passes, Edinburgh will be the first Scottish city officially to declare a housing emergency. The council plans to write to the First Minister and the housing minister to request additional funding.

Prince William's Homewards project is a campaign for affordable housing as families face rising mortgage and rent costs, but there are some big challenges to face. He has been personally engaged in homelessness for many years as an active patron of the charities Centrepoint and The Passage. He now wants to turn words into action, with a more interventionist plan to create extra housing and measurably cut homelessness over the next five years. But this means getting involved in areas normally reserved for elected politicians, and he may face questions about getting involved in political issues. Any involvement in addressing a shortage of affordable housing is inescapably political, not least when there is so much anxiety about rising rents and mortgage costs. But being accused of being a bit too political might not actually be a bad thing, according to royal author Prof Pauline Maclaran, particularly for a younger generation.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a new commission to explore how the Church can help resolve Britain's housing crisis. The housing shortage is one of the ‘major challenges’ facing Britain. He said the nation must think about building strong communities not just bricks and mortar. Academics and theologians will discuss Christian perspectives on providing affordable homes and flourishing neighborhoods. The commission follows the archbishop's book published last year, Reimagining Britain, in which he connected good-quality housing with equality and justice. The report recommends that thousands of hectares of unused church land be used to build affordable homes in the next few years. The legalities for selling church assets could be amended so that land and buildings are used for social and environmental needs, not just economic benefits. See

Sweeping changes to the ‘outdated’ planning system in England will make it easier to build much-needed new homes, said Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary. But critics say they could lead to bad-quality housing and loss of local control over development. The Government wants to reduce the number of planning cases overturned at appeal by creating a clearer, rules-based system. He said we have a major housing challenge and a major economic challenge with a lot of people's jobs depending on this industry. The new system will still be democratic with local engagement, but will be faster and help meet the needs of the next generation. A national charge for developers will be introduced, replacing the existing agreements, and used to fund schools, roads and GP surgeries; and there will have to be a fixed proportion of affordable homes in a development. Pray for the success of homes and hospitals being built on land earmarked for development.

The Archbishop of Canterbury expressed the hope that his commission on housing, Church and community would be imaginative, thoughtful, and radical when he spoke at its launch this week. ‘This isn’t a time for safe, nice words: it’s a time for a radical look at what enables people to live in communities, to build relationships’, he said. The commission, which will meet for approximately 18 months, will examine how the Church can develop its own housing policy as well as influence the national debate.

Speaking during a tour of the £800-million Countesswells new town development in Scotland on 30 August, the Scottish Conservative Party leader, Ruth Davidson, said there were still fewer homes being built than before the financial crash. She added, ‘We know there is a lack of housing across Scotland. We really need to get our fingers out and build more houses across the country. This new community simply wouldn’t happen without the support of the UK Government.’ Earlier this year 636 homes were earmarked for first-time buyers and renters by the Battersea Power Station Development Company, but by July it was offering only 386 affordable homes. The developers said the entire project may become financially unviable if they are forced to stick to their original figure, adding that they made the undertaking when London’s new-build market was booming and construction costs were lower. See: