DMU helps to highlight Britain's affordable housing crisis


Nine regions, six events, one housing crisis…

De Montfort University, Leicester (DMU) in partnership with Asra Housing Group and emh group, is supporting a series of events taking place across the East Midlands to raise awareness and tackle the housing crisis in Britain.

These activities will support the Homes for Britain campaign, which is uniting the housing sector at the biggest rally for a generation in London on March 17 to highlight the challenge faced by people who cannot find affordable homes.

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In Leicester and Leicestershire a range of partners are coming together on March 10th to hand over a giant key as part of a unique relay from Ripley in Derbyshire to Daventry in Northamptonshire ahead of the London rally.

The rally on campus at 11am on 10 March to hear why good quality, affordable housing in Leicester and Leicestershire is so important. Campaigners will receive a giant key which has travelled from Nottinghamshire, which will then be passed on to Rutland later in the week.
 
Across the East Midlands, up to 10 other housing associations and housing-related organisations will be adding their voice to the national campaign through a series of events taking place at six different locations. Last year, 11,730 homes were built in the East Midlands, a shortfall of 8,770 on the number experts predict are needed every year to keep pace with the number of new households forming.

In Leicester, 763 new homes a year are needed to keep up with demand. At the moment, 340 are built – a shortfall of 55 per cent.

Professor Jo Richardson, Director of the Centre for Comparative Housing Research at De Montfort University, Leicester, and member of the Chartered Institute of Housing East Midlands regional board, said: “We are delighted to show our support by being part of this relay and working with our housing practitioner partners at Asra Group and emh group to highlight the impact of the housing crisis and the importance of good quality, affordable homes to the health and wellbeing of our society. 

"This is an opportunity for our housing students and those researching and studying across the university, to join in with practitioners from the housing sector, and our collaborative partners in other public sector agencies to highlight the importance of housing and the need for more Homes for Britain.”

The relay will begin in Derbyshire on March 6 before snaking its way through Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Rutland and ending in Northamptonshire on March 16.

The relay was devised by Futures Housing Group’s Chief Executive Lindsey Williams. She said: “The housing crisis has a wide-reaching impact right across the country. A shortage of housing threatens the potential growth and development of local communities and economies. As East Midlands-based housing providers, we are well aware of the challenges that exist in our region alone.

“As part of raising the profile of the Homes for Britain campaign and the national housing rally, joint events like the one we have co-ordinated are fundamentally important to ensuring that the housing crisis is at the forefront of the minds of politicians and the general public ahead of the Election."

In just over a month’s time, the Homes for Britain campaign will reach a crescendo when the National Housing Federation (NHF) hosts a rally featuring over 2,500 people in Westminster, bringing together housing professionals from across the country.

The nine regions involved in the East Midlands campaign are: Derbyshire, Derby, Nottinghamshire, Nottingham, Leicester, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northampton, Northamptonshire.

Posted on Tuesday 3 March 2015

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