Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, is consulting on his draft Housing Strategy and Stonewall Housing would like to hear your views as part of their response.
Bob Green, Chief Executive of Stonewall Housing, doubts that the Housing Strategy will achieve the better outcomes for all that it hopes for. Stonewall Housing think it will be a missed opportunity and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people will continue to be in housing need. they state that 50% of LGBT people who call the Stonewall Housing advice line each year state that their housing problem is directly related to their sexuality or gender identity. So surely any housing strategy for London needs to take sexuality and gender identity into consideration if it aims to meet the housing needs of the 430,000 Londoners who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
We all know that housing is unaffordable for the majority of people in London, especially for young people. Much needs to be done at a variety of levels to protect young people from becoming homelessness during these turbulent times.
Stonewall Housing’s key concerns are:
EQUALITIES: The Mayor does not go far enough in this strategy in relation to protecting equality groups. There needs to be more mention of the particular needs of lesbians, gay men, bisexual people and transgender (LGBT) people. The Mayor has missed a perfect opportunity to identify and meet the housing needs of LGBT people: ensuring those fleeing harassment and domestic abuse have access to emergency accommodation, and that asylum seekers and younger and older people within our communities have access to safe, supported accommodation instead of facing ignorance and harassment from current services. Jamey Fisher from Galop adds “Galop welcomes the Mayors commitment to working with the police and local authorities to prevent crime and develop safer neighbourhoods. However, as a third party reporter of crime Galop know firsthand that many LGBT people who are victims of crime do not feel comfortable reporting directly to the police. If the Mayor has a true commitment to creating safer communities his strategy needs to go further by listening to the voice of local communities and the voluntary sector organisations such as Galop which work with them.”
REGIONAL: LGBT people live in all London boroughs and until more is known about the numbers within each borough, the Mayor should introduce a regional focus to ensure their housing needs are met. The strategy could be read that the Mayor wants homeless people to return to the communities from where they came. This will not be possible for many LGBT people who are fleeing harassment, violence or abuse.
HOME OWNERSHIP: There is too much reliance on home ownership in the housing strategy. The strategy stigmatises those who rent from social landlords such as housing associations as second class citizens who should be grateful of public support rather than an accommodation of choice, which is affordable, secure, well-managed and of high quality, which it can become with investment.
PRIVATE RENTED ACCOMMODATION: There is too much emphasis on the private rented sector in the strategy. It is often too expensive, of poor quality with insecure tenancy agreements. There needs to be more work done to improve the management, cost and security of this sector before it can be a viable option for many people.
Stonewall Housing will be submitting a response to the Mayor about his draft Housing Strategy based on these points and would like to hear your views about our comments and the strategy itself. Please add your comments and we will try to incorporate them.
Look at Stonewall Housing’s comments in more detail on its website
Call us if you want a hard copy of our comments: 020 7359 6242
Or join in the discussion on Stonewall Housing pages on Facebook, Gingerbeer and Transfriendly.
You can read the Mayor’s Draft Housing Strategy here.
