Getting Started

What can you do as an individual?

The housing crisis is a massive problem. It can feel far too big to make a difference as an individual. However, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Housing Commission believes that we can deal with the housing crisis if all parts of society pull together – Government, those in the industry, churches and individuals. However big, your contribution will be a valuable contribution to this wider movement.

Engage in the planning system

The planning system affects people’s lives significantly, but unfortunately too often it’s dominated by polarised voices. It’s crucial that there are voices standing up for justice. From planning applications to consultations, the more people get involved in this the better. While it’s great for churches to respond to consultations – see our advice – it’s also important that individuals respond.

Increasingly, consultation responses on planning matters involve submitting a web form, with a combination of open questions with text responses and closed questions about whether you support particular aspirations of the scheme and/or how they have been carried out. It may be worth doing a mock run on the website, noting down the questions asked, and then basing your response around that. In other situations – especially regarding planning permission – it may be a case of submitting a written submission laying out your opinions of the scheme.

Tips for responses

Community is crucial to human flourishing, and it should be a main focus of your response. According to Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, housing is ‘the architecture of community’. ‘Building new housing without clear community values and aims will lead to the same problems being repeated again in the future.’ So, how do you prioritise this in your response? Archbishop Justin has some examples: ‘no new estate should be built above a certain small size without the developer having to create areas for meeting, halls, space for shops and exercise, schools, clinics, centres of counselling and support, places of worship and other community facilities to ensure a clear community focus.’ Also think about how any new developments integrate social housing with private housing, and old housing with new.

Be a prophetic voice for those who can’t speak. Very few people will advocate for those who will live in the new developments, or who may not yet even be alive. Try to stand up for these people. Balance their need for a vibrant community with protecting the community already there.

Amplify people’s voices. While you should encourage people to respond to consultations where they can, many will not. Therefore, consultations are often dominated by just a few polarised – often negative – voices. If it’s clear that a community is in favour of a scheme, highlight this. If there are concerns, then highlight these too, but try to do without promoting NIMBYism, for example by presenting potential solutions to the problems you raise.

Speak for those at the margins. We don’t knock down luxury apartments to build new homes, we generally knock down poorer quality housing. It’s not NIMBYism to stand up for those affected.

‘This is a vibrant community and that’s as important as any proposed master plan about housing’ – Revd Clare Dowding, St Paul’s Marylebone.

Affordability is a justice issue. Affordable housing allows people to live life in its fullness, and it helps communities to flourish. This doesn’t mean that every new home needs to be below market rates, but that, as Archbishop Justin says, there should be a ‘significant proportion of genuinely low-cost housing on all developments… so that there is genuine social diversity and mobility of population and thus the mixing of different groups in ways that enable the formation of relationships and communities.’ The current definition of ‘affordable’ housing is 80% of the market rate, which is often completely divorced from what someone on the average local income can afford. Ask for clarification of what the price and tenure of new affordable housing will be, and highlight the needs of the community. In particular, ask what proportion of new builds will be social housing.

Protect God’s kingdom. As Archbishop Justin has said, ‘the issue of climate change and the environment must be faced’ when we are building housing. With new housing, suggest that developers meet a high environmental standard – such as Passivhaus. This prioritises well-insulated houses and low carbon boilers. Another big issue is green space. This is not only key for the flourishing of both individuals and community, but it is also vital for the planet. While grass lawns are great, other forms, such as wild flowers, can contribute more to biodiversity and absorbing carbon. Also prioritise sustainable transport in your replies, by encouraging provision for walking, cycling and public transport, and emphasising the need to discourage car use.

Provide scrutiny. Do the details match up to the headlines? Suggestions shouldn’t be made in an accusatory way but ensuring that individual elements of the plan don’t undermine the overall vision is a valuable service that you can provide.

In the Diocese of Leicester’s response to a county-wide Strategic Growth Plan, they highlighted that planned housing along new rural roads contradicted the plan’s commitment to restrict growth in rural areas.

Engage even if you don’t want the scheme to go ahead. You may not be in favour of a particular development. It may be a conservation issue, or it may not provide the infrastructure to balance the increased pressure on services. Nonetheless, you should still respond with helpful suggestions, even if you’ve highlighted your opposition to the scheme as a whole. It may well go ahead, and there’s no point throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Resident voice

Residents’ and tenants’ associations can, at their best, bring communities together, and rebalance power between those making decisions and those they affect. This is particularly important in rented accommodation. Ensuring a balance of power between landlords and tenants is vital to the healthy functioning of a rental system. Get involved in your tenants’ or residents’ association if it already exists, or otherwise think about whether one could be established. There may be other arrangements in your local area, such as Resident Scrutiny Panels or opportunities for residents to be on the board of a housing association. Take these opportunities – it’s key that there are people in these positions who are willing to speak truth to power and engage constructively to prioritise justice.

See also our advice to churches on promoting housing voice.

Nightstop

Do you have a spare room in your house? We’re called as Christians to use what we have to help build God’s kingdom. One possible option is to engage with a scheme called Nightstop. Nightstop provides short-term emergency accommodation to those in need, by using volunteer ‘hosts’ – people who open their homes to young people at risk of homelessness. It’s not a light undertaking – Nightstop call it ‘extreme volunteering’ – but the support is there to help make it work. Nightstop is run by paid staff, who co-ordinate access for those in need, and support both hosts and guests. This empowers individuals to use their home for good.

You just need a spare room. Every host is given a full day’s training on dos and don’ts, practical tips, advice on maintaining boundaries and how to access support. You don’t have to be a therapist, but having a listening ear makes this accommodation more personal than a hostel. Other than that, a place to wash, a hot meal and a packed lunch is all that’s required – and expenses are reimbursed. The accommodation is for one night at a time – so that people do not have to make a long commitment at once. If a host is unable to take the guest for a second night, they can be transferred to someone else in their network. Typically, guests will only stay for a few nights until the young person is able to return home or Nightstop is able to find them alternative accommodation.

Nightstop’s volunteers come from all walks of life, but churches are still the first port of call for recruiting new volunteers. Helping those most in need in this way is a great way to put your Christian faith into action. As Revd Rachel Parkinson says of her experience hosting, ‘this was something which we could do which clearly put flesh on the bones of our Sunday worship!’ But there’s another reason to do this, as Christians. We understand that everything that we own is ultimately a gift from God. For those lucky enough to have a spare room, opening it up to others may be the best way to show our gratitude.

You can also gain a lot out of this personally. Pauline Beattie, another Nightstop host, learned a lot about how homelessness affects people: ‘Each of our guests has come in different circumstances and, once they feel comfortable, generally want to talk a lot.’ Pauline has also been lucky enough to see the young people grow – whether celebrating a birthday while staying with them, mending relationships or moving into permanent accommodation.

Since its beginnings in local churches, Nightstop has grown considerably. Now, the Nightstop Network is run by Depaul UK, a national homelessness charity which supports a network of 31 regional Nightstop services across the UK, ensuring a consistently high-quality experience for guests and hosts alike. They have around 600 hosts, another 400 volunteers, and offer as many as 9,000 bed nights a year.

With hostels overloaded, an alternative is badly needed, so we need as many people as possible to play their part. Nightstop allows us to have a greater impact with what God’s given us than if we acted alone. Could you take in a stranger?

Depaul – the charity who run Nightstop – also offer longer-term options such as supported lodgings, which allows you to provide a stable home to a young person in need for up to twelve months while they rebuild their lives and become ready to move on. Depaul provide extra support to help those providing supported lodging.

If Nightstop isn’t operating in your area, there may be alternative providers offering a similar service. Approach local homelessness charities to see how you can get involved.

Find out more about Nightstop here.

Green Pastures

Green Pastures is an organisation that works with churches to house people who are at risk of homelessness, along with providing them the support they need to rebuild their lives. As well as getting involved with Green Pastures as a church, you can also help as an individual by investing in them. They are a social enterprise, so while they do good, they rely on people investing for a return of up to 5% p.a. You can invest anything above £1000 for a minimum of one year. Your investment allows them to buy more houses, which means that they can help churches to house more people, without the churches having to buy a house themselves. For more information, see the page on investing on their website.

Lease a house to a charity such as Hope into Action

Hope into Action works through a slightly different model, although they provide a very similar service. Again, you can get involved as a church, but if you’re an individual, you buy a house rather than investing directly in the organisation. You then lease this house to Hope into Action for five years. They use it to house tenants, do the maintenance, and offer a targeted 2% p.a. return on your investment. They help you to find a suitable house – generally three bedrooms – and you retain the ownership of the house. If you can’t afford to buy a house alone, they can match you with other potential investors. Find out more on the page on investing on their website.

Other local charities, such as One Roof in Leicester and Boaz Trust in Manchester, often work on a similar basis, where they rely on individuals to buy houses, and then pay them rent. Contact a local homelessness charity if you are able to help with this, particularly if Hope into Action is unable to run a scheme in your area. Some may offer you a slight return on your investment, but you can always decide to charge less if you are able.

All of the advice and guidance provided in these resources is based on conversations with churches and organisations that are directly involved in responding to housing need in their local area. The advice in this sheet is thanks to:

Revd Clare Dowding, St Paul’s Marylebone/
Sian Rigby, Development Worker at Together Leicester
John Rose, Administrator, Churches Together in All Lincolnshire
Boaz Trust
Depaul UK and Nightstop
Green Pastures
Hope into Action
Hope North London
One Roof Leicester