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Bishop convenes group to prepare draft housing strategy for England
The Church of England’s bishop for housing has convened a group to prepare a housing strategy for England, with the support of David Orr, former chief executive of the National Housing Federation (NHF).
Guli Francis-Dehqani, the bishop of Chelmsford and the Church of England’s lead bishop for housing, said she hoped the strategy would form “a new backdrop for the housing debate in the run-up to the next general election”.
The church is working in partnership with the Nationwide Foundation on the strategy.
Ken Gibb, a professor in housing economics at the University of Glasgow, has been appointed to draft it, including providing evidence of how such strategies have worked elsewhere.
Mr Orr has helped to convene a cross-party group in the House of Lords to work on the strategy.
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The NHF is lobbying political parties to pledge a housing strategy at the next general election.
It follows the publication of Coming Home, a report by the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Community, which made recommendations to the church, the housing sector, landowners, the public and the government when it was published in February 2021.
This included a call for a housing strategy for England and an agreed understanding of what a good housing system would look like in 10, 20 or 30 years.
The work involved a meeting last week with “a group of senior politicians and thinkers from the three main parties”, attended by Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury.
The group plans to have a working draft to present to politicians, the housing sector and the public early in the new year.
In a comment piece for Inside Housing, Ms Francis-Dehqani said: “We often hear the phrase, ‘Everyone has a right to a decent, affordable home’, but do we believe and act on it?
“The vision in Coming Home is that our homes should be sustainable, safe, stable, sociable and satisfying; this is patently not the reality for millions of people currently.
“We don’t believe that the housing system has to stay broken. Now is the time for us to come together with courage and faith and forge a new national housing strategy for the good of all.”
Mr Orr said: “I have argued for years that England desperately needs a long-term plan for housing, a strategy we can all get behind. That’s why I am so pleased to be asked to assist in this work. It is exactly the kind of ambition and leadership we need.”
Inside Housing’s Build Social campaign is calling on all political parties to commit to building 90,000 social homes a year in England.
