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Housing associations urged to help tackle ‘endemic’ appliance poverty
Housing associations are being urged to play their part in a push to end the “endemic” problem of people living without white goods and furniture.
A new 35-page report from charity Turn2us has revealed that more than two million households of all tenures, around 4.8 million people, are living without appliances, such as fridges, freezers, cookers and washing machines.
This means people face “huge economic, physical and emotional penalties”, according to Thomas Lawson, chief executive of the charity.
As part of its #LivingWithout campaign, Turn2us has called on social landlords to review what they currently provide to tenants.
Of the 27 housing associations surveyed for the report, 89% said they deal with residents who struggle to furnish their properties with essential household appliances.
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Other recommendations for registered providers include:
- Committing to review policies and practices around void properties to “explore the feasibility of retaining items, including appliances that are of good quality for future tenants”
- Creating in-house grant funds for tenants to deal with appliance and furniture poverty
- Introduce rental schemes for appliances and furniture
- Boost the provision of fully or part-furnished properties
- Build partnerships and stronger links with charities to help tackle the problem
Last week, writing in Inside Housing, Kate Still, chief operating officer at Citizen, revealed that the housing association has moved towards providing more furnished properties under its ‘Fresh Start Standard’. This came after research by the association showed that unfurnished properties were resulting in tenants getting high-interest loans or finance deals to pay for furniture.
Turn2us said the problem of appliance poverty has got significantly worse in the past decade due to changes in welfare policy, including the scrapping of the Social Fund in 2013. The fund offered support to people without essential household appliances.
As part of the campaign, it is calling for councils to be legally obliged to offer local welfare assistance schemes that include cash grants, loans and other forms of support around food and travel.
The schemes were introduced to replace the Social Fund, but the report said an “increasing number of local authorities have abolished their entire scheme because of increasing pressure on their budgets in an era of austerity and funding cuts”.
Mr Lawson said: “Everyone deserves the simple right to store their own food, cook their own dinner and wash their own clothes.”
He added: “We have set out a series of recommendations that can eradicate the endemic problem. Policy-makers, housing associations, charities and companies now need to come together to make this a reality.”
Labour MP Clive Lewis, who dropped out of the party’s leadership contest last week, is backing the campaign.
“Living without white goods results in a harsh and highly stressful reality for people who are already some of the most marginalised in our society,” he said.
“Everyone deserves to live in a sustainable home fit for human habitation. I am proud to support Turn2us and their endeavours to affect change.”
