Margaret Mullane, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Dagenham and Rainham, has responded to the campaign launched by Inside Housing, the housing trade journal, to secure an increase in the number of social rented homes across England.
Margaret said: “I am committed to ensuring that an incoming Labour government will reverse the decline in the number of desperately needed council homes. What is happening in society and here in Dagenham and Rainham is truly shocking. Between January and March this year almost 80,000 families and households approached councils in England on being made homeless or threatened with homelessness. As you read this, there are 104,500 households in all forms of temporary accommodation, that’s over 350,000 people including 131,000 children. This is a record number, but there are many more who are struggling to make ends meet from week to week and who could in the future be pitched into homelessness”.
Margaret went on to talk about her work as a councillor and office manager for Jon Cruddas MP “Behind numbers there are real human tragedies. When I see figures on growing homelessness in our local community I think of the many families that have reached out for help over the years.
Barking & Dagenham Council project that there is likely to be over 2,400 homelessness approaches in this year, that’s 500 higher than the number just two years ago. Last year Havering had 3,487 homelessness approaches, over 900 more families than in 2021. The Council’s budget for temporary accommodation is forecast to be overspent by £4 million, with most of this going to private landlords and hotels.
Housing costs, whether it’s soaring mortgage repayments or sky high private rents, clearly show that the housing market is dysfunctional and that government housing policy has failed families. We urgently need a new government that will support councils to build homes at truly affordable rents for local people. That will be my commitment to people in Dagenham and Rainham.”
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