'We just want people to have safe, warm homes'

A foodbank has said that it is "shocking" that some social housing tenants live in properties with no flooring or window coverings.

Devizes and District Foodbank is running the An Empty House Isn't a Home campaign which aims to improve standards and change legislation to ensure that basics such as carpets are a minimum requirement in all social housing properties.

UK landlords currently only have to put flooring in kitchens and bathrooms.

According to The National Centre for Social Research, 760,000 social housing tenants are living without flooring in all rooms, which is something Brian Mathew, MP for Melksham and Devizes, said "needs to change".

The foodbank launched the campaign after staff and volunteers noticed more people arriving for food having spent money on essentials for their homes.

Campaign manager, Alex Montegriffo, said some people find an "empty box" when moving into social housing, adding that it made for "huge stress and financial cost".

Mx Montegriffo said it had been "heartbreaking" to read accounts gathered via the campaign, with some tenants saying their children had hurt themselves or had difficulty playing on bare concrete floors.

"We just want people to have safe warm homes," said Mx Montegriffo.

"There should no longer be 760,000 people without flooring in social housing because that number's shocking and it shouldn't be the case in the UK."

Brian Mathew praised the campaign and said he would write to the Minister of State for Housing, Matthew Pennycook, to ask for change.

He said: "It's only fair housing is set up properly.

"It's wrong to provide social housing for people and then the housing isn't fit for purpose."

The campaign has contacted seven of the main social housing providers in Wiltshire to start conversations about the issue

A spokesperson from one of the providers, The Guinness Partnership, said it had measures and funding in place to support new residents who are unable to afford essentials.

"In common with other social housing providers, we do not currently provide new floor coverings and window coverings throughout every home when someone first moves in – however we always provide non-slip flooring in kitchens and bathrooms/toilets," they said.

"Where a property has window coverings or existing floor coverings in other rooms that are in a good condition when the previous resident moves out, these remain in the home for the new resident to use."

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