United Kingdom

Mortgage rise will plunge a million homeowners into ‘perilous debt’

Published in Tuesday January 7th, 2014 In In the media

According to a new report from an influential thinktank, the Resolution Foundation, even in the most optimistic scenario – in which interest rates rise slowly to 3% by 2018 and economic growth is strong and well-distributed between the rich and poor – 1.12 million homeowners will be spending more than half of their take-home pay on mortgage repayments – this is a widely accepted indicator of over-indebtedness.

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Roma leader says his people will be forced to beg on Britain’s streets

Published in Thursday November 7th, 2013 In In the media

A Roma leader has warned that travellers who move to Britain from Romania and Bulgaria when the border restrictions are lifted will turn to begging or black market trades if they cannot access social welfare. Rudko Kawczynski, president of the European Roma Travellers Forum, criticised the panic over the opening up of European Union labour markets to Romanians and Bulgarians from January, which has prompted fears about large numbers of Roma heading to Britain, France and Germany.

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Security of Tenure of the Urban Poor: First Version, Open to Public Consultation – Newsletter #39

Published in Wednesday October 2nd, 2013

The first version of the final report on tenure security, containing recommendations on this subject, is already available for public coonsultation.

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The woman from Brazil

Published in Friday September 20th, 2013 In In the media

Inside Housing: ‘The UK has one of the best, best affordable and social housing schemes in the world,’ says the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing. ‘In most of the countries in the world, if you are poor that you means you are very badly housed. Period. This is not true in the UK. This is an astonishing fact, and that’s why the UK should not go backwards. This is very, very important.’

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European Parliament hearing about the criminalization of homelessness

Published in Thursday September 19th, 2013 In Social movement news

“Criminalizing and penalizing homeless people for carrying out life-sustaining activities in public because there is nowhere to go is a problem across the EU” said Rina Beers, President of FEANTSA today at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Half the families hit by bedroom tax ‘now in debt’

Published in Thursday September 19th, 2013 In In the media

The Guardian: More than half of families hit by the bedroom tax have been pushed into debt during the first three months of the policy, leading to calls from the country’s biggest housing groups for a retreat from the scheme.

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Bedroom Tax Pushes A Quarter Of Affected Households Into Rent Arrears

Published in Thursday September 19th, 2013 In In the media

Huffington Post: A quarter of households hit by the ‘bedroom tax’ have been pushed into rent arrears for the first time, just five-and-a-half months after it was introduced. National Housing Federation chief executive David Orr said the figures underlined demands for the housing benefit cut to be scrapped to prevent families entering a “spiralling cycle of debt”.

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Special Rapporteur visits Northern Ireland

Published in Thursday September 19th, 2013

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Ms. Raquel Rolnik visited Northern Ireland on Friday 6th September during her mission to the UK. Check some of the photos posted by the PPR – Participation and the Practice of Rights – that arranged some meetings and field visits.

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Rapporteur’s message after the UK Mission

Published in Wednesday September 18th, 2013 In News on the Rapporteurs

I have just completed a two-week official mission to the UK to look into the housing situation in the UK – an issue which is at the heart of many UK residents. The visit has generated some questions that I try to answer here.

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Grant Shapps should reconsider his ill-informed UN ‘bedroom tax’ outrage

Published in Monday September 16th, 2013 In In the media

The Guardian: A UN special rapporteur cannot carry out a mission (ie a formal visit) to a state without being invited. This is set out in the code of conduct for such appointment-holders (also known as “special procedures”). Indeed, so open was the UK to the possibility of a visit from UN experts like Rolnik that, in March 2001, it issued a standing invitation to all such UN appointment-holders. By extending a standing invitation, the UK announced that it will always accept requests to visit from all special procedures.

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