“Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.” So many songs talk about home or going home. Home is important to most of us in society. It’s where our roots are, it’s where our foundations lie. It’s where we learned how to be the person we are. And yet for decades, successive governments have failed to build the homes we need. By 2008, the number of new homes being started had fallen to its lowest peacetime level since 1924 – and house building has barely recovered since then. This means that every year more and more people are being priced out of home ownership. It means rising rents and more people competing for every single home. (Shelter)
It has always been part of the Church’s teaching that every human being should have the basic necessities to grow and flourish. In one of the documents of the Second Vatican Council – The Church in the Modern World – we hear “there must be made available to all everything necessary for leading a life truly human, such as food, clothing and shelter. (G&S #26)
Pope Francis repeats this message in much of his teaching. In his recent letter to all people of goodwill, The Joy of the Gospel, he says: “Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?” (EG 53)
Many families are economically vulnerable and struggle with high housing costs and low incomes. Policies should be assessed on the way in which they impact those most in need, including those who are homeless, and how they support and strengthen the family and its capacity to survive and grow. A question to ask your candidates might be where they stand on helping the poorest and most vulnerable people in the UK?
+Terry