Dear Ed Miliband, Miatta Fanbulleh and Matthew Pennycook,

2023 was the hottest year on record and 3,200 people died due to the spells of hot weather[1]. Over half of households have reported overheating in bedrooms[2]. Temperatures are rising and our homes are not fit to protect us.

As if it weren’t tragedy enough that 7,500 people die each year because our homes are damp and cold[3], now in a rapidly heating Britain our homes are now increasingly unsafe in summer too.

Never before has there been such a necessity to upgrade the UK’s unacceptable housing stock.

A window which has been broken for three years. Tenants who are forced to paint their walls black to hide the mould. Respiratory problems in young children.  

These are the everyday experiences of those living in UK’s unfit homes, one part of a housing emergency that now touches more than 17.5 million of us.[4]

We live our lives as individuals, as families. We do not experience the world according to government departments. We are communities who want warm, healthy homes, less money wasted on energy inefficiency as well as a thriving environment to live in. We cannot separate ourselves into problems of maintenance, repairs or decarbonisation. We experience these issues holistically and demand an approach to improvement which considers us as humans and not as problems.

We are asking for a home upgrade strategy which will make our existing homes safe and healthy whilst not costing the earth.

This is a matter of physical and mental health, equality and climate justice.

Yours,