If housing wasn’t an issue

(Nimue)

How many people would be able to escape from abusive relationships today if they could be sure of having a roof over their head tonight? How many people feel they have no choice but to stay in awful jobs, for fear of ending up on the streets?

Unaffordable and insecure housing contributes to a great many other social issues. Housing is both a source of profit for those who are already affluent, and a means of leveraging people into having to accept very little recompense for their labours.

If the right to decent housing was a given, and if that housing was affordable, that would make worlds of difference. If we considered secure and decent housing to be a right, not a perk, then we’d treat vulnerable people in our societies very differently.

Housing people turns out to be a highly effective solution to people not having homes. When we see being unhoused as a societal failing, not a personal one, there’s a lot that can change. Imagine living in a society where there would be universal shame at the thought of anyone being forced to sleep on the streets. Imagine a political system where this most basic kind of wellbeing was a priority.