REIMAGINING SOLUTIONS TO FAMILY HOMELESSNESS

Thank you to everyone who came to our conference on 6 July 2022 and made the day such a success.

You can read write-ups of all the sessions with video clips of the speakers, plus their slides and some further reading.

Please do keep in touch!

About the conference

At Capital Letters, we believe housing is best understood as a complex system. Homeless families are caught in the rapidly changing property market and the unwieldy benefits systems.

So how can we make the private rented sector work better for low-income families in London?

To answer this and other questions, we brought together high-level practitioners, policy influencers, researchers, academics, investors and decision-makers.

Our solutions-focused conference helped us imagine a different approach to address the challenges we face.

We have captured the debates and interactive feedback from the day with write-ups, video clips and links to speaker presentations.

Conference sessions

Applying systems thinking to housing and homelessness
Can councils kick the temporary accommodation habit?
Are permitted development conversions a solution to housing shortages, and how do we maintain standards?
As the cost of living rises, how do we manage family affordability and the benefits trap
Make sure levelling up for London means higher quality and low carbon private rented housing
Why private landlords are part of the solution to homelessness

Who was there

Politicians with a housing and homelessness brief
Senior council housing officers
Landlords and agents
Social housing providers
Housing and regeneration professionals
Homelessness service providers
Affordable housing investors
Researchers, campaigners and policy-makers.

Conference catch-up

Our expert speakers describe the family homelessness crisis in London and suggest possible solutions

Keynote address

Eddie Hughes Housing minister MP

Scene-setting: family homelessness crisis in London

Sue Coulson, Capital Letters

Housing complexity and systems thinking

Alex Marsh, University of Bristol

Ligia Teixeira, Centre for Homelessness Impact

Raising standards of permitted development housing schemes

Paul Hackett, Smith Institute

Ben Clifford, UCL Bartlett School of Planning

Stephanie Pollitt, London First

Eloise Shepherd, London Councils

Levelling up for London renters: quality standards and decarbonisation

Laurence Coaker, Brent Council

Tom Copley, Greater London Authority

Joanne Drew, Enfield Council

Sam Bruce, Centre for Social Justice

Call to action: We are the housing system so let’s change it!

Cllr Darren Rodwell, Deputy Chair, Housing and Planning, London Council

Are landlords part of the solution to the homelessness crisis?

Ben Beadle, National Residential Landlords Association

Matt Downie, Crisis

Kicking the temporary accommodation habit

Claire Harding, Centre for London

Abigail Davies, Savills

Deven Ghelani, Policy in Practice

Conference reading

Housing and Systems Thinking (Ken Gibb and Alex Marsh, CaCHE, 2019)

Mind the Benefit Cap: Why families are still falling through our welfare system (Policy in Practice, 2022)

Who lives in Build-to-Rent? (London First, 2022)

Tackling tenancy insecurity in the private rented sector to prevent homelessness (Centre for Homelessness Impact, 2022)

“I hoped there’d be more options:” Experiences of the Homelessness Reduction Act, 2018-2021 (Crisis, 2022)

Research into the quality standard of homes delivered through change of use permitted development rights (UCL, 2020)

Retrofit London Housing Action Plan (London Councils, 2021)

Reforming private renting: the Mayor of London’s Blueprint (GLA, 2019)

Exposing the Hidden Housing Crisis (Centre for Social Justice, 2021)

Conference speakers

Eddie Hughes MP

Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing

Sue Coulson

Chief executive, Capital letters

Joanne Drew

Director of housing and regeneration, Enfield Council

Alex Marsh

Professor of public policy, University of Bristol

Ben Beadle

Chief Executive, National Residential Landlords Association

Ligia Teixeira

Chief Executive, Centre for Homelessness Impact

Matt Downie

Chief Executive, Crisis

Modester Anucha

Corporate director – housing strategy & option, Waltham Forest Council

Ben Clifford

Associate Professor in Spatial Planning, UCL Bartlett School of Planning

Deven Ghelani

Director, Policy in Practice

Laurence Coaker

Head of Housing Needs, Brent Council and Acting Chair of Capital Letters

Sam Bruce

Head of Housing and Communities, Centre for Social Justice

Claire Harding

Research Director, Centre for London

Tom Copley

Deputy Mayor, Housing and Residential Development, Greater London Authority

Darren Rodwell

Deputy Chair, Housing and Planning, London Councils; Leader, Barking and Dagenham Council

Abigail Davies

Director of Housing Consultancy, Savills

If you are interested in following up any themes conference with Capital Letters, please get in touch