Homelessness charity Shelter photo bombs Great North Run to highlight cause
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Shelter unveiled a banner over Newcastle’s Central Motorway during Sunday’s half-marathon, which read “Shout Oi Oi Oi for More Social Homes” – echoing the famous “oggy oggy oggy, oi, oi, oi” chants heard on the course.
The housing and homelessness charity issued a stark warning about the scale of the region’s housing crisis earlier this year, after it emerged that the number of people on social housing waiting lists had spiralled dramatically from 50,453 in 2022 to 75,985 in 2023.
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Hide AdThat jump of more that 51% saw the North East’s housing registers swell to their largest size since 2012 and represented a far higher spike than anywhere else in England, with the national average rise being just six per cent.
Sunday’s banner drop over the side of the Northumbria University bridge was targeted at mayor Kim McGuinness, who was one of five northern mayors taking part in the Great North Run.
Shelter told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that demand for social housing in the North East had now hit “critical levels” and that affordable homes are “increasingly scarce, leaving many residents in precarious situations”.
Tracy Guy, strategic lead at Shelter North East said: “Sunday’s banner drop was a call to action. The North East is facing a social housing emergency, and we need political leaders to step up. We are calling on mayor Kim McGuinness to prioritise the construction of new social homes. The longer we delay, the more families face uncertainty, unaffordable rents, and homelessness. The people of the North East deserve better, and it starts with building more social homes.”
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Hide AdAccording to data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sunderland’s social housing waiting list saw the biggest growth in the region from 2022 to 2023 – increasing by a huge 523% from 1,483 to 9,237.
South Tyneside’s rose from 3,146 to 9,749, while Newcastle’s nearly doubled from 6,149 to 12,072.
Ms McGuinness, who was elected in May this year, promised in her manifesto to work with local councils to deliver the “next generation of affordable and social housing”, as well as embarking on a major retrofitting programme of the existing stock.
The Labour mayor said: “As someone who grew up in a council house, I know first hand the difference having an affordable, warm and secure home can make. Council and social homes help create opportunity for local people and that’s what I’m determined to build in the North East. That’s the manifesto commitment I was elected on. We will bring forward plans soon to get spades in the ground and new homes built, and I’m in close contact with the Government to ensure we have the powers and resources we need to deliver a new generation of social housing here in the North East.”
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