Divide and rule?
‘Housing solutions to social injustice’ is the strap line of Commonweal Housing – seeing housing as part of the solution to help people address other issues in their lives. Ahead of the budget and forthcoming Housing Bill we are hearing all sorts of leaked plans that will directly and indirectly impact on the UK housing…
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To vote or not to vote, that, is the question…
Which party will I vote for in this year’s general election? I have been asked this question numerous times in the last few months. As a woman I’m also often reminded by other women that people died for our right to vote. So I’m sure you can imagine people’s reaction in the past when I’ve…
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Housing Benefit – who really benefits?
This week has seen yet another TV exposé on rogue landlords, this time by BBC Panorama “The Great Housing Benefit Scandal” aired on 20 April. Whilst, as in all good exposé investigative journalism, extremes have been shown, there can be no question however that the landlords shown in this film are providing very poor quality…
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Social Housing – a national treasure or just the family silver?
Standing up for the NHS As we start this General Election campaign the National Health Service, our beloved NHS, will be a regular feature in news stories and policy announcements, campaign leaflets and party sound bites. Who will protect it most……who is it greatest supporter……..who wishes to do away with it? No doubt the truth…
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Re-uniting mothers and children
Local Re-Unite successes Gloucestershire and Derby sit at two ends of the Re-Unite spectrum. Louise’s* life has been transformed – from a difficult childhood in Gloucestershire and a subsequent custodial sentence, she has now been re-united with her young son and is moving on in her life. A five bed house in Derby recently became…
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Hope for the future – Chrysalis
Six years on from the launch of Chrysalis, we are now asking whether a lack of support for women exiting prostitution still exists. To help answer this question – Commonweal will commission a 2015 Position Statement outlining the current policies, practices and experiences of women seeking to exit prostitution. Along with our partners St Mungo’s Broadway, we…
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