Housing Justice Resources

Housing Justice unites diverse communities to build personal connections, help people out of homelessness, and create justice in the housing system. They train and support volunteers to offer various accommodation options while building a network of local support, and provide personalised assistance to help individuals access relevant local services and address their other needs. Through compassionate, courageous, and collaborative action, they implement innovative solutions to tackle housing injustice, enhance the quality of housing, and elevate the voices and experiences of groups affected by housing injustice to both local and national governments.

Housing Justice recently launched a range of resources for churches looking to address the housing shortage by turning redundant land and buildings into affordable homes for their communities, as the homelessness charity’s innovative Faith in Affordable Housing Project draws to a close.

Faith in Affordable Housing

The Faith in Affordable Housing (FiAH) team has worked closely with churches of all denominations across England and Wales for the duration of the project; providing advice and resources, as well as connecting churches with suitable housing associations, as part of the charity’s work towards ensuring that everyone has a home that meets their needs.

Data

Recent data from The Wallich (April 2025) shows that in April 2025, nearly 11,000 people, including 2,596 children, were living in temporary accommodation in Wales, and Welsh Government rough sleeping data for June 2025 shows that there were also an estimated 116 individuals sleeping rough (although the true figure is likely to be significantly higher than this).

In England, the situation is even more bleak with the latest Government data (published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in March 2025) showing that there were 3,438 people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in March 2025 – up by 70 people or 2% since December 2024 and up by 332 people or 11% since the same period last year.  July 2025 data from Shelter shows that an additional 131,340 households in England are currently in temporary accommodation, including 169,050 children.

To date, the Faith in Affordable Housing Project has directly resulted in the construction of 105 new homes on ten sites across Wales, offering affordable housing to at least 271 people. 58 additional new homes are either under construction or in planning.

Housing Justice’s Director for Wales, Nicola Evans, said: “We are pleased to have enabled the development of these new affordable homes on land that would otherwise have remained derelict or disused, and which is now being used for the benefit of local communities. The churches we have worked with were keen to address the housing emergency and fulfil their Christian mission to alleviate suffering.

“While many churches are keen to do this work in principle, in practice, complex law around charities disposing of land at below market value, planning regulations around historic buildings, and just not knowing where to start, means that some are put off at the first hurdle.

“We have put together a webpage of resources that includes practical tools and guidance for churches wanting to take the next step as well as a mapping tool to identify land and building for affordable homes which we hope will enable churches to continue what we have started as the legacy of Faith in Affordable Housing. I would like to thank Nationwide for funding this ground-breaking project.”