News Shorts & Other Busyness

A Void Dance

Squall 4, April/May 1993, pg. 22.

On March 4th, Sir George Young gave a lecture on the Government’s policy on housing and homelessness at the London School of Economics.

The overriding message of the speech was that homelessness would sort itself out if the housing market was stimulated, and that is where the Government would target its solutions. The man who last year described homeless people as those “you step over on the way out of the opera”, had a few more observations to share with the public.

He suggested that “higher rents for social housing will stimulate the housing market” and that “most people want and can afford private housing”. Sir George also tried to persuade the audience that temporary housing (B&Bs and ‘limbo leases’) for homeless families, in lieu of permanent accommodation, was now an attractive prospect. “It is my experience that people are often reluctant to leave temporary accommodation these days,” he opined. “Particularly if it is for the kind of permanent housing high up in a council block.”

Unfortunately, Sir George left the LSE saying he had no time to answer any questions, although there were plenty of them brewing among the audience.