It’s so easy to forget.

It’s a while since I’ve been out and about door-knocking on private renters, but I had an opportunity recently, when accompanying our Energy and Environment Co-ordinator, Nicola McMullen.

The purpose was to contact renters living in properties that are energy rated below E (that is, very energy inefficient and very hard and expensive to heat). This has been one of our priorities for several years, and is obviously more important than ever now.

We used Government data to identify addresses and experience showed that in some cases this was out of date.

But many of the addresses took us to the worst properties in every respect.  They are frequently hidden away in those dingy alleyways that run behind our local shops.  The alleys access both the flats over the shops and showrooms, and also ground floor structures that were build for storage and never intended to house people.  Neglect was everywhere, from peeling paint, door numbers daubed on rotting front doors, steep steps with no handrails and very obvious fire risks. Where we got an answer to our knock, the residents were invariably vulnerable, from several elderly and/or disabled people, those with health problems and others caring for young children.

Anyone seeing photos of these dwellings would guess they were taken in one of the poorest countries in the world – certainly not one of the richest.

Although I have visited many such places in the past, I have spent more time recently, campaigning against the injustice faced by homeless families who are forced to spend decades in unsuitable, sometimes overcrowded and invariably badly managed temporary accommodation. 

Both are, of course, appalling illustrations of the worst housing crisis this country has ever seen. The housing crisis is frequently talked about, but we all need a reminder of exactly what we mean by it, and why we have to use every means to persuade the Government and other stakeholders to take responsibility for the millions of lives being ruined and act decisively to end the crisis.