We have recently started a Substack called Biggest Issue. For our latest, I asked councils with the most households in temporary accommodation how they spent their homelessness prevention funding. It offers an insight Burnham’s push for prevention. Give it a read: substack.com/@bigissueuk?...

Big Issue Editors | Substack

Biggest Issue is your way to go deeper into Big Issue’s leading reporting, campaigning and direct impact on communities up and down the UK.

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Wow! Never thought I'd see a new prime minister make a declaration to end rough sleeping their first action in No 10. Big from Burnham

Good to finally see the back of the Vagrancy Act after a long wait. It's a small step in addressing homelessness but, as a society, we should be moving beyond ancient laws speaking of rogues, vagabonds and waggons.

Big Issue@bigissue.com · last mo.

Rough sleeping will no longer see people fined or given a criminal record for being homeless as the Vagrancy Act is scrapped after 200 years.

I've been writing about rent reforms for years. I was starting to think I'd never see them arrive. Fun fact: Notre-Dame cathedral burned down the same day a no-fault eviction ban was promised. It's been rebuilt and has been open for virtually 18 months in the time rent reforms have taken.

Big Issue@bigissue.com · 3mo ago

The Renters' Rights Act is now in force in England, banning no-fault evictions and giving renters greater protection from homelessness.

This week’s Big Issue is out today! Inside: 🌍 Earth day special 🌷 Gardening and the housing crisis 🔋 Lithium in Cornwall Read a sneak preview below, and buy a copy from your local vendor 🗞️ www.bigissue.com/behind-the...

1hr 37m🏃raised almost £800 for charity 💷 good Sunday www.justgiving.com/page/liam-ge...

EXCLUSIVE: An investigation into SWEP shows it is still largely being used for cold weather and the use of 'sit-ups' where rough sleepers are offered chairs not beds Thanks to @ourmoh.bsky.social's Matt and @jessicaturtle.bsky.social for collaborating on this www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Homeless people offered chair for the night during extreme weather

Councils are giving homeless people chairs instead of beds during extreme weather, the Museum of Homelessness has found.

bigissue.com

Still no sign of things turning around on street homelessness. 4,793 people counted on a single night last August is a new record. It's also, sadly, likely to be an underestimate. Full story: www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Rough sleeping hits new high in England amid homeless kids fears

Rough sleeping in England has hit a record high as Labour's homelessness minister writes to councils over children on the streets.

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Big Issue@bigissue.com · 5mo ago

🚨 BREAKING: Rough sleeping in England hits its highest level since records began. Reacting to today’s figures, John Bird urges Westminster to focus on prevention, from tackling the root causes of poverty to bringing 300,000 empty homes back into use. Read more: www.bigissue.com/news/housi...

"Are you Heathcliffing Cornwall?" may be one of my favourite quotes ever to use in an article www.bigissue.com/culture/film...

Wuthering Heights: Heathcliff is just a really terrible landlord

The new Wuthering Heights adaptation is in cinemas. Will the new film portray Heathcliff as a hearthrob or the cruel landlord of the novel?

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I'm running Liverpool Half Marathon on March 15th for a very important cause. Any support welcome. www.justgiving.com/page/liam-ge...

Liam's half marathon for Clatterbridge Cancer Charity

Help Liam Geraghty raise money to support Clatterbridge Cancer Charity

justgiving.com

Important piece by @lgeraghty23.bsky.social for @bigissue.com. Whilst there was much to welcome in the long-awaited homelessness strategy, a national roll out of Housing First should have been a central component. www.bigissue.com/news/housing/housing-first-homelessness-strategy-labour/

Labour’s failure to commit to Housing First 'risks thousands losing their home'

Housing First does not pay a central part in Labour's homelessnes strategy despite calls for a national rollout from campaigners.

bigissue.com

I grew up only a few miles from Heywood. I visited recently to try and understand why people are taking it upon themselves to "police their own streets". Here's what I found www.bigissue.com/news/activis...

Meet the head of a Manchester group patrolling schools looking for 'outsiders'

The Heywood Community Guards, which patrols schools looking for 'outsiders', is raising difficult questions around vigilante justice.

bigissue.com

🚨EXC: Starmer promised to house all veterans in need. But scheme which has got 1k vets off street is in doubt 👉Veterans orgs tell me future cash is uncertain 👉Orgs warn they'd have to shut housing without funding 👉 One org listed by gov as taking referrals never got cash

Hundreds of veterans face homelessness as future of support scheme uncertain

Keir Starmer promised millions towards supporting veterans under threat of homelessness. Big Issue looks at how those promises worked out.

bigissue.com

Liquid drips through the walls. Black mould creeps around the windows towards my bed. I hear screaming from downstairs. Rodents sneak out of the floorboards. A strange man lets himself into my home unasked. Is this a haunted house or my first London flat? Find out: www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Haunted houses are a classic horror trope – but are they scarier than landlords?

Haunted houses have appeared in Gothic literature and horror films for centuries. We look into how the trope has changed in the modern day.

bigissue.com

Awaab's Law will change how damp and mould is treated. Big Issue joined @kwajo.bsky.social to visit a family who've faced the issue for 10 years. Read more: www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

My favourite stat about rent reforms is that Theresa May promised to ban no-fault evictions on the same day Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire. The cathedral has been rebuilt and reopened for almost a year www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Labour's landmark rental reforms receive royal assent and finally become law

The Renters' Rights Bill has become the Renters' Rights Act as the king gives it royal assent to finally scrap no-fault evictions.

bigissue.com

It was a privilege to interview Awaab Ishak's father Faisal Abdullah last week ahead of Awaab's Law coming into force today. Faisal and his family were horribly failed but their tireless campaigning will hopefully save many lives www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Dad of boy who died due to mould in flat says he's 'proud' of his son

Awaab Ishak's father has spoken of his pride at the legacy Awaab's Law will bring as it promises to fix damp and mould in social housing.

bigissue.com

I recently had the privilege of visiting Finland to find out just why the Finns are so happy. We distilled everything I learned down into this special edition Big Issue magazine. From homelessness and Housing First; security to sauna, there's plenty to learn. www.bigissueshop.com/product/issu...

In 2014, Hackney Council sold a property under Right to Buy for £95,050 In 2021, they bought it back off the ex-tenant for £365k In ~6 yrs, the council lost £269,950 on a single property It's not an isolated example. @bigissue.com has uncovered 100+ 'Yo-yo Homes' www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

How ex-council tenants make over £200k selling homes back to councils

Big Issue investigates the Right To Buy properties sold back to councils for massive profits, just years after being bought at a discount.

bigissue.com

With this week marking what would have been Thatcher's 100th, I asked the local council in Grantham why they were holding ThatcherFest in her memory. Fair play, the answer made me laugh: www.bigissue.com/culture/marg...

Asylum protests vs the local park run. @lgeraghty23.bsky.social runs the numbers for the Big Issue www.bigissue.com/news/social-...

Revealed: Asylum hotel protests dwarfed by runners going to Parkrun

Protesters outside asylum hotels over the bank holiday weekend were vastly outnumbered by Parkrun runners, Big Issue analysis found.

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Of all the things related to immigration I have been asked to comment on, this by @lgeraghty23.bsky.social for the @bigissue.com was a strange, but fun, one. How is this even a debate? Of course Superman is an immigrant. He is the very definition of one. www.bigissue.com/culture/film...

Superman has always been an immigrant

The new Superman film has caused controversy after James Gunn called it the story of ‘an immigrant’. The character has always been this way.

bigissue.com

Big Issue is coming to Cardiff – and we want to hear from YOU! 🗓 12–14 May 📍 PWSH Centre, Queen St 🕙 10am–5pm Our journalists are in town to listen, report & connect. Got a story? Drop in and chat to us; no appointments necessary. Let’s shape the news together. Cardiff, we’re all ears. 👂

How did we get from reducing rough sleeping to virtually zero at the start of the Covid lockdown to the record-breaking numbers on the streets today? I analysed the Everyone In scheme's mixed legacy, five years on buff.ly/GtgJI3J

Big Issue@bigissue.com · last yr.

In the five years since Covid saw thousands of people taken off the streets, rough sleeping has soared. Was the Everyone In scheme a success or one of the greatest missed opportunities of the last decade? Read more. ⬇️ buff.ly/GtgJI3J

Excellent piece in the @bigissue.com by @lgeraghty23.bsky.social on the conclusions of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the UK. The article begins with social security, and goes on to cover a range of recommendations on housing, wages, work, poverty reduction & measurement

🚨 LATEST FIGURES: 📊 The number of people rough sleeping in England has skyrocketed by 20% in just a year. An estimated 4,667 people were homeless on the streets on a single night in autumn 2024. 📈 The rise is the third consecutive year in which rough sleeping has increased. bit.ly/4kkuz0y

Inside Ukraine's fight against homelessness after three years of bloody war: 'Peace is hard to imagine'

Inside Ukraine's fight against homelessness after three years of bloody war

Depaul Ukraine is fighting homelessness in the war-torn country. CEO Anka Skoryk shares how the charity is looking beyond the end of the war.

bit.ly

Surge in renters losing their homes due to no-fault evictions ahead of ban: 'This is frightening'

Surge in renters losing their homes due to no-fault evictions ahead of ban

More than 11,000 households lost their home to a section 21 'no-fault' eviction in 2024, government statistics show.

bit.ly

Academics and campaigners have claimed a new basic income pilot in Greater Manchester could “end absolute poverty” in the city region, starting with people experiencing homelessness – if it gets the green light from mayor Andy Burnham. 🚦 Find out more. ⬇️ https://bit.ly/3EwrI4q

Finland has been held up as an international example to follow in tackling homelessness but the Scandinavian country has just reported its first rising numbers in 11 years. 📈 @lgeraghty23.bsky.social reports. ⬇️ www.bigissue.com/news/housing...