The Sunday Times launched its ‘Safe Homes for All’ campaign to help those trapped in Britain’s hidden housing scandal in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster. The news brand reported that 700,000 people were still trapped in flats wrapped in many kinds of flammable materials, but up to 3.6 million face waiting for up to a decade to sell their flat or get a new mortgage. It stressed that millions more are stuck simply because they cannot prove their flats are safe.
In July 2021, the campaign enjoyed its first victory, with flat owners finally able to speak up about cladding issues. After being highlighted by The Sunday Times, the government said the issue had been “misreported”, before changing the wording of contracts that prevented leaseholders from speaking out about the issues they were facing.
These properties should never have been built. And why should leaseholders trapped in dangerous homes that they bought in good faith with hard-earned savings pay for them to be made safe?
The Sunday Times’ editorial on launching the campaign.
Adequate housing was recognised as part of the right to a decent standard of living in the United Nation’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So will you back a new Sunday Times campaign to end our hidden housing scandal?”
