Established 2005 Registered Charity No. 1110656

Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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Cathy come home

May 20 2009
Improve housing rights for people with children, says Housing Justice Housing Justice is calling on the government to improve housing rights for families with children and single parent families. This year sees the 40th anniversary of Shelter, which was set up by Father Eammon Casey as a direct result of the response to the drama Cathy Come Home (directed by Ken Loach). Father Casey, who was already the director of the 10-year-old Catholic Housing Aid Society (CHAS), co-founded Shelter when the drama led to public outrage and even reached the halls of Westminster. The impact of the drama, as well as the lobbying carried out by CHAS, played a key role in the introduction of the 1977 Housing Act, which for the first time gave housing rights to families with children and to single parents. However, Housing Justice has claimed the situation is still problematic for many families, who continue to face difficulty in finding permanent accommodation. Alison Gelder, chief executive of Housing Justice, said: "If this situation were repeated today, Cathy and her family would be re-housed by her local authority housing department, but might face months, or even years, in temporary accommodation." She added: "We are calling on the Government to build more socially rented homes so that Cathy and her family would not have to suffer in bad housing."
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