Hastings Housing Alliance was launched last December.

Housing survey to help address Hastings housing crisis

Sharon Rhodes asks us all to fill in the HHA housing survey as a first step towards getting affordable housing back on the streets of Hastings.

Housing is not a new issue for discussion in Hastings. There has been exhaustive debate within the town regarding the issue of housing, rental prices, Airbnb, DFLs etc. for the past few years so I don’t plan to start at the beginning here – we are all aware of the struggles, and they are real.

But what is anyone actually doing about it?

Illustration by Sarah Gomes Harris

It is often a lot easier to point out the issues than to come up with solutions and make those happen. However, there are already a number of passionate and motivated groups hard at work around the town reimagining how housing can be delivered in a more affordable, secure and community-focused manner.

Across Hastings Rental Health, Housing Rebellion, Acorn, HOWCH, Maslow Collective and many others there is a wealth of grass-roots start-ups actively looking at new ways to improve living conditions and security of housing in the town.

Nevertheless, despite the wealth of initiatives it remains challenging for individual groups to raise awareness and tackle the housing issues that our government and developers have failed to solve. Following a housing conference that I helped to organise last December, the Hastings Housing Alliance (HHA) was established.

Aims

The aims of the Alliance are to support community-led solutions to the local housing crisis by bringing together individuals, community organisations and other partners in Hastings and St Leonards to create a stronger voice and promote collaborative projects.

The Alliance will be an umbrella group for people who are passionate about good quality, affordable homes in the town. We want to celebrate and promote all the fantastic schemes already underway and work together to get funding and support to make these a reality. In addition, we are keen as HHA to develop and deliver our own projects, leveraging the wealth of knowledge and commitment of all the partners.

But what should we as HHA be focusing on? And what issues are the most pressing in the local area? These are key questions and is why our first Housing Alliance project is a local consultation to find out more about people’s experience of housing locally – the good, the bad, the challenges, the struggles. We also want to get feedback on some of the ideas we have had as to future campaigns and projects.

This feedback is not just for us though. Hastings Council recently announced that they are keen to put in place a new housing strategy. We want to make sure that this plan actually addresses the top issues faced locally and this consultation will ensure that we can hold the Council accountable for prioritising things that are most critical to the community.

So what can YOU do to help?

Firstly, please fill in our online survey by following this link. It will take no more than 10 minutes and the more responses we can get, the stronger voice we will have to make real change happen. It will take you less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea – and your experiences and opinions matter!

Secondly, if you want to find out more, or want to get involved please feel get in contact with us via hastingshousingalliance@gmail.com.

And please follow us, share and comment on our social media channels:
Instagram – hha.hastings
Twitter – HHAhastings
Facebook: Hastings Housing Alliance

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