SUMMARY OF RESEARCH
This paper, jointly produced by EndFurniturePoverty.Org and the Human City Institute, is a first step in EndFurniturePoverty.Org’s Furnishing Homes, Furnishing Lives campaign to promote furnished tenancies in the social housing sector. The paper seeks to provide a summary of what research tells us to date about the extent of furniture poverty as a largely hidden issue that affects millions of low-income households in the UK. Alongside, the paper provides an overview of what historical research reveals about furnished tenancies in the social housing sector.
At FRC Group, we are aware that furniture poverty has many faces. It can mean families living without adequate furniture and appliances. Or that families have gone into unmanageable debt to buy basic furniture or white goods. For some, the inability to buy furniture keeps them trapped in temporary accommodation. Others live with the stress of worrying about furniture poverty, fearing what would happen when an essential item like their fridge or cooker breaks and there is no money for replacements.
