Government hoping to introduce laws that could address poverty, homelessness and mental health

The King’s Speech is where a government announces laws it hopes to introduce. Several laws that were announced this week could help to address the causes and effects of poverty, homelessness and mental health issues.

Of course, there’s a lot of work to do and we hope the new government is up to the challenge.

Workers’ rights

The Employment Rights Bill and Race Equality Bill will ensure a better deal for workers and finally bring an end to the exploitative use of zero-hour contracts.

Child poverty

The Children’s Wellbeing Bill contains measures that could prevent children from going hungry, such as free breakfast clubs in every primary school.

However, there was no mention of scrapping the two-child benefit cap (meaning that parents only receive support for up to two children through Universal Credit). The cap currently affects 1.6 million children a year and has no place in a compassionate society. Porchlight and many other organisations are calling on the government to end it.

Renters’ rights

The reintroduction of the Renter’s Reform Bill will bring renewed hope to people who rent their homes. The bill aims to end no-fault evictions, which are a leading cause of homelessness. It will also ensure rental homes are warm and safe – sadly not something that all renters currently experience.

We hope the government presses ahead with this as quickly as possible.

Housing

Ending homelessness cannot be delivered without adequate housing – something that successive governments have failed to deliver.

New legislation to deliver a “housebuilding revolution” is very welcome and long overdue. We’re now eager to see details of how this will allow the government to deliver social housing the country so desperately needs.

Homelessness

People who are homeless should not be treated as criminals. They need support, not punishment.

Therefore, we’re urging this government to follow through on the last government’s commitment to scrap the Vagrancy Act which criminalises homelessness.

Despite discussions about scrapping this outdated law, the last government never did so. In fact, it sought to replace it with punitive laws via the Criminal Justice Bill. We must ensure that measures targeting people who are homeless aren’t included in the new Crime and Policing Bill.

Mental health

We welcome a commitment to change the outdated Mental Health Act - law that says when you can be detained (or sectioned) and receive mental health treatment against your will.

It’s also promising to hear that offenders with serious mental health problems will be given support to access the care they need. This will not only benefit them, but will also make communities safer.

We know, though, that a functioning health system cannot exist without urgent reforms to adult social care. We’re glad the government is planning a cross-party review on options for doing this but remind them this has to be an urgent priority.

What next?

Ultimately, it’s a very difficult time for many people.

Porchlight and similar organisations are doing what we can to help, but we need the government to press forward with these measures – and address the issues we’ve raised – to give people hope again.

We’ll do everything we can to ensure this happens.