Home represents security, safety and belonging. Having a home is about more than just having a roof over one’s head, it is also about meeting the need for what the sociologist Anthony Giddens called ‘ontological security’: being able to trust in the certainty and protection that home provides. When we fail to provide houses and neighbourhoods that are safe, that support good health, we betray that trust. Unfortunately, we have seen that happen again and again in recent years: in the 150,000 children in England living in temporary accommodation due to a lack of homes; in the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from a respiratory condition brought on by mould in his home; and in the deaths of seventy-two people in the fire at Grenfell Tower.
