There are 1.2m people living without flooring in the UK and over 66% of them live in social housing.
Living without flooring is uncomfortable, and it can be dangerous for elderly people or those with disabilities because they are much more likely to hurt themselves if they fall. It makes life very difficult for families with young children if the home has concrete floors or dirty floorboards. The lack of flooring can create noise issues in flats and increase anti-social behaviour complaints and damage neighbourly relations. And it can mean homes feel and are colder without adequate flooring.
Many social landlords also rip out flooring when tenants move out, no matter what the quality, so the incoming tenant faces concrete floors, and even exposed grippers and nails.
“It is cement downstairs and upstairs it’s wood and lots of nails sticking out. it’s a hazard, it’s really not ideal – I have a young child.” – Jill, on living without flooring.
It is so hard to obtain flooring when you are on a low income as it is expensive and very few grant makers or crisis schemes provide support with flooring. When you move into an empty property, flooring is often less of a priority than appliances or beds and it can never reach the top of the list. So families live without, live with cold concrete floors.
