Dear Keir Starmer – no one should be sleeping on cardboard under bridges in a country this rich

Big Issue vendor Matthew Campbell has written a powerful letter to Keir Starmer in a bid to convince the prime minister to take action on the housing and poverty crises.

The London seller is one of 15 people living in poverty who penned an open letter to the PM ahead of this month’s budget and to mark Challenge Poverty Week this week.

Our man Matthew wrote about his experiences of homelessness and working for a decade in the construction industry as he let Starmer know his “frustration and anger at the state of housing in this country”.

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He said: “The moral of the story is that no one should be sleeping on cardboard under bridges in a country this rich. We must have better housing provision. Your government needs to make the system work for all of us, prime minister.”

The Dear Prime Minister letters have been coordinated by Let’s End Poverty, a coalition campaign convened by the Methodist Church in Britain with supporting organisations including Trussell, Church Action on Poverty, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and UNISON.

Hannah Fremont-Brown, Let’s End Poverty coordinator, said: “Listening to people who know what it’s like to live in poverty is not just the right thing to do, it’s the best way to create solutions that really work for the long term.”

Digital copies of the Dear Prime Minister letters are available at letsendpoverty.co.uk/dearpm. Read Matthew’s letter to Keir Starmer in full below. You can learn more about Matthew here.

Dear prime minister,

I’m writing this letter to you to show my frustration and anger at the state of housing in this
country. If your government is going to bring down poverty, ending the housing crisis must
be a priority.

When I moved to my place, I was lucky to get an assured social housing tenancy. But now the
system has changed, and thousands of people are stranded in temporary accommodation,
or being evicted from social housing because they can’t keep up with the rents. We need more
social housing so everyone who needs it can have a roof over their head and be self-sufficient.

As someone who has worked in the construction industry for over 10 years, I know how
quickly housing can go up if there is the will for it. But all we build is luxury flats, so when
people find themselves in need of housing, there’s nothing for them. Gentrification
is capitalising on poverty.

No one expects to end up homeless. A lot of homelessness happens through evictions, family
breakdowns, or drinking and drug dependencies, so it can be incredibly hard to get out once
you’re in it. Homelessness is a spiral into poverty, and when you’re in the centre, you can’t see
the way out.

Access to housing is the first thing you need to get back onto your feet. But I want to see social
housing go further than that, and create self-sufficient communities where people can live
and earn. I want to see jobs available on your doorstep, where you can do work that helps you
and your neighbours. Things like tending allotments and community gardens; providing
nurseries for children; caring for elderly residents; and doing maintenance in the building.

This work would allow you to secure your own future, contribute to the cost of living, and give
back to your community.

There also needs to be more education on health care to help people break the spiral of
poverty. We need people to better understand the dangers of smoking and drinking, make
support available to help them quit and deal with relapses, and provide access to mental
health services.

The moral of the story is that no one should be sleeping on cardboard under bridges in a
country this rich. We must have better housing provision. Your government needs to make
the system work for all of us, prime minister.

Big Issue is demanding an end to extreme poverty. Will you ask your MP to join us?

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