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No Floor No More is a community interest company that provides second-hand carpets to social housing tenants who would otherwise have to make do with bare floors. Founder Pia Honey, 55, estimates that she’s provided flooring to about 1,400 properties and is campaigning for social housing to come with flooring as standard.
A recent survey suggests three quarters of new social housing tenancies come with no, or only partial, flooring coverings. The quality of social housing – including the provision of flooring – can have a huge impact on tenants’ lives, says Aileen Edmunds, chief executive of Longleigh Foundation, which supports social housing tenants. “We hear some really shocking stories,” she says, “For example, people are more likely to return to the perpetrators of domestic abuse if where they’ve been rehoused doesn’t feel like a home. We’ve heard of children being embarrassed to bring their friends round to play.”
Pia has collected carpets from conference centres, retailers and even film sets. She passes on the carpets at dramatically knocked-down prices, with the money going back into No Floor No More to cover some of the costs. Her local council, St Albans City and District Council, said: “Tenants are asked to remove all flooring such as carpets before the property is handed back”. It said that the flooring may be in a poor condition or that pets may have posed a risk of flea infestations.
Other campaigners want the rest of the UK to follow suit. “If, as a landlord, you can’t afford to put flooring in as standard practice, please just stop ripping perfectly decent flooring out,” says Aileen, the chief executive of Longleigh Foundation. “Give the next tenant a choice”. In Wales, there has been change at a national level following a campaign from the tenant engagement group TPAS Cymru. From April 2024, all social landlords in Wales must provide “suitable and quality flooring throughout the whole of the home” in all new social housing lettings
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