This week Shelter Scotland is launching a social media campaign to ask people to tell us about what makes home happy for them.
The #myhappyhome campaign is to get you thinking – what DOES make your home happy – is it the objects? The people? The food? The memories? This will be different for everyone, but at the core of a happy home is the knowledge that you are safe and secure.
We know that having a home is important to everyone in Scotland.
Yet each year around 35,000 households in Scotland alone are homeless and there are a staggering 155,000 people on council house waiting lists, so many people are being denied that safe and secure environment. For people in bad housing and facing homelessness, the safety of home has been taken away.
At Shelter Scotland we help over half a million people a year struggling with bad housing or homelessness – and we campaign to prevent it in the first place. In the past year alone we have campaigned:
- to improve conditions in homeless temporary accommodation;
- to block a potentially discriminatory piece of housing legislation;
- to mitigate the impacts of the Bedroom Tax
- for improvements in private rented housing
- to encourage homeless and renting households to vote
Sometimes the very real needs of the clients we work with can be difficult for people who have never experienced the hardship of having no home and your safety being at risk, to relate to. This is why we want to challenge people to think why is ‘home’ so important – what does it mean to you and how would you feel if it was taken away?
So let us know what makes ‘home’ so special to you. If you are renting, own your own home, share with friends or live with your family – what makes home happy for you? If you are not happy in your home or are between homes – show us what you hope a happy home will be?
Why don’t you challenge your friends and family to do the same? All your pictures will be posted to our photo gallery on the website. The most popular images will made into a 2015 calendar later in the year to help us raise vital funds to continue our work.
Visit the campaign website to submit your photo and let us know what makes #myhappyhome.