On Wednesday 10 March, Stephen led a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament on household overcrowding and the coronavirus pandemic.
East Ham has the highest percentage of overcrowding of any constituency in the country, with 27% of residents reporting living in overcrowded conditions in the 2011 census.
In the debate, Stephen set out the impact of overcrowding on mental and physical wellbeing. Individuals living in overcrowded conditions are more likely to experience mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, and Covid 19 pandemic has only highlighted and exacerbated these problems.
Stephen also highlighted the disproportionate impact and challenges which faced ethnic minority communities in housing. For instance, 34% of all Bangladeshi households are overcrowded. The figure for Pakistani households is 18% and Black African 16%, compared with 2% for White British households. Stephen urged the Government to ‘tackle overcrowding to address the racial inequalities in public health’.
Stephen highlighted that the long term failure to build sufficient homes to keep up with rising demand is the main catalyst for the housing crisis. He questioned Housing Minister Eddie Hughes whether there is a ‘prospect of new investment in social housing on the scale that we need ’.
The full transcript from the debate can be read here.