House Proud is a campaign about making the case for housing.

A joint initiative from Inside Housing and the Chartered Institute of Housing, its aim is to shout about housing’s crucial contribution to every aspect of social policy; to provide the stats, stories and case studies which prove beyond doubt that successful lives are found on decent housing; and to present data which persuade whoever wins the keys to Number 10 later this year that cutting the housing budget is a foolhardy move certain to increase pressure on the vote-winning budgets they seek to preserve.

The campaign aims

So how will House Proud work? It has three aims.

• First we want 250 backers signed up to a House Proud petition, to be delivered to the new government.
• Second, we want each of the three main political parties to include a housing pledge in their election manifestos. (We need your suggestions for this – see: how to get involved).
• Finally, we want to get the sector fighting housing’s corner as the election approaches. Make housing a key election issue at every opportunity, and encourage staff, residents, friends and family to do the same.

How to get involved

For House Proud to succeed in ensuring the sector gets its rightful slice of the pie under the new government, it needs your support. We’d like you to:

• Sign our petition in support of the three aims of the campaign
• Suggest a housing pledge for the parties’ election manifestos by emailing houseproud@insidehousing.co.uk
• Pledge to drop House Proud statistics into as many conversations as possible
• Ask prospective MPs what they’re doing about housing and persuade them to sign the House Proud petition.
• Send us your stories, videos, blogs and statistics about how housing has proved its worth in your area.

We need you to shout the virtues of housing from every rooftop. In short, you need to be so House Proud you can’t help telling everyone about it. It has never been more crucial to ensure that whoever wins the forthcoming election knows just how valuable housing is to the nation’s health and prosperity. Think of it as the sector’s very own billboard. Make the case for housing. Be House Proud.