Mary Creagh MP brings together housing and charity leaders to tackle furniture poverty in Coventry
Mary Creagh MP with representatives from End Furniture Poverty, Citizen Housing, Orbit Group, Midland Heart, Clarion Group, Coventry City Council, and the Cabinet Member for Housing.
Coventry East MP Mary Creagh convened a landmark roundtable today, bringing together the city's leading social housing providers, furniture charities and Coventry City Council to discuss ways to tackle furniture poverty in Coventry.
Furniture poverty — where families cannot afford household essentials such as beds, tables, or fridges — affects an estimated 33,000 people in the city. Coventry's child poverty rate stands at 27%, higher than the national average.
The roundtable heard directly from national charity End Furniture Poverty, who presented new research on the scale of the problem locally and highlighted practical solutions already working elsewhere in the country. Representatives from Coventry City Council, Citizen Housing, Orbit Group, Midland Heart and Clarion Housing Group, along with the Cabinet Member for Housing, set out the support they currently provide to new tenants and discussed opportunities to go further.
Attendees agreed to work towards a shared approach to furnishing new tenancies for people moving on from crisis, homelessness or domestic abuse, so that no one in Coventry has to start again in an empty home. Organisations committed to continuing the conversation and developing practical next steps in the coming months.
Mary Creagh, MP for Coventry East, said:
"No one should have to sleep on a bare floor or eat standing up because they can't afford a bed or a table. Today, I brought together the people who can actually fix this — our housing associations, furniture charities and the council. I'm proud of our shared commitment to make sure Coventry families moving into a new home get the basics they need to live with dignity.
"This is just the start. I'll keep pushing until every family in Coventry has somewhere safe, warm and properly furnished to call home."
Andrew Waters, End Furniture Poverty, said:
"Furniture poverty is often invisible, but its impact on children's education and family stability is anything but. What we're seeing in Coventry mirrors a national crisis, but today's roundtable showed real appetite to do something about it locally."
Cllr Naeem Akhtar, Cabinet Member for Housing, Coventry City Council, said:
"This is about dignity as much as it is about furniture. I'm pleased the council could help convene this work, and I look forward to seeing it translate into real change for Coventry residents."
Kevin Rodgers, Chief Executive, Citizen Housing, said:
"As Coventry's largest landlord, we have both the responsibility and the reach to make a real difference. Supporting our customers isn't an add-on for us — it's central to what we do. We contact people as they start their tenancy to understand their needs, and we work closely with partners to help them access the right support and funding. Our new hardship fund is already helping our customers secure the essentials that turn a house into a home. We know how important those foundations are, and we'll continue to play our part."
Catrinel Stanila, Chief People Officer, Orbit Group, said:
"Our Better Days programme already shows what's possible when housing support goes beyond bricks and mortar. We're keen to build on that work through this partnership."
Sue Lamb, Operations Manager, Midland Heart, said:
"Preventing homelessness doesn't stop at handing over the keys. We want to make sure every tenant has what they need to actually make a house a home."
Nicola Carr, Regional Housing Lead, Clarion Housing Group, said:
"Coventry's approach could offer a genuinely scalable model. We're glad to bring our national experience to a local initiative with this much momentum behind it."