BBC Radio 4 2016-07-15

When the Cameron family walked out of Downing Street for the last time on Wednesday, I detected the odd tear from the children. That’s hardly surprising; this was the place they’d called home for most of their young lives. It was a reminder of how important it is to live somewhere safe and secure, that helps people bond as a family.

For many people in this country, particularly in the most populated region of London and the South East, housing is not about security and family. High house prices benefit those of us who own a home or have a mortgage by making more money than people can hope to save from their pay. But even though prices are finally starting to stall, an Institute of Fiscal Studies report this week showed prices are still so high in the south that even people in the professions can’t afford to buy and are often raising their children in cramped, privately rented accommodation. Shelter says some people put off having a family at all because of this cost, while property website Rightmove says government efforts to help people buy family homes haven’t worked so far.

But the struggle to find a home isn’t new. Throughout history the need for shelter has been one of humanity’s perennial priorities. The Bible confirms mankind’s hierarchy of needs through both its narratives and its metaphors. Its books are the story of a desert people and are filled with references to the need for water, for food, for good health, for the avoidance of war and hoping for peace. Their surroundings matter to them too: they fear storms at sea but they look up to the mountains as places of wonder. And they need shelter as well, as the account of Joseph and Mary looking for a place to stay and having to bed down in a stable reminds us. Jesus assures his disciples that in his father’s house there are many dwelling spaces, a metaphor based on how important somewhere to live is to people.

All these issues remain as important today, proven by the Cabinet ministers who run them – health, food and the environment, law and order at home, defence. Except for one – for years housing has not had a Cabinet minister focused solely on this vital need. But Theresa May, the new Prime Minister, has stated that housing must be a priority. Perhaps as a vicar’s daughter, she heard Scripture readings at Sunday after Sunday service reflecting how important shelter is, and maybe that yearning struck her. A stable, affordable home, not a get-rich-quick property, is what so many people need. Or as the Book of Proverbs puts it: a crust of bread in a house of love.