Children born in the richest countries live 1.6x longer…
…spend 5.7x longer at school….
…and earn 172x more than children in poor countries
In the UK, the richest 10% of households hold 44% of all household wealth
In the UK’s poorest neighbourhoods, 33% of the population are income-deprived
People in richer areas live longer, healthier lives
Bridges invests in solutions that improve access to quality goods, services and opportunities
Access to good housing is fundamental to well-being: it can drive better outcomes in a range of areas, from health, to education, to employment. However, we have not been building enough new homes to house our growing population – creating a chronic shortage of decent and affordable housing in many areas of the country. Developing new housing and improving existing homes can help to address this challenge.
Communities that have suffered from chronic underinvestment can end up with a surfeit of derelict land or disused property, which can aggravate social, economic and environmental problems. Bringing these sites back into economic use, for instance by transforming them into industrial buildings or SME workspaces, can help to create jobs, improve the environment and revitalise the local economy.
More than 10% of all households in the UK live in fuel poverty; that’s more than 2.5m homes forced to make unacceptable choices between ‘heating or eating’. A key issue is that much of our existing building stock is not energy-efficient. By making these buildings more efficient, we can substantially reduce bills and cut fuel poverty, while also helping to achieve the UK’s ambitious emissions target.