When Pia Honey had her house extended in 2021, the builders planned to put her old flooring into a skip - much to her surprise. After all, it was in perfectly good condition. Instead, Pia listed the carpet on Facebook.
Three families each took a share. "All three were single parents living in social housing with no floor covering," Pia, 55, says. "Each one told me the council had removed the previous carpets before they moved in.
" It was this that ultimately led to the creation of her community interest company No Floor No More, which provides second-hand carpets to social housing tenants who would otherwise have to make do with bare floors. Pia, who lives in St Albans, says it's "disgusting" that council and housing association properties are routinely left with partial floor coverings. She estimates that she's provided flooring to about 1,400 properties, and is campaigning for social housing to come with flooring as standard.
A recent survey suggests three quarters of new social housing tenancies come with no, or only partial, flooring coverings. The quality of social housing - including the provision of flooring - can have a huge impact on tenants' lives, says Aileen Edmunds, chief executive of Longleigh Foundation, which supports social housing tenants. "We hear some really shocking stories," she says.
"For example, people are more likely to return to the perpetrators of domestic abuse if where they've been rehoused doesn't feel like a home. We've heard of children being .