Keir Starmer hardly had the opportunity to settle into 10 Downing Street. But time is already running out to know whether his government will be the first in generations to take into account the housing crisis.

Look up the word “crisis” in the dictionary and you will see “a period of intense difficulty or danger” or “a time when a difficult or important decision must be made.” Successive governments have failed to grasp the urgency or give accommodation the attention – or money – it needs to cope with a growing population. We all pay the price. Homeownership remains out of reach for many.

This Housing Big Issue supplement is not a comprehensive guide to solving the housing crisis. We would need several books for this. Rather, it is a series of useful suggestions, big ideas and alternative ways to get us out of this mess. But it’s also a symbol of hope – perhaps the most precious and scarce commodity in housing today – filled with examples of how we can do better and change the conversation about a crisis that has haunted us for decades.

What else is in this week’s Big Issue?

Simeon McAnoy was killed by nitazenes. Could his life have been saved?

When Jackie McAnoy found out what killed her son, Simeon, she had never heard of it. nitazenes. News of 33-year-old Siméon’s death was posted on Facebook, and while she pieced together what had happened, no one explained to her exactly what this new drug was. “I feel like he was treated like no one,” Jackie says. Big Issue investigated the human toll of nitazenes – powerful synthetic opioids that have been linked to 284 deaths across the country.

Blitz is the war film that says it all about British national identity as it is experienced today

Blitz reappropriates a familiar story with a fresh perspective and breaking the clichés. Director Sir Steve McQueen and star Saoirse Ronan tell the Big Issue how they did it.

Letter from Pauline Black to my younger self

Pauline Black studied biochemistry and worked for the NHS, but after touring with The Specials it was time to quit her day job.