Craig David has returned to his childhood council house to push for social housing, which he said “heartbreakingly” many kids do not have access to.
The singer lived on the Holyrood Estate near Southampton city centre from the age of one until his music career took off in his early 20s.
He has made a film for Shelter’s campaign, going back to the estate with his mother Tina.
David, 43, said: “Growing up in a social home meant everything to me. It wasn’t just a place to live – it was a space where I felt secure, supported and able to be myself. The sense of community was so strong too – we looked out for each other and that made all the difference.
“I remember how, in that very home, I could sit down, play my melodies and dream. That home was where I wrote some of the most important songs of my life – songs that went on to shape my career and touch so many people’s hearts.
“Going back with Shelter to visit my old home, and still feeling that same energy, reminded me just how powerful the foundation of a stable, loving home can be. I’m proud to support Shelter’s campaign, because it’s heartbreaking to think so many children today don’t have that same chance.
“Every child deserves the security, support and sense of belonging I was lucky enough to grow up with – and that means investing in social housing.”
While living in the area, he came up with songs for his 2000 debut album, Born to Do It, which included the hits 7 Days, Walking Away and Fill Me In.
The chart-topping album became the fastest-selling debut by a British male solo act at the time, making David the face of the UK garage genre.
The Shelter film follows David meeting the family who now live in his former home, as well as speaking about his childhood and his early career.
Mairi MacRae, director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, said the housing and homelessness charity is grateful to David for showing “how powerful and life-changing a social home can be – providing the solid foundation for a successful career and future”.
She added: “That’s a world away from what growing numbers of homeless children are facing today – living in temporary accommodation where instability looms over them, never knowing if they’ll be forced to move again, leaving their schools and communities behind.
“The Government must use the June spending review to commit to invest in 90,000 social homes a year for 10 years.”
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She said “decades of underinvestment in social house building has left us with a chronic shortage, pushing more and more families into expensive, unstable private rentals or overcrowded, often grim temporary accommodation”.
David, who was born to an Afro-Grenadian father and Jewish mother, previously recalled how he was bullied at school and how this informed his music, including the 2005 song Johnny.
His father played bass in a reggae band called the Ebony Rockers and, as a teenager, David would accompany him to local clubs where DJs would let him take the microphone.
He found mainstream success singing on Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta) by garage duo Artful Dodger, which reached number two in the charts in 1999.
The pair later helped him write and record his debut record including the tracks Fill Me In and 7 Days.
After his later records failed to reach the same heights, his comeback album Following My Intuition returned him to number one in 2016.
He has performed on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage and at the late Queen’s Platinum Party at the Palace.
David has had high-profile collaborations with artists including Bastille and AJ Tracey, and was made an MBE for services to music in 2021.
Office for National Statistics figures from last September showed that the number of households with children in temporary accommodation had increased to 80,530, up more than 15% on the previous period.
Between 2014/15 and 2023/24, the number of families waiting for a house with three or more bedrooms increased by 36.6%, according to the National Housing Federation, Crisis and Shelter.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said the Government is “taking urgent action to fix the broken system we inherited”.
They said ministers are doing this “through our Plan for Change, injecting £2 billion to help deliver the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, investing in homelessness services, and bringing forward overdue reforms to the Right to Buy scheme that will protect the stock of existing social housing”.
In March, the Government said the funding would mean 18,000 additional new social and affordable homes.