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Here is the dream, if you can afford it: gleaming apartments, close to Liverpool’s waterfront, complete with penthouse swimming pools and luxurious rooftop gardens. They are mostly bought by overseas investors who then rent them to local professionals. Yet just ten minutes’ walk away, a very different spectacle unfolds, where a charity hands out food to queues of people every Monday night, with the reported need having doubled since last year.

According to the housing charity Shelter, in the 12 months leading up to March 2025, Liverpool city council received 2,048 applications for homelessness support, a 25% increase on the previous year. The most recent data shows 12,764 households on the city’s social housing waiting list. But one figure is particularly shocking: the city’s “additional social rent dwellings” in 2023-24 totalled – and read this slowly – five.
In the last year alone, private rents across the city have gone up by an average of 9.6%. While I was in Liverpool, I met a single mum called Helen, who works for the local ambulance service. Up to now, she has rented the house she shares with her 15-year-old son – which has damp walls, ceilings covered in mould and an upstairs window that won’t shut – for £600 a month. But her landlord recently hit her with a no-fault eviction notice – because, she suspects, he is set on charging a new tenant the £1,400 monthly rent he now gets for similar properties, which are presumably in a much better state.
None of these are specifically Liverpudlian problems: they form one particularly vivid element of a national story split between an ever-growing crisis, and housing policy that is still nowhere near to convincingly dealing with it. On the upside, the renters rights bill – which offers people such as Helen a range of new protections – is about to receive royal assent. Ministers say their £39bn social and affordable housing plan will deliver at least 180,000 homes for social rent by 2036. But spending on that policy has been backloaded to the end of the current parliament – and besides, the target amounts to only 18,000 a year.

Faced with the inadequacy of national solutions, grassroots efforts in Liverpool are taking action. This is the focus of a brilliantly energised new campaign called Help – House Everyone in Liverpool Properly. It keeps its collective eye on the city’s gleaming new developments, and also wants to steer the local conversation about housing away from blaming outsiders: the city’s crisis, they say, should bring people together rather than pulling them apart.

1.1. What is presented as a sharp contrast to the luxurious apartments?

A Long waiting lists for housing.

B Local professionals struggling to rent.

C A scene of people seeking food aid.

D Investments from foreign countries.

解析：选C。1. C 细节理解题。第一段中，与豪华公寓形成鲜明对比的是“慈善机构为排队人群分发食物”的场景。A和B选项是后文才出现的其他问题，D选项则是豪华公寓本身的情况，而非对比物。故选C。

2.2. What does the figure “five” (Paragraph 2) imply about the city council?

A Its high construction efficiency.

B Its lack of substantial action.

C Its priority for homeless applications.

D Its successful housing policy.

解析：选B。2. B 推理判断题。在无家可归申请激增的背景下，全年仅新增5套社会租赁房，这一惊人数字暗示了政府在解决核心问题上的行动严重不足。A和D与事实相反，C在段落中未直接说明。故选B。

3.3. Why did Helen’s landlord most likely issue the eviction notice?

A To maximize rental income.

B Due to property damage.

C For personal use of the property.

D Because of tenant complaints.

解析：选A。3. A 推理判断题。文中提到房东可能想将租金从600英镑提高到1400英镑，由此可推断其动机是追求更高的租金收益。B中的“财产损坏”是房屋现状而非原因，C和D在文中没有依据。故选A。

4.4. What can be inferred about the national housing plan from Paragraph 4?

A It is a timely and adequate solution.

B Its actual effect may be limited.

C It will immediately solve the crisis.

D It focuses on the wrong priorities.

解析：选B。4. B 推理判断题。原文提到计划有“积极面”，但通过“but”转折强调资金滞后、年度目标过低，由此可推断作者认为其实际效果有限。A和C与作者隐含的怀疑态度相反，D中的“错误优先项”在文中没有依据。故选B。

5.5. Which title best summarizes the main idea of the passage?

A Progress in Solving Homelessness

B The Help Campaign’s Local Strategy

C Housing Crisis and Its Social Impacts

D Solutions to Private Rent Increases

解析：选C。5. C 主旨大意题。文章全面分析了住房危机在社会多个层面的影响。A未提及；B是局部解决方案；D仅涉及问题的一个方面。故选C。