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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/22/the-guardian-view-on-rough-sleeping-no-room-at-the-inn
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| The Guardian view on rough sleeping: no room at the inn | The Guardian view on rough sleeping: no room at the inn |
| (25 days later) | |
| Fri 22 Dec 2017 18.03 GMT | |
| Last modified on Sat 23 Dec 2017 20.40 GMT | |
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| Next to war, homelessness is the most visible of policy failures. Each pinched face peering from a sleeping bag, each despairing plea for change, tells of a government seemingly too incompetent or uncaring to ensure that everyone who needs a safe, warm bed can find one. Thirty years ago, cardboard cities became the symbol of a failed Conservative government. It is true again now. And while the figure huddled in a doorway is always shaming, at Christmas he or she is a still more potent reminder of the cruel gap between the many who have and the few who have not. | Next to war, homelessness is the most visible of policy failures. Each pinched face peering from a sleeping bag, each despairing plea for change, tells of a government seemingly too incompetent or uncaring to ensure that everyone who needs a safe, warm bed can find one. Thirty years ago, cardboard cities became the symbol of a failed Conservative government. It is true again now. And while the figure huddled in a doorway is always shaming, at Christmas he or she is a still more potent reminder of the cruel gap between the many who have and the few who have not. |
| Generous Guardian and Observer readers have already given nearly £1m to our charity appeal, donating more than £60,000 a day. It will go to three charities that work across Britain with some of the most vulnerable homeless people. Depaul, No Accommodation Network and Centrepoint support young people and destitute asylum seekers, helping them to find temporary accommodation and the practical assistance needed to get their lives back on track. | Generous Guardian and Observer readers have already given nearly £1m to our charity appeal, donating more than £60,000 a day. It will go to three charities that work across Britain with some of the most vulnerable homeless people. Depaul, No Accommodation Network and Centrepoint support young people and destitute asylum seekers, helping them to find temporary accommodation and the practical assistance needed to get their lives back on track. |
| The number of people sleeping rough has, on the official count, more than doubled from just under 2,000 in 2010 to over 4,000 in 2016. Organisations supporting homeless people expect that number to be higher again this year. The latest estimates suggest there may be more than 8,000 people on the street every night, and perhaps as many in cars or the front rooms of friends or family. The number of people living in temporary accommodation has risen by 60%. Women who have been beaten up by their partners stay in the shared home because there is nowhere else to go: more than half the beds in refuges have been closed; supported housing for vulnerable people is threatened by funding changes that have been delayed but are not abandoned. | The number of people sleeping rough has, on the official count, more than doubled from just under 2,000 in 2010 to over 4,000 in 2016. Organisations supporting homeless people expect that number to be higher again this year. The latest estimates suggest there may be more than 8,000 people on the street every night, and perhaps as many in cars or the front rooms of friends or family. The number of people living in temporary accommodation has risen by 60%. Women who have been beaten up by their partners stay in the shared home because there is nowhere else to go: more than half the beds in refuges have been closed; supported housing for vulnerable people is threatened by funding changes that have been delayed but are not abandoned. |
| Earlier this week, MPs on the public accounts committee condemned the total failure of homelessness policy. They pointed to the lack of strategy, the failure to cooperate across departments, particularly over welfare reform, the lack of genuinely affordable homes and the chronic difficulty of finding suitable accommodation for people on low or insecure incomes. The government does not really understand all the factors that trigger homelessness. It lacks the most basic data. The Department for Communities and Local Government counts rough sleepers on just one night a year, and does not include those who are in a hostel. Yet as Whitehall officials sheepishly admitted, they have long known that homelessness is rising, and they know why: there are not enough homes. From 2010 to 2015, only half the number needed to keep pace with demand were built. Each case of homelessness embodies a unique set of circumstances, as our report on the death of Paul Williams, a rough sleeper in Birmingham, vividly illustrates. But there are also unmistakable, avoidable, structural failings in the government’s approach to housing. The most common cause of homelessness is the end of a private tenancy; the government promised during the election to extend the minimum length of these. So far nothing has happened. | Earlier this week, MPs on the public accounts committee condemned the total failure of homelessness policy. They pointed to the lack of strategy, the failure to cooperate across departments, particularly over welfare reform, the lack of genuinely affordable homes and the chronic difficulty of finding suitable accommodation for people on low or insecure incomes. The government does not really understand all the factors that trigger homelessness. It lacks the most basic data. The Department for Communities and Local Government counts rough sleepers on just one night a year, and does not include those who are in a hostel. Yet as Whitehall officials sheepishly admitted, they have long known that homelessness is rising, and they know why: there are not enough homes. From 2010 to 2015, only half the number needed to keep pace with demand were built. Each case of homelessness embodies a unique set of circumstances, as our report on the death of Paul Williams, a rough sleeper in Birmingham, vividly illustrates. But there are also unmistakable, avoidable, structural failings in the government’s approach to housing. The most common cause of homelessness is the end of a private tenancy; the government promised during the election to extend the minimum length of these. So far nothing has happened. |
| Instead, the housebuilders, some of whom are generous donors to the Tory cause, grow richer. Last weekend, the chair of the housebuilder Persimmon, Nicholas Wrigley, resigned after a row over bonus payments of £100m to the chief executive. It was based on his company’s dividends, inflated to unprecedented heights by George Osborne’s help-to-buy scheme, which has pumped £10bn into the housebuilding sector since its introduction in 2013. Giving first-time buyers access to more money has simply driven up the cost of new homes. Yet last month, Mr Osborne’s successor as chancellor, Philip Hammond, doubled down on the blunder. | Instead, the housebuilders, some of whom are generous donors to the Tory cause, grow richer. Last weekend, the chair of the housebuilder Persimmon, Nicholas Wrigley, resigned after a row over bonus payments of £100m to the chief executive. It was based on his company’s dividends, inflated to unprecedented heights by George Osborne’s help-to-buy scheme, which has pumped £10bn into the housebuilding sector since its introduction in 2013. Giving first-time buyers access to more money has simply driven up the cost of new homes. Yet last month, Mr Osborne’s successor as chancellor, Philip Hammond, doubled down on the blunder. |
| The vast bonuses of those profiting from inflated new house prices do not directly cause homelessness. But they are more than an embarrassing coincidence. Councils now have an obligation to intervene early when homelessness threatens (though not the funding to match). Ministers insist they have plans to tackle rough sleeping. There is interest in a pioneering project that moves people off the street directly into their own flats. A new homelessness database is scheduled. But this is a crisis that has been a decade in the making. It demands action, now. | The vast bonuses of those profiting from inflated new house prices do not directly cause homelessness. But they are more than an embarrassing coincidence. Councils now have an obligation to intervene early when homelessness threatens (though not the funding to match). Ministers insist they have plans to tackle rough sleeping. There is interest in a pioneering project that moves people off the street directly into their own flats. A new homelessness database is scheduled. But this is a crisis that has been a decade in the making. It demands action, now. |
| Homelessness | |
| Opinion | |
| Social exclusion | |
| Housing | |
| Poverty | |
| Persimmon | |
| Construction industry | |
| editorials | |
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